As you’ve noticed from our bulletin cover we have a number of our parish youth receiving their Confirmation this Sunday afternoon at the Cathedral of St. Joseph, as well as two adults who will be Confirmed there on Tuesday evening. In our Catholic tradition, Confirmation is one of three Sacraments of Initiation, along with Baptism and Eucharist. Although in the early days of Christianity, these three Sacraments were celebrated in one event at the Easter Vigil, over time they became separated from one another for very practical reasons. As the Church began to grow in number, particularly after Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire, the local bishop could not be present at every baptism. So the “Chrismation” that the bishop bestowed following baptism had to be delayed until a future time when the bishop could come and “confirm” the candidates’ baptisms. Then those, who were now confirmed, would finally be able to approach the Eucharistic table and share Communion, completing their entrance into the Christian faith. Also during this time, whole families were being baptized, including young children and infants. In the West, Communion and Confirmation were subsequently delayed until the Baptized child reached an age when she or he was old enough to grasp some basics of the faith including a basic understanding of the Eucharist. During the pontificate of Pope St. Pius X, there was concern about the infrequent reception of Holy Communion by the faithful. In order to encourage people from a young age to receive Communion on a more regular basis, he lowered the minimum age to receive Holy Communion and allowed Communion to be received before Confirmation. From that time on, Confirmation came to be seen more as a Sacrament of reaching a kind of faith “adulthood” in the Church, a time for a young person to affirm for him or herself, the faith into which their parents initiated them. Today in some places around the country local diocesan bishops have decided to experiment a bit with lowering the age of when youth can receive Confirmation, and in some cases even celebrating this Sacrament prior to their receiving First Holy Communion. In the Archdiocese of Hartford, the earliest a youth may receive Confirmation remains the spring of Tenth Grade.
The other item of note is that beginning this year, Archbishop Blair has requested that parishes bring their Confirmation Candidates to the Cathedral, the mother church of the Archdiocese, to experience the wider Church community beyond their local parish and to realize that young people across the Archdiocese are, like them, receiving this beautiful Sacrament. In addition, they and their families have a chance to see our beautiful Cathedral.
Congratulations to all those receiving this magnificent Sacrament this year!