When I have questions like this I go to my [US] Chaplain friend, who responded:
Baptism is the Christian Biblical Sacrament that symbolizes forgiveness of sins and desire to accept Christ as Savior. I will forego the Biblical references - you probably know them. While I grew up in a tradition that Baptized babies, believing that there is a Covenental relationshp herein where by parents, say, can accept the rite of Baptism for their child, I have had a growing problem with this - if the point is renunciation of sin and seeking forgiveness and acceoptance by the Lord, how can a baby do this? However, I am willing to Baptize a child if parents can convince me that this is in accordance with their beliefs, as opposed to just - "tradition". To Christen is to "Christ Name" or "Christianize" the child, and is most commonly used in liturical contexts - primarily (but not exclusively Roman Catholic. It almost always is done in conjunction with Baptism - altho the two are not synonomous, and I have known them to be done separately (maybe a child was hurriedly Baptized at birth because it was very sick, but they had not even chosen a Christian name yet - so the Christening was done when the child was well and at home - and a saint's name had been chosen - just as a "for example"). In those traditions, the child is USUALLY Baptized AND given his "Christian Name" in the context of the same ceremony. Most RC children have a full name inclusive of at least 4 names (including the family name). Therefore one of my closest friends was Joseph Albert Emile Smith - Joseph being his Christian name (usually a saint's name is used, and that saint is the person's patron saint). Many persons so named do not use their ENTIRE name on a day to day basis - and unlike my friend Joe, the saint's name is usually not the first, but stuck somewhere in the middle. Joe signed his name "Joseph A.E. Smith". As an aside - did you ever think about why there are so many "Marys" in Irish families - and so many "Marias" in Italian and Hispanic families? Same reason - really good saint to have on your side . Thus, everyone [with a Christian belief/background] has been "baptised" but not all have been "christened". Thus, in Legacy I always use baptised unless I have a reason to switch to christened. John Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp Follow Legacy on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LegacyFamilyTree) and on our blog (http://news.LegacyFamilyTree.com). To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
