THREE FORMS OF BAPTISM – PART 2

  1. Baptism of Blood: The notion of being baptized by shedding your own blood for Christ and/or his Church grew up during the Roman persecutions. And the Catholic Church has always revered these unbaptized martyrs, people who die for their faith, maintaining that the divine mercy of God wouldn’t penalize them or ignore their sacrifice merely because they died before their Baptism by water. In addition, Herod killed many infants (Matthew 2:16) in a failed effort to kill the newborn Christ. These infants, known as the Holy Innocents,are martyrs, too, because they shed their blood, so Christ could live. So Baptism by blood is as valid as Baptism by water. The following quote from the Catechism of the Catholic Church shows what the Church has to say about Baptism by blood: The Church has always held the firm conviction that those who suffer death for the sake of the faith without having received Baptism are baptized by their death for and with Christ. This Baptism of blood, like the desire for Baptism,brings about the fruits of Baptism without like being a sacrament (1258). (To be continued…)                                                                          Father Maria Joseph Kodiganti