Jesus crossed social and ethnic barriers to engage with people of other religions. This emphasized the universal scope of his message beyond the Jewish community.
The Church continues this approach through the teaching of Baptism of Desire.
The sacrament of baptism is administered through natural water being poured over the head of the person to be baptised. It has always been taught that this is the true real sacrament which supplies the grace of remission from sin.
However, it has also been taught that both baptism of desire and baptism of blood can supply this grace when baptism of water is not possible.
Baptism of blood
The baptism of blood refers to those Christians who were martyred before they had the opportunity to be baptised.
Many Early Church Fathers including St Cyprian, Tertullian, St Hippolytus of Rome, St Basil and St Gregory Nazianzen taught that these Christians had been baptised through the shedding of their blood.
St Basil stated:
“There have been some who in their championship of true religion have undergone the death for Christ’s sake, not in mere similitude, but in actual fact, and so have needed none of the outward signs of water for their salvation, because they were baptized in their own blood.”
Baptism of desire
The baptism of desire refers to those people who obtain salvation through the desire of the sacrament even if the sacrament is not received. Baptism of desire can be either explicit or implicit.
Explicit desire for baptism
A person who has an explicit desire for baptism is someone who has converted to Christianity and intended to be baptised but died before their intention was fulfilled.
Thus, St Ambrose wrote of his deceased friend Valentinian:
“Yet a short time ago he had this desire that before he came to Italy he should be initiated and he indicated that he wanted to be baptised as soon as possible by myself. Did he not therefore have that grace which he desired? Did he not have what he asked for? Undoubtedly, because he asked for it, he received it.” 1
Implicit desire for baptism
A person who has an implicit desire for baptism is a non-Christian who is seeking truth and doing God’s will without knowing about baptism or realising its importance.
St Augustine identified St Dismas, the thief who was crucified with Christ, as such a person because he had faith and a conversion of heart. 2 Therefore, he was told by Jesus, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” 3
This teaching of an implicit desire for baptism in non-Christians who are seeking truth and leading good lives is confirmed in several papal encyclicals including Mystici Corporis Christi; Ecclesiam Suam; Redemptoris Missio; Ut Unum Sint; and Nostra Aetate.
True Christianity cannot therefore be aligned with Christian nationalism, religious persecution or religious triumphalism.
- Debra Maria Flint is a Catholic writer whose books include ‘No Place for a Woman’ and ‘The Sins of Mandatory Celibacy’ (co-authored with Paul Murphy Sanderson).