Christened?

[CAJ1]

Is there any way of finding out whether or not you were christened as a baby?

[naomi24]

Parish Registers record baptisms. Try ringing the priest or the churchwardens of your local church to ask to search the records.

[CAJ1]

Thanks Naomi, I will try that

[CAJ1]

Thats part of the problem Steve, I was fostered so I don't have any contact with my parents

[CAJ1]

Its no bother you weren't to know!

I know some details of them but wouldn't want to investigate further to learn more details - thats a closed chapter in my life.

Is it possible to be christened with my children (if I have them) even if I have been christened before - just to be sure?

[jno]

I was watching the programme on the Medieval Mind the other night - it said christening is basically an exorcism ceremony. I suppose that's right, as unbaptised babies were thought to go to hell if they died.

[Schutzengel]

Hi Caj. I think the best thing would be to have a word with a Minister or a Vicar and explain the situation. They willbe able to explain how your problem can be resolved. Good luck. Schutz.

[Lil O'lady]

Not hell, Jno - a special place called limbo, which I suppose is god's deep feeze in old catholic belief.

[Schutzengel]

Caj It's nothing of the sort. A Christening ceremony is purely an acceptance of the child into the church, and where the godparents or sponsors agree to assist in the moral and spiritual upbringing of the child.

[CAJ1]

I wonder where my godparents were when I needed them!

Thanks for the advice, a word with a vicar is a good idea

[Lil O'lady]

Another slight drawback with your search Caj is that the dissenting and catholic churches tend to be a bit hit and miss with their records, so depending on your age, they might have filed away the log book where nobody can find it.
In addition, you could be baptised at any point from within minutes of birth to adulthood, so if you were fostered while young you may have several trails to investigate.

[jno]

Lil Old Lady, I think originally it was hell but theologists later came up with the idea of limbo as a concession to alarmed parents. Given that a lot of children died at birth, the thought that you would quite likely have one that went straight to hell would have been an appalling prospect.

Schutzengel, a christening ceremony these days is pretty much what you want it to be. But joining the church traditionally meant gaining God's protection against whatever.

[CAJ1]

Hmm.. this may be tricky!

Does anyone know the answer as to whether you can be christened/baptised twice if you're not sure it happened the first time?

[Schutzengel]

jno. Quite so. If it is important to a person to have been, or be Christened, then they would usually find that protestant churches are much more understanding and inclined to help.

[tamborine]

As I understood, the christening ceremony was to 'wash away original sin' (of Eve tempting Adam). Coupled with giving a 'christian' name to a believer.

[naomi24]

CAJ1, When I answered your question, I wasn't aware that you wanted to be baptised. I thought you just wanted to know if you'd been baptised or not.

If you speak to your local priest and explain the problem, there probably won't be any need to go in search of old records. I'm sure he'll be very happy to baptise you.

[BradleyGas]

Hi CAJ1. It may be worth following up Naomi24's first post - the parish records. Most are held at record offices around the country. If you know the area, there may only be a few churches to look for - ie, if its a certain town, there may be 10 churches to look at. That wouldn't take much longer than an hour - and some offices have indexes.

Hope that helps.