Baptism of Desire
Baptism of Desire
Overview
The doctrines of baptism of desire and of blood have long been commonly taught by the Catholic magisterium. They mean that one who dies before receiving the sacrament of baptism can be saved, if he has supernatural faith and charity. Faith is absolute intellectual assent to divinely revealed truth, and charity is love of God, which before baptism requires perfect contrition for sin. It is called “perfect” because it is motivated by sorrow for having offended God, not merely by fear of eternal punishment. One who is martyred before baptism is said to receive baptism of blood, and one who dies of other causes is said to receive baptism of desire.
Some people today, commonly called Feeneyites after Fr. Leonard Feeney, S.J., reject the baptisms of desire and of blood. They typically arrive at this position in an attempt to defend the dogma of no salvation outside the Church. But to deny baptism of desire is a grave error that is based on a misunderstanding of how the church teaches, and ends up holding the absurd position that the Church has contradicted herself and that the greatest Catholic scholars couldn’t understand the plain meaning of magisterial texts on baptism.
The Feeneyite Challenge
Find where any scholarly Catholic author after St. Thomas Aquinas (1270 A.D.) says: “There’s an idea called baptism of desire / baptism of blood that is taught by many Catholic doctors, but it’s wrong because…” I’ve never seen such a text, probably because there is none. Prove me wrong!
Other Sources
baptismofdesire.com (don’t miss the News page)