Note 118 — CHAP. VI.
Reading edition
Footnote 118:
(return)
This custom is proved from the letter of Siricius Pope in the 4th century to Himmerius, from letters of S. Leo and Pope Gelasius, as well as other ancient documents (ap. Bened. XIV, Institut. prima ed lat.); and vestiges of it are preserved in the liturgy of the weeks of Easter and Pentecost. Ordinations were generally conferred before Christmas, as is evident from the lives of the early Popes. Baptism was administered before the great festivals of Easter and Pentecost, that the newly-baptised might be prepared to celebrate them worthily, and receive the graces therein commemorated. Perhaps another reason for selecting the eve of Easter may be found in the parallel drawn by S. Paul between baptism and Christ's death and resurrection (Rom. VI, 5 and foll.): "we who are baptised in Christ Jesus are baptised in his death. For we are buried together with him by baptism unto death: that as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life" etc.