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A Study of the Catechumenate

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 July 2009

Lawrence D. Folkemer
Affiliation:
Lansdowne, Md.

Extract

A fresh study of early catechetical procedures, and an explanation of the instructions and techniques used in adult baptism in the early Church, are always welcome. Comparatively speaking, little has been done on the subject. This article makes no pretension of being a detailed study of the subject, but is only a partial treatment of it, with special emphasis upon the contributions of St. Augustine. Occasionally, references are drawn from Church canons and other early Church writings on the catechetical practice of the time.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Church History 1946

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References

1 Some study has been made both of the Western and Eastern Church. Cf. Duchesne, Louis, Christian Worship, Its Origin and Evolution (London, 1912)Google Scholar, particularly 292–341; Catholic Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Encyclopoedia of Religion and Ethics, etc.

2 Duchesne, , Christian Worship, 292.Google Scholar

3 Ante-Nicene Christian Library (Edinburgh, 18681871), VII, 2027.Google Scholar

4 Ibid., “First Apology,” LXI.Google Scholar

5 Bingham, J., Antiquities of the Christian Church (London, 1843), I, 34fGoogle Scholar, gives a list of the names common to the believers: “Photidsomenoi,” or “Illuminati,” “The Initiati,” “The Teleoi,” “Cari Dei,” “Filii Dei,” “Hagioi,” “Fideles,” etc.

6 Duchesne, , Christian Worship, 292297Google Scholar; cf. also Augustine, , De Catechizandis Rudibus, XXVI.Google Scholar

7 Mansi, Johannes D., Sacrorum Conciliomm Nova, et Amplissima Collectio (Paris and Leipzig, 1901)Google Scholar, Concilium Eliberitanum, can. XXXIX.

8 Migne, J. P., Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Latina: Opera Omnia Sancti Aurelii Augustini (Parisiis, 1887)Google Scholar, “Tractatus XI in Joannis Evangelium,” cap. 4.

9 Ibid., Tractatus XLIV, cap. 2.

10 Concilium Nicaeum, can. XIV. The reference is found in Bright, W., The Canons of the First Four General Councils (Oxford, 1892), 55, notes.Google Scholar

11 Mansi, , Concilium Neocaesarense, can. V.Google Scholar

12 Bingham, , Antiquities, III, 269fGoogle Scholar., “atelesteroi” and “teleioteroi.”

13 Ibid., 270–274.

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15 Book VII, 30–45.

16 Catholic Encyclopedia, “Catechumenate.”

17 Signified both those already baptized and those about to be baptized.

18 “Competentes” refers to the handing in of their names; “electi” to their acceptance by the bishop for baptismal instruction. Augustine also uses “baptizandus,” “one about to be baptized”—De Fide et Operibus, passim.

19 Catholic Encyclopedia, “Catechumenate.”

20 De Cat. Rud., XXVI, XIV; cf. also Confessions, I, 11.Google Scholar

21 Thus becoming a catechumen. Eusebius, The Life of the Blessed Emperor Constantine (London, 1845), Bk. IV.Google Scholar

22 Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum—S. Aurelii Augustini (Vindobonae, Lipsiae, etc., 1900)Google Scholar. De Fide et Operibus, VI, 9.Google Scholar

23 . Can. IV.

24 Can. XLII.

25 Cath. Encycl., “Justinian Novel,” CXLIV.

26 Bk. VIII, 32.

27 Concilium Neocaesarense, can. V; Concilium Nicaeum, can. XIV; Migne, , Apost. Const., VIII, 8.Google Scholar

28 e.g. Augustine, Ambrose, Basil, Chrysostom, etc.

29 Constantine the Great. There was an intense fear of post-baptismal sin among many of the ancients.

30 cf. other names, Greek and Latin, used to designate this group of catechumens—footnote 5.

31 If at Easter the competent had not had sufficient time for probation, his baptism was postponed, sometimes to Pentecost. That was the latest time in the Western Church. It came later to be regarded as a second baptismal festival. In the East, Epiphany was often the season of baptism. Duchesne, , Christian Worship, 293.Google Scholar

32 Duchesne, , Christian Worship, 298.Google Scholar

33 “The Catechetical Lectures of St. Cyril, Archbishop of Jerusalem,” translated in the Oxford Library of the Fathers (London, 1845)Google Scholar. The sermons of Augustine “ad competentes” (56–59, 112–116) are considered as representative of Western practice. These sermons will be dealt with under “Augustine's Contribution.”

34 Ibid., Introductory Lecture, 16.

35 Ibid., I, II.

36 Usually the historical and moral books. Cf. Augustine, De Cat. Rud.

37 Duchesne, , Christian Worship, 300303Google Scholar. Augustine reserves the traditio of the Pater Noster until eight days after that of the Symboli—Sermones ad Com-petentes, LVIII, LIX. He does not include the traditio Evangelii at all. Some feel that each traditio may have been delivered on a separate occasion.

38 Bingham, , Antiquities, III, 283.Google Scholar

39 Mansi, , Concilium Agathense, can. XIII.Google Scholar

40 i.e., Augustine's phrase. Sermones ad Competentes, passim.

41 Sermo ad Competentes, LVIII, 1.Google Scholar

42 Ante-Nic. Chr. Lib., Apostolic Constitutions, VII, 40Google Scholar et passim. Throughout the entire eight books there is constant emphasis upon moral life.

43 Cat. Lect., IV, 2.Google Scholar

44 Ante-Nic. Chr. Lib., On Baptism, XX.

45 De Fide et Operibus, XV, XVII, XVIII et passim.

46 Ibid., VI, 9.

47 Cyril, , Cat. Lect., I.Google Scholar

48 De Fide et Operibus, VI, 7.Google Scholar

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50 Ibid., “On Baptism,” XX.

51 Cyril, , Cat. Lect., IV, 27, 28.Google Scholar

52 Apost. Const., VII, 23.Google Scholar

53 Ibid., 24, 25.

54 Concilium Carthagense, IV, can. LXXV.Google Scholar

55 De Fide et Operibus, VI, 7.Google Scholar

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57 Cyril, , Cat. Lect., I, 5.Google Scholar

58 Ante-Nicene Christian Library, “The Octavius,” XXYII.Google Scholar

59 Ibid., “The Second Apology,” VI; cf. also Tertullian, , Apologeticus, 22, 23.Google Scholar

60 Apost. Const., VII, 41.Google Scholar

61 Hippolytus, , Canones, XIX, 9Google Scholar. The Service of Adult Baptism in the Lutheran Church today reads; “Dost thou renounce the devil, and all his works and all his ways?” The answer, “Yes, I renounce.”

62 Conc. Carth., IV, can. XC.Google Scholar

63 Christian Worship, 303.Google Scholar

64 Ibid., 304.

65 It was the feeling among the Fathers that the mysteries of the Christian faith should be presented only in a covert way before baptism. Consequently, more thorough and elucidative lectures were given on the sacraments after baptism. They were considered more fit, then, to receive them.

66 Cyril, , Cat. Lect., XIX, 4.Google Scholar

67 Ibid., 5.

68 Ibid., 6, 7.

69 Apost. Const., VIII, 32.Google Scholar

70 Bingham, , Antiq., III, 538Google Scholar. The Greek form is “suntassomai soi, Chriate”.

71 Ibid., 540f.

72 Ibid., 541.

73 Quoted from Bingham, , III, 542.Google Scholar

74 A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church (Buffalo, 1886)Google Scholar, Augustine, , “On the Creed,” I.Google Scholar

75 De Fide et Operibus, IX.Google Scholar

76 Bingham, , Antiquities, 544.Google Scholar

77 The formal liturgy of baptism has been thoroughly treated by Duchesne and others and will not be treated here.

78 Cyril, , Cat. Lect., XX–XXI.Google Scholar

79 Quoted from Duchesne, , Christian Worship, Appendix, 575.Google Scholar

80 Bingham, , Antiquities, I, 36.Google Scholar

81 Cyril, , Cat. Lect., XXII–XXIIIGoogle Scholar; cf. also Augustine, , Sermo ad Competentes, LVII, 7.Google Scholar

82 e.g., the communion prayers were not used in the presence of the unbaptized.

83 Corp. Script. Eccl. Lat., De Cat. Rud., 1. Because of its distinctive and exemplary character, this work will be treated at some length.

84 Ibid., 3, 4.

85 Ibid., 4.

86 “hilaritas.”

87 Ibid., 8.

88 Ibid., 9.

89 Ibid., 6, 7.

90 Ibid., 8.

91 Ibid., 9.

92 The reference here is to the practice of making the hearers stand during the instruction. When the period of teaching was lengthy, it became a great inconvenience and made instructing difficult. Augustine urged the abolition of that practice wherever possible and advocated sitting during the lessons.

93 Ibid., 10–15.

94 Ibid., 16–27.

95 “On the Creed,” 15.Google Scholar

96 Migne, , Pat. Lat., Sermones, LVI–LIX, CCXII–CCXVI.Google Scholar

97 Sermo LVI, 5Google Scholar. There is a startling similarity between Augustine's words and approach and Luther's in his Small Catechism.

98 Ibid., 11.

99 Ibid., 12.

100 Sermo LVII, 5.Google Scholar

101 Ibid., 8–13.

102 Sermo LVII, 10, 11.Google Scholar

103 Ibid., 2.

104 Ibid., 13.

105 Sermo CCXV.Google Scholar

106 Sermo CCXVI.Google Scholar

107 Nothing other is known of the man; probably a layman. P. Sehaff.

108 This would seem to be in keeping with the practice of the catechumenate.

109 Bardenhewer, O., Patrology—The Lives and Works of the Fathers of the Church (St. Louis, Mo., 1908). 1908).Google Scholar