In Christian theology, baptism of desire (Latin: baptismus flaminis, lit. 'baptism of the breath') is a doctrine according to which a person is able to attain the grace of justification through faith and perfect contrition before actual baptism has been received. Martyrdom is also called a baptism of blood in the case of a martyr who is not baptized, because martyrdom is likewise believed to obtain the remission of sins even apart from baptism with water.
Cyprian of Carthage writes in a letter of AD 256 regarding the question of whether a catechumen seized and killed in confession of the name "would lose the hope of salvation and the reward of confession, because he had not previously been born again of water" that "they certainly are not deprived of the sacrament of baptism who are baptized with the most glorious and greatest baptism of blood."[1]
Cyril of Jerusalem states in his Catechetical Lectures deliver in Lent of AD 348 that "if any man receive not Baptism, he hath not salvation; except only Martyrs, who even without the water receive the kingdom."[2]
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Further information: Fate of the unlearned, Anonymous Christian, and Virtuous pagan |
The Catholic Church teaches that "baptism is necessary for salvation" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, ss. 1257).[3]
Catholic apologist Jimmy Akin points to one of several canons in the Council of Trent that define baptism of desire:[4]
If anyone shall say that the sacraments of the New Law are not necessary for salvation, but are superfluous, and that, although all are not necessary for every individual, without them or without the desire of them through faith alone men obtain from God the grace of justification; let him be anathema.[5]
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Main article: Feeneyism |
Leonard Feeney was a U.S. Jesuit priest who defended the strict interpretation of the Roman Catholic doctrine, extra Ecclesiam nulla salus ("outside The Church there is no salvation"), arguing that baptism of blood and baptism of desire are unavailing and that therefore no non-Catholics will be saved.
Speaking directly about Baptism of desire, Fr. Feeney wrote in his book Bread of Life:
But imagine priests in the Holy Roman Catholic Church, ordained by the successors to the Apostles — dedicated to the Name and purpose and Blood and robes of Jesus — sitting at Harvard College week after week and listening to religion being lectured about in invisible terms. And imagine their going back, then, to their people and talking about the "soul of the Church," of "salvation outside the Church through sincerity" — apart from the teachings and Sacraments of Jesus Christ; and calling this arrangement "Baptism of Desire" and expecting men to be members of the Catholic Church without even knowing they are members. What kind of teaching is that? That is Christmas without any manger; Good Friday without any God bleeding; Easter Sunday without any Flesh and Blood coming out of the tomb. That is the Christian Faith without any Pope, — the most visible religious leader in the world![6][7]
Father Feeney was excommunicated "on account of grave disobedience to Church Authority, being unmoved by repeated warnings";[8][9] however this excommunication was annulled in 1972 without significant recantation.[9]
The Most Holy Family Monastery opposes baptism of desire or consider it a heresy because it contradicts strict interpretations of the Catholic dogma referred to as extra Ecclesiam nulla salus.[10]
Both the Augsburg Confession of Lutheranism affirms that "Baptism is normally necessary for salvation". Citing the teaching of the early Church Fathers, Lutherans acknowledge a baptism of desire "where opportunity does not present itself" and a baptism of blood (martyrdom) in "the circumstances of persecution".[11]
Similarly, those who die as Christian martyrs in a persecution of Christians are also judged by Anabaptists and Lutherans as having acquired the benefits of baptism without actually undergoing the ritual.[12]