Confirmation in the Catholic Church
Confirmation in the Catholic Church is one of the seven sacraments.[1] It is also one of the three sacraments of initiation into the Catholic Church, the other two being Baptism and Holy Communion.[2]
For an overview of other Christian interpretations, see Confirmation.Imagery[edit]
The "soldier of Christ" imagery, which remains valid[20] but is downplayed if seen as part of the once common idea of Confirmation as a "sacrament of maturity",[21] was used as far back as 350, by Cyril of Jerusalem.[22] In this connection, the touch on the cheek that the bishop gave while saying "Pax tecum" (Peace be with you) to the person he had just confirmed was interpreted in the Roman Pontifical as a slap, a reminder to be brave in spreading and defending the faith: "Deinde leviter eum in maxilla caedit, dicens: Pax tecum" (Then he strikes him lightly on the cheek, saying: Peace be with you) (cf. the knightly custom of the accolade). When, in application of the Second Vatican Council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy,[23] the Confirmation rite was revised in 1971, mention of this gesture was omitted. However, the French and Italian translations, indication that the bishop should accompany the words "Peace be with you" with "a friendly gesture" (French text) or "the sign of peace" (Italian text), explicitly allow a gesture such as the touch on the cheek, to which they restore its original meaning. This is in accord with the Introduction to the Rite of Confirmation, 17, which indicates that the episcopal conference may decide "to introduce a different manner for the minister to give the sign of peace after the anointing, either to each individual or to all the newly confirmed together."