Did Catholic priests travel to the home of a newborn in Croatia to baptize it?
In the Croatian Roman Catholic church records, I see many instances recording the birth of a child and its baptism on the same day (occasionally baptized the next day).
I'm just wondering, did the priest travel to the home and perform the baptism there, or did they bundle up the newborn and drive the oxcart to the church?
It seems like this would be a tough journey for the mother to go along on the same or day after she gave birth (I would imagine she'd need to keep the infant fed on the trip).
This pertains to the Gornja Stubica parish area, north of Zagreb (say, pre-1900) if it makes any difference. Thanks for your info if you know.
Answers
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Based on Roman Catholic ritual of that time, the mother was not present at the baptism. She could not enter the church until 40 days after giving birth, when she would be Churched. https://latinmassbaptism.com/churching-of-women/
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Thank you for the info. I see that the #3 source listed on the bottom of the article you provided the link to seems to be the church's guide for how baptisms are supposed to be conducted. That has some interesting info in it, too.
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