What happens at a Confirmation?

Of course, the word “confirmation” has a general meaning, “to verify or witness to the truth” of something. In a religious context, it is the fourth sacrament in the Catholic canon, after Baptism, Confession, and Communion. Each of these first sacraments deepens the individual’s commitment to the Catholic religion, and the fourth “confirms” those declarations. It comes at the Age of Consent, when the individual is intellectually and emotionally responsible for his/her spiritual condition, usually...

Of course, the word “confirmation” has a general meaning, “to verify or witness to the truth” of something. In a religious context, it is the fourth sacrament in the Catholic canon, after Baptism, Confession, and Communion. Each of these first sacraments deepens the individual’s commitment to the Catholic religion, and the fourth “confirms” those declarations. It comes at the Age of Consent, when the individual is intellectually and emotionally responsible for his/her spiritual condition, usually around 13 years of age. It is a publicly declared testament of one’s faith and belief in the religion’s tenets, including the Catechism; it takes place in a church, is administered by a priest, and usually is a mass ceremony, in which a whole class of children, after extensive lessons, receive the sacrament together. The next two sacraments, Matrimony and Holy Orders, are mutually exclusive; the final sacrament, Extreme Unction, is administered at the close of the soul’s life on Earth.