Baptism And Marriage

[jocon]

An ancestor was baptised in June 1895 - aged 29 - and married on Christmas Day of the same year. I was puzzled by the adult baptism, but someone suggested that she may have been baptised to allow her to be married in church. Is that a reasonable assumption, and was that a religious requirement at that time? Comments appreciated.

[Peaspeculiars]

Hi Jocon, I would say that would be a reasonable assumption yes.
I wonder if the woman you mention might have been born in a non-religious country, or perhaps have been illegitimate and kept out of sight as a child (away from the church) and found that she had to become baptised to be with her beloved?
Or perhaps she was of another faith and had to convert to marry?
Do you know into which faith she was baptised?
All interesting stuff to dig into.. good luck :-)

[EDDIE51]

Yes at that time you had to be baptised to be able to marry in a church.
As there was no other form of marriage then you had no choice.
Some people got baptised on their death beds as if you were not baptised you could not be buried in consecrated ground like a church yard either .

[smoneybags]

My nephew had to be baptised so that he could get married in church about 6 years ago.

[tonyav]

Is a baptism the same as a christening ?.

[weecalf]

might be wrong prob am but a baptism might be a baptism and a the other one is a name calling event

[Prudie]

I also had to do this to get married in church

[tonyav]

Been to quite a few name calling events but never been to baptism, just wondered what the difference is.

[Prudie]

So would I. I always referred to what I had done as a christening because I'd never been christened into the church as a baby but the piece of paper I got says certificate of Baptism on it. We need an RE specialist to clarify.

[tonyav]

When I got married ( in church ) neither I or Mrs av had to be baptised, but we have both been christened as baby's.

[Nibble]

Person of "Native" race marrying a European "White" person in colonail times springs to mind, seems to be a rquirement of inter-racial marriage in those times.

[woofgang]

Baptism and christening both refer to the same sacrament. When its an adult, it tends to be referred to as baptism, when its a child, either term is used.

[tonyav]

Thanks, woofgang.

[EDDIE51]

Baptism and Christening (Christ-ening) are different names for the same thing. The church service where a person be comes a member of the Church by being anointed with Holy water.

[tonyav]

And thanks to you to, EDDIE.

[Prudie]

And thanks to both from me :-)

[EDDIE51]

^^ By the way Christening / Baptism does not have to be done in a church or by a Vicar or Priest . In an emergency in can be done by anyone who is a confirmed member of the Church. In earlier days a baby who had not been Christened was said to be unable to enter Heaven on death, so a sick new born baby needed an 'emergency baptism' to ensure they were did not spend eternity in Purgatory .

[jocon]

Many thanks for the interest and the responses to my post.
The couple were both from ordinary working class country families and I think it probable that cultural pressures were strong to conform to what was probably the norm.

[Segilla]

I believe it was. The baptisms for all of my line in one late 18C generation seemed unbaptised but were later found baptised at a distant C of E church. Their father had probably gone over to Methodism. One of the baptisms was followed by marriage on the same day.