Editing Confirmation (section)

====Rite of confirmation in the West====
The main reason why the West separated the sacrament of confirmation from that of baptism was to re-establish direct contact between the person being initiated with the bishops. In the Early Church, the bishop administered all three sacraments of initiation (baptism, confirmation and Eucharist), assisted by the priests and deacons and, where they existed, by deaconesses for women's baptism. The post-baptismal chrismation in particular was reserved to the bishop. When adults no longer formed the majority of those being baptized, this chrismation was delayed until the bishop could confer it. Until the 12th century, priests often continued to confer confirmation before giving Communion to very young children.<ref>Ronald Minnerath, "L'ordine dei Sacramenti dell'iniziazione", in ''[[L'Osservatore Romano]]'', 23 May 2007</ref>

After the [[Fourth Lateran Council]], Communion, which continued to be given only after confirmation, was to be administered only on reaching the age of reason. Some time after the 13th century, the age of confirmation and Communion began to be delayed further, from seven, to twelve and to fifteen.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=21K7EEXAivMC&pg=PA91 Kay Lynn Isca, ''Catholic Etiquette'']{{Dead link|date=June 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} (Our Sunday Visitor 1997 {{ISBN|0-87973-590-2}}), p. 91</ref> In the 18th century, in France the sequence of sacraments of initiation was changed. Bishops started to impart confirmation only after the first Eucharistic communion. The reason was no longer the busy calendar of the bishop, but the bishop's will to give adequate instruction to the youth. The practice lasted until Pope [[Leo XIII]] in 1897 asked to restore the primary order and to celebrate confirmation back at the age of reason, a change that lasted less than two decades. In 1910, his successor, Pope [[Pius X]], showing concern for the easy access to the Eucharist for children, in his Letter {{Lang|la|Quam Singulari}} lowered the age of first communion to seven. That was the origin of the widespread custom in parishes to organise the First Communion for children at {{Clarify|text=2nd grade and confirmation in middle or high school|reason=what ages are meant? Grades and types of school will vary widely between countries|date=November 2021}}.<ref name = SAM>{{cite journal | author = Samuel J. Aquila | title = Confirmation as a Sacrament of Initiation | url = http://www.ewtn.com/library/BISHOPS/sacinitiat.HTM | journal = L'Osservatore Romano | access-date = 4 July 2018 | volume = 2012 (14), 4 April | page = 5 | archive-date = 24 September 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180924182933/http://www.ewtn.com/library/BISHOPS/sacinitiat.htm | url-status = dead }}</ref>

The 1917 Code of Canon Law, while recommending that confirmation be delayed until about seven years of age, allowed it be given at an earlier age.<ref>{{Cite web |title=CIC 1917: text – IntraText CT |url=http://www.intratext.com/IXT/LAT0813/_P2G.HTM |access-date=11 May 2023 |website=www.intratext.com |archive-date=30 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930035241/http://www.intratext.com/IXT/LAT0813/_P2G.HTM |url-status=live }}</ref> Only on 30 June 1932 was official permission given to change the traditional order of the three sacraments of Christian initiation: the Sacred Congregation for the Sacraments then allowed, where necessary, that confirmation be administered {{em|after}} [[first Communion|first Holy Communion]]. This novelty, originally seen as exceptional, became more and more the accepted practice. Thus, in the mid-20th century, confirmation began to be seen as an occasion for professing personal commitment to the faith on the part of someone approaching adulthood.

However, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1308) warns: "Although Confirmation is sometimes called the 'sacrament of Christian maturity,' we must not confuse adult faith with the adult age of natural growth, nor forget that the baptismal grace is a grace of free, unmerited election and does not need 'ratification' to become effective."<ref name="usccb1">{{cite web|url=http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2.htm|title=Catechism|website=usccb.org|access-date=6 October 2017|archive-date=2 August 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080802202711/http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

On the [[Canon law (Catholic Church)|canonical]] age for confirmation in the Latin Church Catholic Church, the present [[1983 Code of Canon Law]], which maintains unaltered the rule in the 1917 Code, lays down that the [[Sacraments of the Catholic Church|sacrament]] is to be conferred on the faithful at about the [[Age of reason (canon law)|age of discretion]] (generally taken to be about 7), unless the [[episcopal conference]] has decided on a different age, or there is a danger of death or, in the judgement of the [[Catholic minister|minister]], a grave reason suggests otherwise (canon 891 of the Code of Canon Law). The Code prescribes the age of discretion also for the sacraments of Reconciliation<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG0017/_P3G.HTM|title=Code of Canon Law: text – IntraText CT|website=intratext.com|access-date=6 October 2017|archive-date=29 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171229102833/http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG0017/_P3G.HTM|url-status=live}}</ref> and first Holy Communion.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG0017/_P38.HTM|title=Code of Canon Law: text – IntraText CT|website=intratext.com|access-date=6 October 2017|archive-date=5 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210905100605/http://www.intratext.com/IXT/ENG0017/_P38.HTM|url-status=live}}</ref>

In some places the setting of a later age, e.g. mid-teens in the United States, 11 or 12 in Ireland and early teens in Britain, has been abandoned in recent decades in favor of restoring the traditional order of the three sacraments of Christian initiation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ewtn.com/library/BISHOPS/ordsacinit.htm|title=The Restored Order of Sacraments of Initiation|website=ewtn.com|access-date=6 October 2017|archive-date=1 February 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201211703/http://www.ewtn.com/library/BISHOPS/ordsacinit.htm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>[http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=24839 Confirmation before communion, Liverpool decides] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130411202541/http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=24839 |date=11 April 2013 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.interchurchfamilies.org/journal/firs_com.shtm Interchurch Families] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003045214/http://www.interchurchfamilies.org/journal/firs_com.shtm |date=3 October 2011 }}</ref><ref name = SAM/> Even where a later age has been set, a bishop may not refuse to confer the sacrament on younger children who request it, provided they are baptized, have the use of reason, are suitably instructed and are properly disposed and able to renew the baptismal promises.<ref>Letter of the [[Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments]] published in its 1999 bulletin, pages 537–540</ref>