Twin Extraordinary Form Baptism - Roman Rite

(Godmothers Alzbeta Volk and Kathleen Lewis, two of my three favorite sisters)

Let me preface this by saying that the twins were baptized in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite prior to Pope Francis releasing "Traditionis Custodes".  It was beautiful, and I am grateful.  I have to say, when they are in trouble, they may get called in their Latinized names! Ludovicus Venceslaus and Maria Azelia Theresia.

I take full responsibility for the long hiatus we took from this blog.  Between life, babies, and more babies we were busy and distracted.  Sometime around the last blog post, we found out that not only was Hannah pregnant but that she was pregnant with twins.  There was shock, joy, panic, elation, fear, exhaustion on repeat on a daily basis.  Zelie and Louis, named after Sts. Louis and Zelie Martin, parents of St. Therese of Lisieux, were born prematurely after Hannah contracted the Nora virus at 33 weeks.  Zelie came out first with an emergency cesarian after Louis flipped to a transverse breech position higher in the womb.  Zelie and Louis spent 28 and 33 days respectively in the NICU with some of the best nurses we have had the pleasure of meeting.

NOTE: Unlike most of these posts, We did not take the pictures.  The really good ones were either taken, or at least edited, by my sister Alzbeta Volk, a professional photographer.  At various times, our oldest daughter Lucy, Hannah's mother Susan, or my Brother-in-Law James also manned the cameras.  Thank-You!

This is not the first time we had one of our children baptized using the Extraordinary Form.  I am not going to say it is the only way or best way, etc, but I do like it.  The only important part, of course, is the words "I baptize you in the name of The Father, and of The Son, and of The Holy Spirit".  Holy Mother Church does so much to set them down the correct path, in whatever form of Baptism is used (East, West, Ordinary, Extraordinary): being blessed, exorcised, anointed; they are truly claimed for Christ.  In addition to seeing to the spiritual needs of the baptized, I also find it helpful to the those attending in joyful witness.  We have six kids, and every moment can be a teaching moment.

Preparation

While your parish will certainly provide all the necessities for the sacraments, we have always been keen on adding our own personal touches, where appropriate.  

This time my sister, Katie, sent me some beeswax from her hives to add to the white beeswax I was using for their baptismal candles.  I used this candle mold.  You can get similar other places, and I thought about going with a longer straight-sided candle, but these have a gentle elegance to them that I enjoy.  I then carved a cross, alpha, and omega into the candles to mimic what we do for Paschal Candles.  The gold leaf that was gilded into them was blessed when our Pastor blessed our house for the Epiphany along with our stock of frankincense and myrrh.

I first saw this style of Sacramental Records in the archives at the Diocese of Little Rock and am glad they are being reproduced by Catholic Stationary.

Prior to the actual baptism, our pastor blessed the candles.

Hannah's mother made a gown for each of her children when they started having children.  We, then, threw her a curveball by needing another one!  In this picture, they are hanging right by the front door where we have candles.  The candles are not for when the power goes out, but for those occasions when the Eucharist is brought to our house for sick (as we got to use when Hannah came home from the hospital and was unable to go anywhere else.)  On that occasion, I met the priest at their car door with the bigger candle and Tony met us at the house door with the small candle as we processed to our little chapel.  It reminds me how the sacraments are all connected, the graciousness of our families, and the kindness of our Parish

Interrogation of Godparents

First Exorcism

Blessing and Imposition of Salt

Admission into the Church

Baptism

N., Ego te baptizo in Nomine  Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti 

Anointing with Chrism

The Baptismal Candle

Lucy, our eldest, really wanted to take this picture of our Pastor, Fr. Jerabek, and our good friend, Godfather of Louis, Robert Klesko.  Robert is in diaconate formation for the Ruthenian Catholics, and Lucy loved the "East meets West" vibe of this one.  

Hannah and I are so blessed to expand our family!  Special Thanks to the Godparents of the twins, my sisters Katie and Alzbeta, Hannah's brother J. Frank, and our friend Robert who worked so hard to be in attendance, and to Fr. Jerabek, Rector of The Cathedral of St. Paul, for providing the sacraments.