If an infant is in danger of dying before it can be brought before the (Catholic) priest for baptism, it may be baptized by a lay person; however, the Church was nervous about whether the procedure had been correctly done. At the same time, a person was not to be baptized twice. To overcome this quandary they adopted a "corrective", or "rites only", ceremony. An infant who had been baptized by a lay person, and who lived, could be brought before the priest, who would perform a supplemental ceremony, perhaps with sponsors, just in case the lay baptism was not perfect. It was not considered another baptism, but a curative of the original one. In the register, the priest was apt to note the baptism as "ceremonies supplied". During the ceremony, the priest was apt to include the phrase, "...if thou are not already baptized." Generally the Catholic Church recognized baptisms by other Churches but would sometimes provide a corrective baptism, just in case.
Illegitimate births were not uncommon. The priest could record the name of the mother, if the condition were publicly known with certainty, or if she voluntarily requested in writing, before witnesses, that her name be recorded. A similar procedure applied for fathers, but otherwise the child was to be recorded as the child of an unknown father, or unknown parents. It may fairly be concluded that, if the baptismal record does not record the father's name, the birth was illegitimate. As an example, John Humphrey cites a baptism in Philadelphia, which occurred four years after the birth. Sponsors were given, but not any parents (who were just identified as unknown). Rather than assuming that the child was a foundling, or that the priest was absent minded, it should be concluded that the parents were not married at the time of the birth. The active guideline used was, "...in the case of an illegitimate birth, the mother and father are to be recorded only if their identity was known with certainty. Otherwise, they are to be recorded as unknown."
When the child was older, he was expected to undergo the rites of confirmation. This was regarded as the completion of baptism and the child or young person was expected to assume responsibility for his own spiritual welfare. Confirmation was not always a sacrament of the Catholic Church but was fixed as a doctrine in the sixteenth century. Children aged seven to twelve were eligible to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. In theory, the rite had to be administered by a bishop, but there were no bishops in America before 1790. In practice, people in America before that time were not confirmed and there would be no confirmation records.
The Catholics were prone to record baptisms in Latin, not in the native tongue. Thus, looking at the Catholic church registers in Germany requires some knowledge of Latin, not German.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.