Catholic Dictionary

Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

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IMMERSION

The method of baptism by dipping or plunging the candidate under water while the one baptizing says, "I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." It is one of the three valid forms of baptism and was the method generally used in the early Church. It is still commonly used in the Eastern Church and in certain Protestant Churches, notably in the Baptist tradition. The Catholic Church in the Latin Rite has reintroduced the practice as a permissible option, since the Second Vatican Council.