The faith of our fathers - Carmel Apologetics

326 THE FAITH OF OUR FATHERS.been separated from the Catholic Church since thefourth and fifth centuries. This fact is an eloquentvindication of the Apostolic antiquity of Confirmation, and is an ample refutation of those who wouldascribe to it a more recent origin.Protestantism, which made such havoc of the otherSacraments, did not fail to abolish Confirmation initssweeping revolution.The Episcopal church retains, indeed, the nameof Confirmation in its ritual, and even borrows aportion of our prayers and ceremonial. But, inopposition to the uniform teaching of the Catholic, as well as of all the Oriental churches, bothorthodox and schismatic, it declares Confirmationto be a mere rite, and not a sacrament.In violation of the practice of all antiquity, itmutilates the rite by omitting the sacred unction. Itretains the shadow without the substance.It raises, indeed, its hands over the candidates;but they are not the anointed hands of Peter orJohn, or Cyprian or Augustine, to whom it is said:"Whatsoever thou shalt bless, let it be blessed;whatsoever thou shalt sanctify, let it be sanctiTheir hands were lifted up with authority,lfied."and clothed with supernatural power ;but thehands of the Episcopal bishops are spiritually paralyzed by the suicidal act of the Reformers, andthey expressly disclaim any sacramental efficacy inthe ,rite which they administer.1Roman Pontifical.