The blessing of baptismal water is reckoned by S. Basil,
in the 4th century, among apostolical traditions. (De Spiritu. S. c.
27).]
[Footnote 133: "Some form of admission to the class of catechumens was
used in all churches at an early period, and it seems most commonly
to have consisted of imposition of hands with prayers for the person.
To this in many places were added various rites, such as, signing the
forehead of the candidate with the cross, the consecration and giving
of salt, which was entitled the sacrament of catechumens, repeated
exorcisms, or prayers and adjurations to cast out the power of Satan,
anointing with oil, and other mystical and figurative rites. In the
course of many ages, when the Christian church had overspread the face
of the world, and infidelity had become in most places extinct, the
form of admission to the class of catechumens was from a veneration
for old customs in many places conjoined to the office of baptism,
and administered at the same time with it to the candidates for that
sacrament whether they were infants or not". Palmer, vol. 2, c. 5,
sect. 1.]
[Footnote 134: "It has been customary in the Christian church from
the most remote period, for the candidates for baptism to renounce the
devil and all his works, before they were admitted to that sacrament.
This renunciation was always followed by a profession of faith in
Christ, as it is now in the English liturgy.
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