There have been some very helpful comments from both Anglicans and Catholics regarding my recent posts on the form and matter of Confirmation and how it relates to Anglicanism.

Some have made some comments about the post-baptismal anointing that is placed on the head of an infant. (In the case of a newly baptized adult this anoiniting simply becomes Confirmation.) I’m not sure if there is any strict contemporary practice, but St. Thomas Aquinas distinguishes these two independent chrismations in the case of baptized infants by location. The post-baptismal chrismation is placed on the crown of the infant’s head; whereas the confirmation chrismation is placed on the forehead. Thomas writes:

Rabanus says (De Instit. Cleric. i): “The baptized is signed by the priest with chrism on the crown of the head, but by the bishop on the forehead.” (Summa theologiae IIIa, q. 72, a. 9)