A while back I wrote a
speculative post for the Nicene Guys about the possibility of infant salvation. The point of the post was that many people--Catholic and Protestant alike, and the detractors of both in common especially--have this idea that all unbaptized infants must be hell-bound. Some have speculated on the existence of Limbo: Dante, for example, placed it as the first circle of Hell, to which went not only unbaptized infants but also all those who lived worthy lives before the time of Christ; and C.S. Lewis alludes to it in his
Screwtape Letters as a sort of state below consciousness to which the unbaptized infants slip, experiencing neither happiness nor sorrow. Our Holy Father has long since
approved the suggestion that the speculations of Limbo ought to go by the wayside, that there is yet hope for the salvation of the unborn or unbaptized.
So, what of it? It's a question which comes up in the RCIA sessions--we've taken time to discuss this at least twice at some length. What hope is there for those infants who die unbaptized? The feast of the Holy Innocents is three days after Christmas, which seems fitting to me. After all, these were infants who were unbaptized, and yet are venerated by the Church as martyrs, as they have been since the time of the early Church. They were the first Christian martyrs, "witnesses" for Christ; but persecution is not the only form of witness, and God's mercy is wide indeed.
Tags: Short-Reflectio N Hope Salvation Saints
