I have a Latin friend who was telling me the other night that his wife was going to be received from a Protestant sect without baptism or any other baptism related ceremony.
This was quite shocking. Not knowing if this was just a renegade Latin priest I turned to "Catholic Encyclopedia" and sure enough, he was right, Latins in many cases do not re-baptize.
But this in such stark contrast to the teachings of the early Church fathers I thought I would offer it up for discussion.
St. Leo the Great, Bishop of Rome.
Letter number 159, "Bishop Leo, to Nicetas, Bishop of Aquileia..." is a response to several questions. It is found in volume 34 (pp. 248-251) of the Fathers of the Church series published by Catholic University of America (previously, Fathers of the Church, Inc). Also, in volume 12, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Hendrickson Publishers (pp. 102-104) of the 38 volumes set of the Church Fathers.
Those who have been baptized by heretics, not having been baptized previously, are to be confirmed by the imposition of hands, while only the Holy Spirit is invoked, since they have received the bare form of baptism without the power of sanctification. As you know, we preach that this practice must be observed in all churches, so that, once the washing has been performed, it may not be violated by any repetition, as the Apostle says: 'One Lord, one faith, one baptism.' The washing of baptism, therefore, must not be contaminated by any repetition, but, as we said, only the sanctification of the Holy Spirit is to be invoked. In that way what no one gets from heretics may be received from Catholic bishops. You will provide that this letters of ours, which we are sending at your Fraternity's inquiry, reaches all the brothers and your fellow bishops in the province, so that the authorative answer may be useful for everyone's observance.
Issued on the twenty-first of March in the consulship of Majorian, Augustus.
St. Leo repeats the same ideas in his Letter 166 in (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Volume 12, page108): But if it is established that a man has been baptized by heretics, on him the mystery of regeneration must in no wise be repeated, but only that conferred which was wanting before, so that he may obtain the power of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the Bishop's hands.
This compared to the 1917 Catholic Encyclopedia: ". If it be certain that a convert was validly baptized in heresy, the sacrament is not repeated, but the ceremonies which had been omitted in such baptism are to be supplied, unless the bishop, for sufficient reasons, judges that they can be dispensed with."
