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To all BODers:  Does “baptism of desire” grant the grace of baptism/spiritual rebirth, yes or no?

St. Alphonsus and St. Thomas both say that BOD does not grant the grace of baptism/spiritual rebirth because the grace of baptism/spiritual rebirth is:

1. The forgiveness of original and actual sin, AND
2. The remission of the temporal punishment due to sin.

#2 is the key:

Pope Eugene IV, The Council of Florence, “Exultate Deo,” Nov. 22, 1439: “Holy baptism, which is the gateway to the spiritual life… The effect of this sacrament is the remission of every fault, original and actual, and also of every punishment which is owed for the fault itself. Therefore to the baptized no satisfaction is to be enjoined for past sins; but dying, before they commit any fault, they immediately attain the kingdom of heaven and the vision of God.”

St. Alphonsus and St. Thomas both say that BOD does not grant #2, the remission of the temporal punishment due to sin:

St. Alphonsus: “Baptism of blowing supplies the place of the true river of baptism “with respect to the remission of the guilt, but not with respect to the character to be imprinted, nor with respect to the full liability of the punishment to be removed: it is called of blowing because it is made through the impulse of the Holy Spirit, who is called a blowing.”  (Moral Theology, Volume V, Book 6, n. 96)

St. Thomas: “If therefore a catechumen has the desire for baptism... then such a one departing [or dying] does not immediately attain eternal life but will suffer punishment for past sins.  Nevertheless he himself will be saved in this way as though through fire, as stated in 1 Cor. III.” (Summa Theologiae, Pt. III, Q. 68, A.2, Reply to Obj. 2)

Therefore:

1. BOD is not baptism.
2. BOD is not a teaching of the Catholic Church.
3. BOD cannot save anyone.  
4. BOD is a heresy.
5. Anyone who obstinately holds to “baptism of desire” after seeing the positive dogmatic evidence proving that it is a heresy, is a heretic.

Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence, “Letentur coeli,” Sess. 6, July 6, 1439, ex cathedra: “We define also that... the souls of those who depart this life in actual mortal sin, or in original sin alone, go straightaway to hell, but to undergo punishments of different kinds.”
 
Pope Pius VI, Auctorem fidei, Aug. 28, 1794: “26. The doctrine which rejects as a Pelagian fable, that place of the lower regions (which the faithful generally designate by the name of the limbo of the children) in which the souls of those departing with the sole guilt of original sin are punished with the punishment of the condemned, exclusive of the punishment of fire, just as if, by this very fact, that these who remove the punishment of fire introduced that middle place and state free of guilt and of
punishment between the kingdom of God and eternal damnation, such as that about which the Pelagians idly talk” – Condemned as false, rash, injurious to Catholic schools.

Pope Pius XI, Mit brennender Sorge (# 25), March 14, 1937: “‘Original sin’ is the hereditary but impersonal fault of Adam’s descendants, who have sinned in him (Rom. v. 12). It is the loss of grace, and therefore eternal life, together with a propensity to evil, which everybody must, with the assistance of grace, penance, resistance and moral effort, repress and conquer.”

Pope St. Pius X, Acerbo Nimis (# 2), April 15, 1905: “And so Our Predecessor, Benedict XIV, had just cause to write: ‘We declare that a great number of those who are condemned to eternal punishment suffer that everlasting calamity because of ignorance of those mysteries of faith which must be known and believed in order to be numbered among the elect.’”

Pope Pelagius I, Fide Pelagii to Childebert, April, 557: “For I confess that all men from Adam... will then rise again and stand before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the proper things of the body, according as he has done, whether it be good or bad [Rom. 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10]... the wicked, however, remaining by choice of their own with vessels of wrath fit for destruction [Rom. 9:22], who either did not know the way of the Lord, or knowing it left it when seized by various transgressions, He will give over by a very just judgment to the punishment of eternal and inextinguishable fire, that they may burn without end.”

St. John Chrysostom, The Consolation of Death: “And well should the pagan lament, who not knowing God, dying goes straight to punishment. Well should the Jew mourn, who not believing in Christ, has assigned his soul to perdition.”

St. Augustine, 391: “When we shall have come into His [God’s] sight, we shall behold the equity of God’s justice. Then no one will say:... ‘Why was this man led by God’s direction to be baptized, while that man, though he lived properly as a catechumen, was killed in a sudden disaster, and was not baptized?’ Look for rewards, and you will find nothing except punishments.”

Pope St. Leo the Great, dogmatic letter to Flavian, Council of Chalcedon, 451:
"Let him heed what the blessed apostle Peter preaches, that sanctification by the Spirit is effected by the sprinkling of Christ’s blood (1 Pet. 1:2); and let him not skip over the same apostle’s words, knowing that you have been redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your fathers, not with corruptible gold and silver but by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, as of a lamb without stain or spot (1 Pet. 1:18). Nor should he withstand the testimony of blessed John the apostle: and the blood of Jesus, the Son of God, purifies us from every sin (1 Jn. 1:7); and again, This is the victory which conquers the world, our faith. Who is there who conquers the world save one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? It is He, Jesus Christ, who has come through water and blood, not in water only, but in water and blood. And because the Spirit is truth, it is the Spirit who testifies. For there are three who give testimony – Spirit and water and blood. And the three are one. (1 Jn. 5:4-8) IN OTHER WORDS, THE SPIRIT OF SANCTIFICATION AND THE BLOOD OF REDEMPTION AND THE WATER OF BAPTISM. THESE THREE ARE ONE AND REMAIN INDIVISIBLE. NONE OF THEM IS SEPARABLE FROM ITS LINK WITH THE OTHERS."

All quotes from the book, Outside the Catholic Church There Is Absolutely No Salvation, and the video, The Best Argument Against "Baptism of Desire", both by Bro. Peter Dimond OSB.

I agree that BOD in itself is not a heresy but a theological speculation only, which unfortunately has lead to heresy because of the Modernist abuse. BOD/BOB have never been de fide Catholic dogma. The original speculation only applies to actual catechumens and martyrs only. Unfortunately, because of what the BOD/ BOB has morphed into, becoming the theological Modernist loophole into religious indifferentism and Vatican II ecclesiology, I do think the teaching really needs to be re-evaluated.

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Name one other topic where this twisted thinking applies:  


A crow is not a bird, but it is a kind of bird.

Granite is not a rock but it is a kind of rock.

Sunshine is not radiation but it is a kind of radiation.

Oxygen is not a gas but it is a kind of gas.

Cotton is not a fiber but it is a kind of fiber.

Iron is not an element but it is a kind of element.

Aspirin is not a chemical but it is a kind of chemical.

Physics is not a science but it is a kind of science.

Walking is not exercise but it is a kind of exercise.

Cooking is not art but it is a kind of art.  

Skiing is not a sport but it is a kind of sport.

Stamp-collecting is not a hobby but it is a kind of hobby.

Shoes, belts and purses are not accessories but they are kinds of accessories.

An ocean cruise is not a vacation but it is a kind of vacation.

Nylon rope is not a rope but it is a kind of rope.

Marijuana is not a plant but it is a kind of plant.







I should probably point out, lest I'm misunderstood:  these are given as examples of ridiculous propositions, similar to saying that BoD is not a sacrament but it is a kind of baptism (and baptism is a sacrament).  


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