Daily AncestorConditional baptism
A conditional baptism is a baptism given only in case the person was not already validly baptized, used when an earlier baptism was doubtful.
The minister says, in effect, if you are not yet baptized, I baptize you. Catholic priests used it for converts whose first baptism could not be confirmed, and churches used it for children who had been baptized at home in an emergency.
In a register it can make one person appear to have two baptisms. The conditional one may come years after the first, for example when an adult joined the Catholic Church at marriage.
As seen in a recordCatholic parish baptism register, 1800s
Baptized conditionally, Hannah Breen, aged 24, convert, Nov. 5, 1874
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Daily Ancestor. "Conditional baptism." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/church/conditional-baptism. Last checked 2026-10-03.