Kapronczay Károly szerk.: Orvostörténeti Közlemények 186-187. (Budapest, 2004)
TANULMÁNYOK — ARTICLES - BALÁZS Péter: Szülészeti szakmaiság és vallási dogmatika a 18. századi bábák működésében
situations. According to the catholic dogmatic, there is an absolute necessity to perform the baptism during labour and immediately after that if the baby to be born or even born will die in all probability stated by the assisting provider. The effect of this sacrament is the remission of all sin, so in the case of childbirth of the original one as well. As relevant providers the midwives were obliged by the Church and the state authorities as well to perform the simplest form of baptism, i.e. the baptism of necessity. Therefore the medical literature of the 18 th century detailed painstaking all the situations (mainly during the labour) which absolutely required the baptism of the endangered baby. All the sources show that to control the suitability of this baptism was a high priority of central and local authorities in the states with dominant catholic population. Nevertheless, the two main streams of Protestantism interpreted differently the dogmatic significance of baptism itself. Hence the Lutheran families behaved rather neutrally to the ceremony if catholic midwives assisted the birth. However, Calvinists forbade categorically the baptism of necessity in all perinatal situations. Hungary with a major protestant population was a part of the catholic Habsburg Empire in the 18 th century. This way the state authorities prosecuted and punished all the people who refused the baptism of necessity. Beyond all these, Jewish families had an exceptional possibility if only a catholic midwife was available to the obstetrical service. In this case the Jewish parents were entitled to refuse the ceremony. Midwives performing still the baptism against the will of them faced a high fine and an imprisonment too. While analysing critically the Hungarian scientific literature of the than obstetrics it may be demonstrated that religious dogmatic penetrated also the textbooks as well. Moreover, protestant translators of foreign textbooks weeded out systematically all the sentences concerning the baptism of necessity. In the 19 th century the modern lawmaking of this country omitted all the religious hints out of the midwifery (Public Health Act 1876). Nevertheless, the baptism of necessity was preserved in the catholic population and it is nowadays practised too, but without any professional significance and statutory provisions.
