Liječnički vjesnik, Vol. 132 No. 11-12, 2010.
Review article
BAPTISM OUT OF NECESSITY – A MEDICO-HISTORIOGRAFIC VIEW
DUBRAVKO HABEK
DOMAGOJ DOKOZIĆ
SANI LUKIĆ
Abstract
Baptism of necessity of life-threatened newborns was proclaimed by church law and related midwifery regulations From the second half of the 16th century. Midwives were for centuries the only lay persons attending the pregnant woman, parturient woman and newborn, so they were obliged to baptize newborns with life-threatening conditions, which were rather common and associated with high mortality in those times. Medical historiography has demonstrated this obligation of midwives in the town of Bjelovar and its surroundings, where parish registers of births, marriages and deaths contain data on numerous newborns baptized out of necessity.
Keywords
Catholicism – history; Midwifery – history; Religion and medicine; Croatia
Hrčak ID:
221468
URI
Publication date:
31.12.2010.
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