Book of Common Prayer · Confirmation (1662)

Versions of Confirmation

The base text is the 1662 Order of Confirmation (plain text, source). Earlier and later rites are listed below, beginning with the medieval English orders in the Pontifical of Egbert and the Sarum Manual (translated into English by AnglicanGuide from the Latin editions, which are linked). Public-domain texts are given in full; copyrighted modern rites, and texts not separately transcribed, have a short note and a link. Use the Compare tab on the Confirmation page to read any of them beside 1662.

• Pontifical of Egbert (York): Confirmation (Latin) (MS. 10th century; ascribed to Egbert, archbishop of York 732–766) · English translation · Latin · Source: W. Greenwell (ed.), The Pontifical of Egbert, Archbishop of York, Surtees Society 27 (1853), "Confirmatio hominum", pp. 6–8 (Internet Archive)
• Lanalet Pontifical (Rouen, BM, 368 [A. 27]) (1040)
  Not yet translated. This eleventh-century pontifical from Wessex or Cornwall, once owned by Lyfing, bishop of Crediton (died 1046), has an order of confirmation. The only printed edition, Doble's of 1937, may still be in copyright and is online only for borrowing, and the manuscript itself is not yet available as page images we can read. See the IRHT entry: https://initiale.irht.cnrs.fr/en/codex/3811. G. H. Doble (ed.), Pontificale Lanaletense, Henry Bradshaw Society 74 (1937) (Internet Archive, lending only).
• Pontifical of Edmund Lacy, Bishop of Exeter (1450)
  Not separately imported: the fifteenth-century Exeter pontifical's "Confirmatio puerorum" is substantially the Sarum form given here. R. Barnes (ed.), Liber Pontificalis of Edmund Lacy (Exeter, 1847) (Internet Archive).
• Sarum Manual: Confirmatio puerorum (Latin) (printed editions c. 1500–1554) · English translation · Latin · Source: W. G. Henderson (ed.), Manuale et Processionale ad usum insignis Ecclesiae Eboracensis, Surtees Society 63 (1875), appendix: Manuale ad usum Sarum, pp. 96*–97* (Internet Archive)
• First Prayer Book of Edward VI (1549) · full text · Source: Charles Wohlers, the 1549 Book of Common Prayer (justus.anglican.org)
• Second Prayer Book of Edward VI (1552) · full text · Source: Charles Wohlers, the 1552 Book of Common Prayer (justus.anglican.org)
• Elizabethan Prayer Book (1559) · full text · Source: Charles Wohlers, the 1559 Book of Common Prayer (justus.anglican.org)
• Jacobean Prayer Book: Confirmation (1604)
  Not given separately: the 1604 book kept the 1559 confirmation office word for word apart from its new title, "or laying on of hands upon children baptized, and able to render an account of their faith", and the questions on the Sacraments added to the catechism, which are shown on the Catechism page. Charles Wohlers, the 1559 Book of Common Prayer with the 1604 changes (justus.anglican.org).
• Scottish Prayer Book ("Laud's Liturgy") (1637) · full text · Source: Charles Wohlers, the 1637 Scottish Book of Common Prayer (justus.anglican.org)
• Episcopal Church (USA) Book of Common Prayer (1789) · full text · Source: Charles Wohlers, the 1789 U.S. Book of Common Prayer (justus.anglican.org)
• Church of England Proposed Prayer Book: Alternative Order of Confirmation (1928) · full text · Source: Charles Wohlers, the 1928 Proposed Book of Common Prayer (justus.anglican.org)
• Episcopal Church (USA) Book of Common Prayer (1928) · full text · Source: Charles Wohlers, the 1928 U.S. Book of Common Prayer (justus.anglican.org)
• Episcopal Church (USA) Book of Common Prayer: Confirmation, with forms for Reception or for the Reaffirmation of Baptismal Vows (1979) · full text · Source: Charles Wohlers, the 1979 U.S. Book of Common Prayer, Pastoral Offices: Confirmation (justus.anglican.org)
• Church of England, Alternative Service Book and Common Worship (1980)
  Text under copyright and not reproduced. The ASB (1980) and Common Worship (1998, 2006) set confirmation within a single initiation rite with Baptism, often at the Eucharist, the bishop praying "Confirm, O Lord, your servant with your Holy Spirit". Church of England, Common Worship: Christian Initiation (official text).
• Anglican Church in North America, Book of Common Prayer (2019)
  Text under copyright and not reproduced. The ACNA order restores the 1662 prayer "Defend, O Lord" with the Baptismal Covenant questions, within the Eucharist. ACNA, The Book of Common Prayer (2019), Confirmation (official site).