from web.archive.org The whole fascinating story is well documented in the book by Bro. Robert Mary, “Father Feeney and The Truth About Salvation”,
An often used example of a candidate for supposed "baptism of desire" was the young Roman Emperor, Valentinian II, a catechumen who, at the age of twenty, was assassinated in the year 392. He had planned to be baptized in Milan by his dear friend, Saint Ambrose. The memorial oration delivered by the Saint is constantly cited as a "proof" that the early Church believed in "baptism of desire." The quote from the oration usually begins with these words:
But I hear you grieve because he did not receive the Sacrament of Baptism . . .
Let us stop Saint Ambrose at this point and reflect on what he just
said. All of the faithful assembled for the memorial service are grieved. Why are they
grieved? Saint Ambrose says they are grieved because there is no evidence that the
Emperor, a known catechumen, had been baptized before his death. But if "baptism of
desire" was something contained in the "Deposit of Faith" and part of the
Apostolic doctrine, why would they be grieved? Did not Valentinian earnestly desire
Baptism?
These faithful were grieved because they had been taught, and therefore believed, that "unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." Their teacher was their Bishop, Saint Ambrose. In his written commentary on Baptism, Ambrose stated without equivocation:
One is the Baptism which the Church administers: the Baptism of water and the Holy Ghost, with which catechumens need to be baptized . . . Nor does the mystery of regeneration exist at all without water, for "Unless a man be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom." Now, even the catechumen believes in the cross of the Lord Jesus, with which he also signs himself; but, unless he be baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, he cannot receive remission of his sins nor the gift of spiritual grace. (De Mysteriis, From the Divine Office)
However, the fact remains that Saint Ambrose seems to contradict the above words when, in the funeral oration, he asks, "Did he not obtain the grace which he desired? Did he not obtain what he asked for?"And then concludes, "Certainly, because he asked for it, he obtained it."
Is this final statement by Saint Ambrose conclusive proof that he believed also in "baptism of desire," thus contradicting what he stated in De Mysteriis?
No, we do not think it is conclusive proof. And we are not alone in that opinion. Father Jacques Paul Migne (died l875), one of the great authorities on patrology in the last century, maintains that Saint Ambrose was not proposing a new doctrine on Baptism. Father Migne writes: "From among the Catholic Fathers perhaps no one insists more than Ambrose on the absolute necessity of receiving Baptism, in various places, but especially in Book II De Abraham; Sermon 2 In Psal; and the book De Mysteriis." And that Saint Ambrose meant the sacrament of Baptism with water is made abundantly clear in all of his writings, as the above quote from De Mysteriis demonstrates. However, just exactly what he meant by his words at the funeral, we may never know, but we are, certainly, legitimately permitted to assume that it was not his intention to contradict, in an emotionally charged eulogy, what he had written with much thought and precision in De Mysteriis and elsewhere.
Father Laisney says that we have no right to make such assumptions. We disagree! Not only do we have the right, we have the duty to use our God-given faculty of reason — the power of comprehending and inferring — which is vital if we are to arrive at the truth of these controverted matters. Despite his protests, we will continue to look at all the evidence available in these reputed examples of baptism by desire or blood, our only purpose being to learn the whole truth.
So we say this: Neither Saint Ambrose, nor anyone else other than Almighty God, could ever say with absolute certainty that Valentinian had never been baptized. The year was 392, 79 years after the Edict of Milan. By this time, Christians in the Empire must have been a great majority, for just two years later Theodosius I, emperor in the East, declared Christianity to be the Faith of the Empire, and 30 years later the emperor Theodosius II declared that there were hardly any pagans left in his dominions. When Valentinian marched to Vienne for a showdown with a disloyal aide, Arbogast, a pagan Frank who had usurped imperial authority in Gaul, he was assassinated, apparently in Vienne.
Certainly it is safe to assume that he, the Emperor, embarked on this mission to Vienne, some 200 miles distance from Milan, not alone, but in the company of an armed guard of considerable size, perhaps even an army. And in that guard or army would have been many Christians, most of whom would have known of Valentinian’s resolve to be baptized, for it was no secret, and any one of whom could have baptized him before he died.
But if this had not happened, if Valentinian, in fact, had not been baptized by a soldier, Bishop Ambrose — with a faith in God that can move mountains — could still have found it appropriate to console the assembled mourners with these reassuring words: "Did he not obtain what he asked for? Certainly, because he asked for it, he obtained it." These words would not have been a "false" assurance to worried catechumens, as our critic contends, but, rather, a confirmation by the Holy Bishop of his total faith in the promise of Christ: "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you."
Here is how we would explain this incident: Valentinian was asking, seeking and knocking for the sacrament of Baptism. He was prevented by a sudden, unexpected death from receiving it solemnly at the hands of his Bishop. But no death is ever "sudden" or "unexpected" to God. If Valentinian was a worthy catechumen, as Ambrose believed he was, God got the saving waters to him somewhere and sometime before he died. Thus, with total confidence in Divine Providence, Ambrose could say: "Certainly, . . . he obtained it," for this is exactly what Father Leonard Feeney would have said had Valentinian been his catechumen!
