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Re: [ranchos] Re: Confirmaciones, Expuestos

 
If one thinks about it, an "expuesto" child was placed (whether physically or metaphorically) on the doorstep of a church or a home and "exposed" to the elements, to the scorn and ridicule of the public, and to take on the sin of its parents.  Illegitimate children paid for their being the union of the unmarried.  They couldn't hold certain positions or go to some universities.  It was a terrible existence, and it was not their fault.  Marge
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2005 11:42 PM
Subject: [ranchos] Re: Confirmaciones, Expuestos

Hello, everyone,
 
I am like Christopher; I don't know much Spanish or the practices in the Catholic Church, even though I was baptized and confirmed.  I was baptized in New Mexico at the age of a few months, then my mother told me that I was confirmed at the age of 2.  She told me this because when we moved to California, my little friends asked me why I had never made my first Communion.  I asked my Mother why, and she said it was not necessary since I had been baptized and confirmed by a bishop in New Mexico.  I don't remember the slap on the face, but I do remember the bishop being angry at me because I kept trying to take his hat and the little bottle of oil from him.  He told my aunt who was holding me in her arms to hold my hands so that he could get on with the ritual.  Strange that I remember that.
 
Later, when I wanted to get married in California, my husband said I had to mak! e my first communion in order to receive the sacrament of matrimony.  I went to classes at the age of 23 with other adults converting to Catholicism.  My husband couldn't understand why I had never made my first communion, and he didn't believe that I had been confirmed as a small child.  Now, thanks to your e-mails, he has to believe me.
 
As for Expuestos, that was a new one to me.  I had never run across such records.  I looked in my Spanish-English dictionary for the definition of "expuestos" and it says it means "exposed, liable, or obnoxious".  Now I am really confused about that term.
 
Emilie Garcia
 Port Orchard, WA



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