What happens at a Confirmation?

Of course, the
word confirmation has a general meaning, to verify or witness to the truth of something. In
a religious context, it is the fourth sacrament in the Catholic canon, after Baptism,
Confession, and Communion. Each of these first sacraments deepens the individuals commitment to
the Catholic religion, and the fourth confirms those declarations. It comes at the Age of
Consent, when the individual is intellectually and emotionally responsible for his/her spiritual
condition, usually around 13 years of age. It is a publicly declared testament of ones faith and
belief in the religions tenets, including the Catechism; it takes place in a church, is
administered by a priest, and usually is a mass ceremony, in which a whole class of children,
after extensive lessons, receive the sacrament together. The next two sacraments, Matrimony and
Holy Orders, are mutually exclusive; the final sacrament, Extreme Unction, is administered at
the close of the souls life on Earth.