Confirmation

Confirmation is a sacrament, that is, an intersection of earthly human life with the life of God, by which the baptized individual can personally affirm that he or she wants to take responsibility for the values, attitudes, and direction of life he or she has taken after baptism.

Soon after the emergence of Christianity, this group of believers became not only unacceptable but downright hostile to civil society, and to express one's affiliation with Christianity required much courage and strength, which believers drew from this very sacrament.

That is why confirmation was administered immediately after baptism, even to children who were threatened with persecution or even violent death by the persecutors of the Church. While in the West the situation calmed down from the 4th century onwards and Christianity became the defining religion of society, the East soon faced other types of hostility towards Christians, from many directions.

Therefore, the East has preserved the conferral of the sacrament of confirmation immediately after baptism, even on young children, and in the West, very soon after the acquisition of religious freedom for Christians, confirmation was separated from baptism and conferred only at the time when the child becomes an independent individual, capable of making decisions about his or her future direction in life, including his or her faith.

Confirmation thus represents for us the maturation of personal faith and a conscious decision not to be guided only by circumstances and traditions, but by one's own conscience. It emphasizes courage, inner strength and openness to others. For many, Confirmation is a personal milestone, a moment of stopping and realizing who they want to be and what they want to stand for.

The candidate has been preparing to receive this sacrament for several months, together with other baptized people who are considering their adult faith and would like to take the next, and independent, step in it. At Holy Mountain, preparation for Confirmation will begin in January 2026, with the following dates:

25.january 1, 2026, February 22, 2026, March 22, 2026, April 19, 2026, May 3, 2026, June 7, 2026, August 2, 2026, September 6, 2026, and October 18, 2026, at 2 pm each time.

It is open to all baptized persons who have been prepared for Confession and Holy Communion in the past and will be at least 17 years old at the beginning of their preparation (there is no upper age limit!). Both those who are considering Confirmation but are not sure if they want to receive it, and those who have received it in the past without deeper spiritual preparation are welcome.

Sign up by January 10, 2026 by emailing: basilica@farnost-svatahora.cz.