Chrismation

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A ritual involving the anointing with oil that signifies the sealing of the Holy Spirit and is often associated with the sacrament of confirmation in certain Christian traditions
2. This sacred procedure consists of the application of consecrated oil on an individual to symbolize spiritual empowerment and initiation within specific Christian denominations
3. An established practice that employs holy oil for anointing, representing the impartation of grace and the commitment to a faith community in the context of religious ceremonies

Etymology: Chrismation names the anointing with chrism, the consecrated oil used in several Christian rites, and the word is a plain English compound: "chrism" with the suffix "-ation" attached. That suffix is the familiar noun-forming ending that turns verbs into process nouns, as in "creation" or "donation." Its ancestry runs back through Proto-Italic and Latin, where a form ending in "-ātiō" was common, and it reached English through Old French and Middle English as "-acioun" before settling into the modern "-ation." The base word "chrism" has its own older line. It comes from Greek "chrisma," meaning an anointing or something smeared on, from the verb "chriein," to anoint. The Greek root connects to the same idea that gives "Christ," whose name is a translation of the Hebrew "messiah," meaning "anointed one." So the oil and the title share a root.

Synonyms: confirmation, anointing, baptismal anointing, confirmation rite