BAPTISM of the Dead; a custom which anciently prevailed among some people in Africa, of giving baptism to the dead. The third council of Carthage speaks of it as a thing that ignorant Christians were fond of. Gregory Nazianzen also takes notice of the same superstitious opinion prevailing among some who delayed to be baptized. In his address to this kind of men, he asks, whether they should be baptized after death? Philatius also notes it as the general error of the Montanists or Cataphrygians, that they baptized men after death. The practice seems to be grounded on a vain opinion, that, when men had neglected to receive baptism in their life-time, some compensation might be made for this default by receiving it after death.