in Theology, the ceremony of laying on of hands, for the conveyance of the Holy Ghost. The antiquity of this ceremony is, by all the older writers, carried as high as the apostles, and founded upon their example and practice. In the primitive church, it used to be given the Christians immediately after baptism, if the Conflagration happened to be present at the solemnity. Among the Greeks, and throughout the East, it still accompanies baptism; but the Roman Catholics make it a distinct and independent sacrament. Seven years is the stated time for confirmation; however, persons are confirmed sometimes before and sometimes after that age. The person to be confirmed has a godfather and godmother appointed him, as in baptism. The order of confirmation in the church of England does not determine the precise age of the persons to be confirmed.