Most kids who went to Catholic school in the 50’s and 60’s know about pagan babies.
In my class at St. Amelia’s school in Tonawanda, NY, we collected nickels and dimes in a cigar box to buy a pagan baby. These babies, we were told, didn’t know God. It cost $5.00.
When I entered first grade, I came home one day and excitedly told my mother that I was getting one.
And when I got it, I was going to take care of it all by myself.
My mother wisely refrained from saying much about it. She went to Catholic school too, and I don’t know if they had pagan babies then, but I bet they did. And of course, she knew that no pagan baby was coming to stay at 159 Findlay Avenue, no matter what I said.
Anyway, I misunderstood about getting a pagan baby.
Pagan Baby Certificate
You didn’t buy one with the $5.00. That $5.00 bought you naming rights. Your class picked out a name for the child, and the Catholic church baptized the baby with that name into the Catholic faith.
The class received a certificate for each child they named. Fierce competition existed between some of the nuns as to whose class had the most pagan babies.
A bulletin board held the certificates, pinned to the wall. Some had a lot more than others. Possibly the nuns coerced the kids in those classes into giving more?
I went to Catholic grade school at St. Amelia’s for 8 years.
We must have had at least 5 pagan babies in each class.
That’s 40 babies right there. I think most of them were in Africa and India. Reminiscing about St. Amelia’s brings back many other memories.
Like using Necco wafers to practice First Holy Communion.
And the time I put together a shoe box with all the items I needed to go and baptize my Jewish friends across the street, Amy and Kenny Wolpin.
But that’s another post.
Renee- – -tell the proofreader to correct the spelling of the coin nickel in the second sentence of your article on Pagen babies.
Will do! Thank you.
As a first grade student at St.Aloysius in Wilkes-Barre, PA circa 1969, pagan babies were part of our extreme Catholic instruction. Every month after the money was collected, a students name was “randomly”picked out of a bag with the chosen name becoming the “Pagan Baby of the Month.” Certificates were horizontally displayed above the green & yellow “cursive writing” examples atop the blackborads. The certificates were white, thick,wrinkly paper with burnt orange and brown late 60’s modern catholic designs. I “won” one month & remember excitement at winning but total confusion & a sense of dread. I thought they would all come in a box and be distributed at the end of the school year. Do you know if I could list my pagan baby on my tax return as a dependent?
Pagan babies are certainly a uniquely Catholic childhood memory!
RENEE!
I was JUST telling my son about “Pagan Babies” when I was a little girl! I don’t think he really believed me. . . which is how he found your story!!!
Through the years, I have often wished I HAD one of those certificates as I have told the story about them to others and NO one seems to BELIEVE IT!
I vividly remember the certificate you have posted, with the various nationalities represented. I ALSOvividly remember, that the certficates were five dollars each (pretty steep for thr ‘60’s! I don’t know what state you were in at the time, but I have lived in California for the last 60 years.
THANK YOU for truly capturing a historical phenomenon!
MJ, yes, the price was $5.00 and the money was kept in a cigar box, of all things! Thanks for commenting!
My Catholic neighborhood friends and I would have a carnival like MD carnivals sponsored by Jerry Lewis. We would use the proceeds to buy pagan babies. In three years, we bought six–three boys and three girls.
My friend Sue, a Lutheran by way of Methodism can’t get head around buying pagan babies. I have her a link to your site.
Hello Mike. Thanks for commenting. Pagan babies are certainly a unique experience us Catholic schoolkids share!