Cyprian's affirming it in the face of questioning. There are records of people receiving baptism in prison, awaiting martyrdom, where immersion would be difficult or impossible, but the most common use was for a person who was ill and could not be removed from the bed it therefore received the name 'baptism of the sick.' Because of its rarity, doubts arose about its validity, as is shown by St. However, when a person could not be immersed, baptism by aspersion or affusion was performed. The normal form of baptism for the first centuries-until at least the twelfth century-was immersion.
