The baptism of fallen sinners wipes away original sin and personal sin and all punishment due for sin. None of that applies to Jesus or to Mary. So, first of all, why was Jesus baptized?

Well, baptism gives each of us an indelible character on the soul, marking us as Christians. As the Divine founder of Christianity, as the eternal Head of His body the Church, as the Author of salvation, it was fitting for Christ to receive Baptism so that He would also have that character on His soul. This was in no way required, as God could still save us in Christ Jesus without the baptism of Jesus. But it was more perfect.

It is therefore also fitting and most perfect for Christ Jesus, who is our High Priest — who is the One who forgive sins through the priest in Confession, who is the One consecrates the Eucharist through the priest at Mass, who is the One who makes each Sacrament effective — to have the character given at ordination in Holy Orders, along with the character of baptism.

There are three indelible characters that a human person might receive on their soul, one each from Baptism, Confirmation, Orders. So it is also fitting and perfect for Christ to have received all three characters, including that of Confirmation.

When would He have received these three characters on His human soul? My speculative opinion is that all three were received when the Father sent the Holy Spirit upon the human nature of Christ at His baptism in the Jordan.

[Matthew]
{3:13} Then Jesus came from Galilee, to John at the Jordan, in order to be baptized by him.
{3:14} But John refused him, saying, “I ought to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?”
{3:15} And responding, Jesus said to him: “Permit this for now. For in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all justice.” Then he allowed him.
{3:16} And Jesus, having been baptized, ascended from the water immediately, and behold, the heavens were opened to him. And he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and alighting on him.
{3:17} And behold, there was a voice from heaven, saying: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Now the baptism of John the Baptist was certainly a baptism for repentance, and not the Sacrament of Baptism. I should add, though, that a fallen sinner can receive a baptism of desire by sincere repentance, with perfect contrition. So I would expect that many, but not all, of those sinners baptized by John likely received the state of grace through a sorrowful baptism of desire. Even so, the baptism given by John was not the Sacrament of Baptism and never conferred the indelible character of Baptism.

In the case of Jesus, however, John’s baptism was followed by the Father baptizing the Son (in His human nature) by the sending of the Holy Spirit. And it was this Divine act, in my opinion, that gave Jesus the first true Sacrament of Baptism, with its indelible character, as well as the Sacrament of Confirmation in the Holy Spirit, and the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

As for the Blessed Virgin Mary, we might consider her immaculate conception to be a type of baptism of blood, as she was saved in the first instant of her creation at conception by the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. But a longstanding tradition says that Mary was also formally baptized with water late in her life — after the Ascension of her Divine Son Jesus. She was sinless — without original sin or personal sin — and so her reception of Baptism did not need to forgive original or personal sin. And she had no temporal punishment due for sin to be remitted. But she did fittingly receive the Sacrament of Baptism, so that she would have the indelible character of Baptism, like Jesus and like all baptized Christians throughout the history and future of the Church.

Ronald L Conte Jr