Anciently, a chrisom, or "chrisom-cloth," was the face-cloth, or piece of linen laid over a child's head when they were

baptised Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...

or christened. Originally, the purpose of the chrisom-cloth was to keep the ''

chrism Chrism, also called myrrh, ''myron'', holy anointing oil, and consecrated oil, is a consecrated oil used in the Anglican, Assyrian, Catholic, Nordic Lutheran, Old Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Latter Day Saint churches in th ...

'', a consecrated oil, from accidentally rubbing off. With time, the word's meaning changed, to that of a white mantle thrown over the whole infant at the time of baptism. The term has come to refer to a child who died within a month after its baptism—so called for the chrisom cloth that was used as a

shroud Shroud usually refers to an item, such as a cloth, that covers or protects some other object. The term is most often used in reference to '' burial sheets'', mound shroud, grave clothes, winding-cloths or winding-sheets, such as the famous S ...

for it. Additionally, in London's Bills of Mortality, the term chrisom was used to refer to infants who died within a month after being born.

References

* * ''Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary'' (1913) Baptism Death customs {{death-stub