Eccl. Hist. Pl. also -entes. [ad. L. competens (in Augustine, Jerome, etc.; ‘competens vocatur qui post instructionem fidei competit gratiam Christi,’ Isidore, Orig., VII. xiv. § 8), pr. pple. of competĕre in its active sense, ‘to strive after something in company,’ usually in pl. competentes as a name of the class.] A candidate for baptism.
a. 1655. Vines, Lord’s Supp. (1677), 413. Men and women, competents or candidates of this Sacrament.
1659. H. L’Estrange, Alliance Div. Off., 260. Infants and competents.
1702. C. Mather, Magn. Chr., IV. iv. (1852), 73. Men, who were catechumens and competentes.
1729. W. Reeves, Serm., 115. In the first, the Competent professed to this effect, I renounce Satan, etc.
