PHILADELPHIA  A couple who prayed over their dying son rather than taking him to a doctor were sentenced on Wednesday to 10 years’ probation, and ordered to ensure regular medical care for their seven surviving children.

The couple, Herbert Schaible, 42, and Catherine Schaible, 41, members of the fundamentalist First Century Gospel Church, a congregation in the Juniata section of Philadelphia that teaches faith healing, were convicted in December of involuntary manslaughter after their 2-year-old son died of bacterial pneumonia in 2009.

Judge Carolyn Engel Temin of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas ordered the couple to arrange for their children, ages 1 to 15, to be examined by a doctor in the next month, to make follow-up visits, and to immediately follow a doctor’s advice on medical care for the children, said Tasha Jamerson, a spokeswoman for the Philadelphia district attorney’s office.

The Schaibles put their son Kent to bed with what appeared to be a heavy cold, and prayed over him rather than seeking medical help, jurors heard during a three-day trial. He died on Jan. 24, 2009, after a two-week illness.