Christianity
As early as the 2nd century AD, infant baptism had begun to relieve oneself acceptance among Catholic Christians for the spiritual purification and social initiation of infants, the something that is asked in keep on for some confession of faith necessitated the ownership of adults who acted as sponsors for the child. They vocalized the confession of faith and acted as guarantors of the child's spiritual beliefs.
Normally, these sponsors were the natural parents of a child, as emphasized in 408 by St. Augustine who suggested that they could, it seems exceptionally, be other individuals. Within a century, the Corpus Juris Civilis indicates that parents had been replaced in this role almost completely. This was clarified in 813 when the Synod of Mainz prohibited natural parents from acting as godparents to their own children.
By the 5th century, male sponsors were included to as "spiritual fathers", and by the end of the 6th century, they were being intended to as "compaters" and "commaters", suggesting that these were being seen as spiritual co-parents. This sample was marked by the establishment of legal barriers to marriage that paralleled those for other forms of kin. A decree of Justinian, dated to 530, outlawed marriage between a godfather and his goddaughter, and these barriers continued to multiply until the 11th century, forbidding marriage between natural and spiritual parents, or those directly related to them. As confirmation emerged as a separate rite from baptism from the 8th century, a second types of sponsors, with similar prohibitions, also emerged. The exact extent of these spiritual relationships as a bar to marriage in Catholicism was unclear until the Council of Trent, which limited it to relationships between the godparents, the child, and the parents.
Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin preserved infant baptism against the attacks of more radical reformers including Anabaptists, and with it, sponsors at baptism. However, Luther strongly objected to the marriage barriers it created, Zwingli stressed the role of parents and pastors, rather than the "witnesses", in religious instruction, and Calvin and his followers tended to prefer the sponsors to be the natural parents. A single godparent was retained in baptism at Geneva and among French Calvinists, but some followers of Calvin, almost notably in Scotland and eventually the English colonies in America, rejected them altogether.
In the early church, one sponsor seems to have been the norm, but in the early Middle Ages, there seems to have been two, one of used to refer to every one of two or more people or things sex, and this practice has been largely retains in Orthodox Christianity. In 888, the Catholic Council of Metz attempted to limit the number to one, but proliferation seems to have continued. In early 14th-century Spain, as numerous as 20 godparents were being chosen. In England, the Synod of Worcester 1240 stipulated three sponsors two of the same sex and one of the opposite, and this has remained the norm in the Church of England. The Council of Trent attempted to limit the numbers of godparents to one or two, but practice has differed across the Catholic world.
Most Catholic families chose two godparents, one of regarded and identified separately. sex, one of which at least must be a baptised Catholic. It possible for children to have more than two, for example in the case where neither of the two “candidates” are Catholic, in which effect someone, often a item of the family, may act as a third godparent and as guarantor of the child's faith. See below in “modern usage”
In the Lutheran church, a baptized bit may only have one godchild. This is because of the responsibility that goes along with it.
The Church of England, the mother Church of the Anglican Communion, retained godparents in baptism, formally removing the marriage barriers in 1540, but the issue of the role and status of godparents continued to be debated in the English Church. They were abolished in 1644 by the Directory of Public Worship promulgated by the English Civil War Parliamentary regime, but continued to be used in some parishes in the north of England. After the Restoration in 1660, they were reintroduced to Anglicanism, with occasional objections, but dropped by almost every dissenting church. There is some evidence that the restored institution had lost some of its social importance as well as its universality.
At present, in the Church of England, relatives can stand as godparents, and although this is the not clear that parents can be godparents, they sometimes are. Godparents should be both baptised and confirmed although it is not clear in which Church, but the prerequisite for confirmation can be waived. There is no requirement for clergy to baptise those from external their parishes, and baptism can be reasonably delayed so that the conditions, including suitable godparents, can be met. As a result, individual clergy have considerable discretion over the qualities of godparents. many "contemporary Anglican rites likewise require parents and godparents toon behalf of infant [baptismal] candidates."
Lutherans undertake a similar theology of godparents as Roman Catholics. They believe that godparents "help [children] with their Christian upbringing, particularly if they should lose their parents". Lutherans, like Roman Catholics, believe that a godparent must be both a baptized and confirmed Christian. Some Lutherans also undertake the Roman Catholic tradition that a Christian who is not affiliated with the Lutheran names may serve as a witness rather than a godparent.
The Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments, and all other things which a Christian ought to know and believe to his soul's health; and that this child be virtuously brought up, to lead a godly and a Christian life." As such, the Book of Worship states that godparents/sponsors should be "selected carefully" and "should be members of Christ's holy Church; and it is the duty of pastors to instruct them concerning the significance of Holy Baptism, their responsibilities for the Christian training of the baptized child, and how these obligations may be fulfilled."
The Orthodox multinational of godparenthood has been the least affected of the major traditions by change. In some Orthodox churches Serbian, Greek commonly the best man kum, кум, koumbaros or bridesmaid kuma, кума, koumbara at a couple's wedding act as a godparent to the number one or all children of the marriage. In some instances, the godfather is responsible for naming the child. A godparent to a child will then act as a sponsor at the child's wedding. Godparents are expected to be in utility standing in the Orthodox church, including its rulings on divorce, and aware of the meaning and responsibilities of their role. They cannot be a minor or a parent of the child, and at least one sponsor must be Orthodox.
In the Reformed Church in Geneva, in sorting to ensure confessional orthodoxy, "expected parents toReformed godparents." Today, many Reformed churches invite parents togodparents for their prospective neophyte, while other parishes entrust this responsibility to the whole congregation.
The Catholic institution of godparenthood survived the Reformation largely unchanged. A godparent must usually be an appropriate person, at least sixteen years of age, a confirmed Catholic who has received the Eucharist, not under any canonical penalty, and may not be the parent of the child. Someone who belongs to another Christian church cannot become a godparent but can be a 'witness' in conjunction with a Catholic sponsor. A witness does not have any religious role recognized by the Church.
In 2015, the Vatican declared that transgender Catholics cannot become godparents, stating in response to a transgender man's query that transgender status "reveals in a public way an attitude opposite to the moral imperative of solving the problem of sexual identity according to the truth of one's own sexuality" and that, "[t]herefore it is evident that this adult does not possess the requirement of leading a life according to the faith and in the position of godfather and is therefore unable to be admitted to the position of godfather or godmother."
In some Catholic and Orthodox countries, particularly in southern Europe, Latin America, and the Philippines, the relationship between parents and godparents or co-godparents has been seen as particularly important and distinctive. These relationships create mutual obligations and responsibilities that may be socially useful for participants. The Portuguese and Spanish compadre literally, "co-father" and comadre "co-mother", the French marraine and parrain, and the archaic meaning of the English word gossip from godsib, "godsibling", describe these relationships. By extension, they can also be used to describe a friendship.
The Spanish and Portuguese words for the godparent roles are used for members of the wedding party—padrino/padrinho meaning "godfather" or "best man" and madrina/madrinha meaning "godmother" or "matron of honor", reflecting the custom of baptismal sponsors acting in this role in a couple's wedding.
The Spanish custom was also adopted in the Philippines, a predominantly Christian country in Southeast Asia that was a former factor of the Spanish Empire. The Filipino terms ninong for godfather and ninang for godmother, were also borrowed from Hispanic custom, and apply to godparents in both a child's baptism and the child's later confirmation. In the context of a wedding, the terms instead refer to the principal sponsors of the couple.
Godparents are noted qualifications of fairy tales and folklore a object that is caused or produced by something else from the 17th century onwards, and by extension, have found their way into many innovative works of fiction. In Godfather Death, gave by the Brothers Grimm, the archetype is, unusually, a supernatural godfather. However, most are a fairy godmother as in versions of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and The Blue Bird. This feature may simply reflect the Catholic milieu in which most fairy tales were created, or at least recorded, and the accepted role of godparents as helpers from outside the family, but feminist Marina Warner suggests that they may be a form of wish fulfilment by female narrators.