Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 June 1894 — Godfathers and Godmothers. [ARTICLE]

Godfathers and Godmothers.

We must, doubtless, look to the Jews for the origin of godfathers and godmothers. The use of them in the primitive church 13 so early that it is not easy to fix a time for their beginning. Some of the most acient fathers make mention of them, and through all the successive ages afterward we And the use of them continued without any interruption. By a constitution of Edmund, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1236, and in a synod held at Woicester, 1240, a pro vision was made that there should be for every male child two godfathers and one godmother, and for every female one godfather and two godmothers. King Henry VIII., referring to the Princess Elizabeth, says: My Lord of Canterbury, I have a suit which you must not deny me. That is, a fair young maid that yet wants baptism. You must be godfather, and answer for her. ner.ry VIIL, Act V„ Scene 3. A constitution of 1281 makes provision for a Christian name being changed at confirmation; this is practically a renaming of the child. The manner in which it was done was for the Bishop to use the name in the Invocation, and afterward for him to sign a certificate that he had so confirmed a person by such new name. It is possible that this practice might have been in Shakspeare’s mind when he wrote: Call me hut love, and I’ll be uew baptlzea. Henceforth I never will be Borneo. —Romeo and Joliet. Act It, rcene 2. —The Westminster Review.