We were with the baptismal party of the father (perhaps the mother also), the sponsors (usually three), and the baby outside the church door where the priest meets the group. He asks the baby's sex and if it has been baptized before. Some preliminary actions are performed in front of the church. If possible, the priest takes the hand of the baby and leads him or her into the church as a symbolic move. The baptismal font is inside the door and there the child is blessed. The priest asks the name of the baby and then the child is baptized by the verbal formula and sprinkled with water. Then the child is taken from the font and given to the principal sponsor, whose name the child receives. From the font, the party moves to the altar for a profession of faith, with the sponsors answering for the infant. The sponsors will teach the infant, in due course, the Lord's Prayer, the Ave Maria, and the Creed.
The sponsors could not be related by blood or marriage to the parents, so uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents, etc., were not eligible.
What has been described is the position or attitude of the church late in the 1400's (end of the Fifteenth Century). There was, in Western Europe, only one Christian church, which today we call the Roman Catholic Church. The position of the Catholic Church has changed little in the years since then. They are very adamant that baptism is required for entrance into heaven. A priest is even authorized to baptize an unborn infant if necessary.
The parents need not be members of the Catholic Church. If the child is in danger of death, it can be baptized without the consent of the parents. If the child does not appear to be in danger, then the consent of at least one parent is sought. [In early Pennsylvania when ministers were scarce, Catholic priests would baptize non-Catholic children.]
At the Council of Trent in 1563 for the Catholic faith, the presence of sponsors was affirmed, but the Council reduced the number from three to one (at the most two). Again, the presence of a sponsor was not considered to be necessary. Another decision of the Council was that the baptism should be recorded in a church book. Prior to this, it was not considered necessary. The prescribed information was the name of the infant, the father and mother, the dates of birth and baptism, the names of the sponsors, and the location where the baptism was performed.
By now, the Reformation was underway and alternatives to the Catholic practices were being used in the Protestant churches. The Catholic position and views have changed little since the Council of Trent.
(01 Jul 03)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.