Baptism sponsors

Dagwood · Post by **Dagwood** » 01 Oct 2011 17:17

I'm researching ancestors in Dorset and have just come across a Baptism register for Milton Abbas for 1848 and was surprised to see almost every entry had up to 4 sponsors for each child baptised. Can anyone enlighten me as to whether this is a quirk of that church or is it something more widespread and are the sponsors something similar to a godparent?
Dagwood

ID:5491

YouTube · Post by **Jane** » 01 Oct 2011 21:24

A bit of googling suggests that the term Sponsor is still common in the RC church see http://www.catholiceducation.org/articl ... e0233.html

So it would seem likely the sponsor are the equivalent of godparents.

gerrynuk · Post by **gerrynuk** » 01 Oct 2011 23:00

Dagwood,

Was it a Catholic Church? Or if it was a C of E Parish Church perhaps the Vicar was High Church Anglican and following Catholic practices. I haven't seen sponsors/godparents listed in any C of E parishes I have researched, although I think they were present at the Baptism/Christening but not listed in the Register.

Gerry

Dagwood · Post by **Dagwood** » 04 Oct 2011 20:43

Well you learn something every day. Thanks for the answers. I'll have to refind Milton Abbas and will check what denomination church it is. As the article Jane's link took me to says, it must be increasingly difficult to get 4 people to meet the requirements nowadays.
Dagwood

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