Godfather
Godfather is an honorary office in various denominations of Christianity . The godfather or godmother accompanies or carries the person to be baptized and is a witness to the dispensation of the sacraments . The name of the sponsor will be noted in the church register. The word godfather comes from the Latin pater spiritualis or Patrinus , which means “spiritual father” or “ little father” (corresponds to the old German godfather ).
General
The sponsorship office already developed in the old church . The first evidence can be found in the church writer Tertullian . The godparents accompanied the adult applicants for baptism ( catechumens ) in their preparation for baptism and vouched for the seriousness of their request for baptism; for baptized children as children they vouched for their Christian upbringing.
From this the current meaning of the church sponsorship developed. As baptismal witnesses, in case of doubt, they provide evidence that the baptism has been carried out. Sponsors take on the responsibility of the Christian community towards the baptized in a special way to lead the baptized to the Christian faith. Have them pray for the person being baptized and help them through word and example to become a living member of the Church of Jesus Christ. Godparents are usually named by the parents and commissioned by the church.
If godparents do not belong to the baptizing congregation, the Protestant and Catholic Church requires a certificate of godparenthood, which is issued by the godparent's congregation. This confirms the membership in the community or that the sponsor is Catholic and confirmed and has the right to assume the sponsorship office. In many congregations, a letter of sponsorship is presented after the baptism. He certifies the church commissioning of the godfather.
Roman Catholic Church
The Roman Catholic Church knows baptism and company sponsors. It should, whenever possible, a person being baptized or Firmling made a person to the side that will accompany him on the road and help to ensure that the baptized introduces the baptism corresponding Christian life and faithfully complies with its obligations. The canon law represented the sponsorship until 1983 as a "spiritual relationship", which also meant an obstacle to marriage .
requirements
The legal guardians or the pastor or the dispenser of the sacrament name one or two godparents who must be suitable and ready to perform this service. As a rule, godparents must be at least sixteen years old, baptized and confirmed, and have received first communion. They must also lead a life that corresponds to faith and god service. Those who are subject to a canonical punishment and the parents of the person to be baptized are not eligible.
Christians who do not belong to the Catholic Church are, according to Can. 874 § 2 of ecclesiastical law only permitted as additional baptismal witnesses for a Catholic godfather. According to the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity , set out in the Directory for the Implementation of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism of March 25, 1993 , because of the "close communion that exists between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches", a relative z. B. the Greek Orthodox Church to act as godfather for the baptism of a Catholic child or adult, if a Catholic godparent is present at the same time.
Protestant church
The Evangelical Church knows the sponsorship office in connection with child baptism. Baptized children under the age of 14 should receive godparents when they are baptized, who, together with their parents, are responsible for the Christian upbringing of the baptized persons and also promise this at the time of baptism. Since the confirmation class is also understood as subsequent baptismal instruction, the sponsorship officially ends with the confirmation of the person being baptized (often with the handing over of the “ godparent thanks ”). When adults are baptized, there are usually no sponsorships. In exceptional cases, some regional churches also allow children to be baptized without a sponsor if at least one parent is a member of the Protestant church. There are no fixed rules for the number of sponsors, but different recommendations depending on the regional church .
requirements
Godparents must be baptized themselves and be members of a church. As a rule, sponsors should be confirmed members of the Evangelical Church. Exceptions are regulated differently from regional church to regional church. Members of other communities of the Working Group of Christian Churches are usually admitted as additional sponsors, sometimes also as sole sponsors.
The sponsorship office can neither be revoked by the church nor given back by the sponsor, but it "expires if the godparent loses his or her admission to the Lord's Supper, especially if someone leaves the church." In contrast, in some regional churches it is possible to rename sponsors .
In earlier times, the godparents had a duty of care for the child in the event of the early death of the parents. This is still sometimes desired today, but the sponsorship office itself does not entitle you to assume guardianship ; if necessary, provisions must be made here in a will.
Takeover by non-religious associations
Since traditionally two important tasks of the godparents are to accompany the godchild in his development and to look after this child in the event of the early death of the parents, godparents are also often appointed in non-Christian communities.
In Germany, this is optional for free religious communities (on the occasion of the "consecration of life") or the Humanist Association (on the occasion of the "naming ceremony"). The importance of such a sponsorship then depends on the role that the sponsor actually takes towards the child. As with a baptismal sponsorship, the godparents can be noted by the corresponding ideology community in the family register.
General development of the term
A number of traditions have developed from the church commissioning the sponsorship office, which presupposes a close relationship between the sponsor and the sponsored child, which go beyond the sponsor's original spiritual role. This contributed to the development of a more general concept of sponsorship in a figurative sense that goes beyond the church's office of godfather.
Dialectal, ancient and other terms
| Godfather | godmother | Godchild | Region / usage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Godfather | Godmother | Godson or goddaughter | in a family context |
| Petter or Död | Dete or Döde | Petterchen or Detchen | Rhöner Platt |
| Dout | Dout | Doudla | Lower Franconian |
| bath | Badin | Lower Franconian | |
| Flap | Gurel | Siegerland Platt | |
| Patch | Jüttche | Rhineland-Palatinate, Eifel, Eastern Eifel | |
| Stalemate | Jott, Jött | North Eifel | |
| Flap | Godel | North Hesse | |
| Pätter or stalemate | Godel (dialectal Gull , Gell ) or Gode (Goh) | Central Hesse | |
| Pedder | Good | Peddersche or Goodsche | South Hessian |
| Stalemate | Goh, Godi, Jöd | in Westerwald | |
| Petter | Gode or Döt, also Gedel | in Hessian and Electoral Palatinate | |
| Later or stalemate | Godi or Gôôd | Rhineland-Palatinate | |
| Stalemate or Paddi | Gôôd or Gôdi | Saarland | |
| Godfather | Götchen (from regional Got ) | Dot | southern German language area |
| Getti / Geddi / Gedde | Gedda also Gedel | Parts of Baden-Württemberg | |
| Gedde | Godda | Thoughtful / Goddakend | in Upper Swabia |
| Gotti | Gotte / Gota / Gotti | Gottechind (Gottenkind) | in Alemannic , German-speaking Switzerland |
| Gods | Gotta / Gota | in Vorarlberg , also in Upper Swabian | |
| Deed (pronounced Deede ), Dette or |
Dote (pronounced Doode) Dotte, or Doda (Dodi) |
in Swabian | |
| Ged | Gohn | Parts of Upper Bavaria | |
| God | Godn | Parts of Upper Austria | |
| Ged | Goli | Memory child | Parts of Lower Austria |
| God | Godl | Lower Austria and Vienna | |
| Ged | Godl | Styria | |
| Ged | Gedl | Burgenland | |
| Téit, Teti, Get | Touta, Gotl, Götl, Goti | Gotlkind, Götlkind | Parts of North and South Tyrol |
| Gettn | God | Oberpinzgau | |
| God | Godn | Salzburg and Tyrol |
Web links
- Reference persons: godparents . Article about the role of the godfather and the requirements on kathisch.de, 25 September 2012
- The office of godparents: reflections on its understanding and design. A statement by the Theological Chamber of the Evangelical Church of Kurhessen-Waldeck . February 2002 (PDF; 103 kB)
- Godfather in the ecclesiastical glossary of the Württemberg Evangelical Lutheran regional church .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Article "Godfather", in: Religion in the past and present . Vol. 5, 3rd edition, Tübingen: JCB Mohr 1961, Sp. 151 f.
- ↑ Evangelical Adult Catechism , ed. by the directors of the VELKD's Catechism Commission , 6th, completely revised edition, Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 2000, pp. 551f.
- ↑ Codex Iuris Canonici 1983, c. 872
- ↑ Codex Iuris Canonici 1917, c. 1079
- ↑ Codex Iuris Canonici 1983, c. 874
- ↑ Can. 874 § 2
- ↑ Baptism. A guide to the understanding and practice of baptism in the Protestant Church , presented by the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany, Gütersloh 2008, esp. Pp. 46–48.
- ↑ for example the EKHN , see Order of Church Life of the EKHN
- ↑ a b z. B. in the EKHN , see order of life
- ↑ Article 16, Paragraph 5 of the Order of Church Life of the Evangelical Church of the Union