Joseph,
In the Catholic faith during confirmation an individual-by his own will and concience- accepts the Catholic Faith and renounces to evil in presence of a Bishop, appearing with only one padrino or madrina, who was responsible for helping the ahijado(a) prepare in the doctrine of Church including an understanding of the the Confirmation cermony. Back in the old days in Mexico, that sponsor generally was an adult, often a relative, but not necessarily, and in many occassions it was the same Padrino from baptism. Interestingly, prior to the Second Vatican Council, there was no specified age for confirmation. Thus, for instance I was confirmed as a baby following my baptism (so much for me deciding one way or another).

Today, at least in the US, the name of godfather or godmother for confirmation appears to have been replaced with 'sponsor'. The sponsor has to be a confirmed Catholic. It can be a relative or a close friend, -even of the same age as the one being confirmed- my son who was confirmed, became the sponsor of his best friend the following year. They were about 12. In my case, back in the 70's I was the Padrino of my best friend in Mexico City. We were both 15, and neethless to say, the Bishop was not amused. He asked me a few questions, realized that I was well versed in the precepts of the Catholic faith, and continued the ceremony.

Hope this helps

Jaime

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joseph Puentes"
To: research@nuestrosranchos.org
Sent: Saturday, November 15, 2008 7:04:37 PM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central
Subject: [Nuestros Ranchos] Ahijados ???

I was looking at a film in the 1741 time frame for Zacatecas, Zacatecas
for Confirmations. Was the person sponsoring the person being confirmed
also called a Padrino? I thought that was just for Godparents at the
baptism? The records I was looking at mostly only had a single person
sponsoring them wasn't there suppose to be two sponsors? Was the sponsor
a serious commitment like it was to be a Godparent in that many times
they chose a family member to be the sponsor?

http://h2opodcast.com/nr/misc/Ahijados.JPG
(in this picture above is this for confirmations or baptism, did they
call the confirmed an Ahijado? I thought that meant Godchild).

maybe that film had information about baptisms as well,

joseph

=====================

Joseph Puentes
http://h2opodcast.com/vsse.html (Vegan Environmental Solutions Podcast)
http://h2opodcast.com (Environmental Podcast)
http://h2opodcast.blogspot.com/ (Blog for above)
http://PleaseListenToYourMom.com (Women's Peace Podcast)
http://NuestraFamiliaUnida.com (Latin American History Podcast)
http://nuestrosranchos.org (Jalisco, Zacatecas, and Aguascalientes
Genealogy)

I don't know about current practices, but I had a madrina when I was
confirmed in 1966. Most chose a family member. One always chose a
godparent of the same sex.

On Sat, Nov 15, 2008 at 8:04 PM, Joseph Puentes wrote:

>
> I was looking at a film in the 1741 time frame for Zacatecas, Zacatecas for
> Confirmations. Was the person sponsoring the person being confirmed also
> called a Padrino? I thought that was just for Godparents at the baptism? The
> records I was looking at mostly only had a single person sponsoring them
> wasn't there suppose to be two sponsors? Was the sponsor a serious
> commitment like it was to be a Godparent in that many times they chose a
> family member to be the sponsor?
>
> http://h2opodcast.com/nr/misc/Ahijados.JPG
> (in this picture above is this for confirmations or baptism, did they call
> the confirmed an Ahijado? I thought that meant Godchild).
>
> maybe that film had information about baptisms as well,
>
> joseph
>
> =====================
>
> Joseph Puentes
> http://h2opodcast.com/vsse.html (Vegan Environmental Solutions Podcast)
> http://h2opodcast.com (Environmental Podcast)
> http://h2opodcast.blogspot.com/ (Blog for above)
> http://PleaseListenToYourMom.com (Women's Peace Podcast)
> http://NuestraFamiliaUnida.com (Latin
> American History Podcast)
> http://nuestrosranchos.org (Jalisco,
> Zacatecas, and Aguascalientes Genealogy)
>
>
>