Catholic marriages and baptims- general query

[Jill Eaton]

Would anyone know if the witnesses at marriages and godparents at baptisms had to be Catholics too?

[aghadowey]

When and where?

[Jill Eaton]

When and where?

London, specifically the Westminster and Southwark parishes between roughly the 1860s to the 1920s.

[Rhododendron]

They were expected to be because the godparents promised to bring the child up in the Catholic Faith.

[Joney]

I agree that godparents at a Catholic baptism would be Catholics, as they promised to see that the child was brought up as a Catholic, if for instance, the parents died. However, witnesses to a marriage are just that. They sign the register as required for civil registration of marriages, but don't have any specific Catholic role at the church. My grandparents married in an RC church in Liverpool in 1906. The witnesses were  another married couple, my grandfather's sister and her C of E husband.

[Blue70]

My Dad's Catholic Dad was his godfather at his C of E baptism 


Blue