Two choices belong to a Confirmation candidate: a saint and a sponsor. The saint is a custom, a patron whose name you may take and whose prayers and example you claim for the rest of your life. The sponsor is required by the Church, a confirmed Catholic who presents you to the bishop and undertakes to help you live what the sacrament gives. Both should be chosen slowly and prayerfully rather than in the last week before the forms are due. This guide takes each in turn.

What you need

• Time: begin months before the parish deadline, not days
• A good source of saints' lives (the parish library, this site's saints pages, a reliable Catholic biography)
• Canon 893 and canon 874, which set the requirements for a sponsor (summarized below)
• The parish's form or deadline for the saint's name and the sponsor certificate

When to pray it

During the preparation year. Ask the Holy Spirit to lead you to a saint and a sponsor, and ask the saint you are considering to pray for you as you decide.

Steps

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   Step 1: Why a saint

   The custom of taking a saint's name at Confirmation grew from the practice of giving a Christian name at Baptism: the name places you under the protection of a member of the Church in heaven and gives you a model of holiness in the flesh. The Order of Confirmation does not require a new name; where the custom exists the bishop uses the chosen name when he says, 'N., be sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit.' Choosing a saint is therefore an act of friendship, not a formality: you are asking someone who has finished the race to pray for you as you run it.

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   Step 2: How to search: patronages, your name, your story

   There are three good doors in. First, patronage: the Church honors saints as patrons of students, nurses, musicians, soldiers, those with a particular illness, those struggling with a particular sin, whole countries; look for one whose patronage touches your life. Second, your own name: if you were baptized with a saint's name, consider simply keeping it and learning that saint's story. Third, your story: a saint from your family's homeland, a saint whose conversion resembles your own, a saint who died young if you are young, a saint who struggled where you struggle. Make a short list of two or three and pray to each for a week.

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   Step 3: Read the saint's life

   Read a real life, not a paragraph: how the saint was raised, what he or she was like before conversion, what the saint suffered, what the saint wrote or said, how he or she died. Note the saint's feast day, so you can keep it every year, and learn one prayer or line associated with the saint. If after reading you find that you admire the saint but do not want to imitate him or her, choose someone else; the point is imitation. Ask the saint's prayers in your own words, and choose when you find yourself returning to one name.

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   Step 4: Know the sponsor requirements

   Canon 893 says the sponsor must fulfill the conditions of canon 874 for a baptismal godparent, and that it is desirable that the sponsor be one of your baptismal godparents. The sponsor must be chosen by the parents (or by the one to be baptized) and have the aptitude and intention for the role; be at least sixteen years old, unless the diocesan bishop has set another age or the pastor or minister judges a just exception should be made; be a Catholic who has been confirmed and has received Holy Communion, and who leads a life in harmony with the faith and with the role being undertaken; not be under any canonical penalty; and not be the father or mother of the one to be baptized. A practicing Catholic who is married outside the Church without a convalidation, or who has abandoned the practice of the faith, cannot honestly take the role, however much you love them; the parish may ask the sponsor to attest to these things in writing.

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   Step 5: Ask the sponsor

   Ask in person if you can, and say what you are asking: to present you to the bishop, to stand with a hand on your shoulder as you are anointed, and, in the words of canon 892, to take care that you behave as a true witness of Christ and faithfully fulfill the obligations of the sacrament. Give the person freedom to decline. Once he or she accepts, ask for a sponsor certificate from the sponsor's own parish and pass along the date, the time, and any parish rehearsal. A sponsor who is a godparent, an older sibling, an aunt or uncle, a teacher or a family friend can all be excellent; a sponsor who lives far away can still serve if he or she can be present on the day.

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   Step 6: Tell the parish

   Give the parish the saint's name you have chosen (or say that you are keeping your baptismal name) and the sponsor's name and certificate by the deadline it sets; the parish needs these for the bishop's list and for your Confirmation certificate, and it will record the sponsor's name in the Confirmation register and notify the parish of your Baptism. Then, having chosen, stop deliberating and start praying: ask your saint daily for his or her intercession, and ask your sponsor to pray for you until the day. Pray the Litany of Humility▾ if you notice the choices becoming about appearances rather than about holiness.

Tips

• Your baptismal name is already a saint's name for most Catholics; keeping it is a perfectly good choice and the rite does not require a new one.
• Choose a saint whose life you have actually read, not one whose name simply sounds good.
• The sponsor need not be a family member, but may be; only your parents are excluded.
• If you cannot find a sponsor who meets the requirements, ask the parish; it will help you find a suitable Catholic rather than let you choose someone who cannot serve.