Pope Hyginus

Hyginus led the church in Rome from around 138 until his death near 142. During those years, he's credited with codifying much of early Christian structure: he assigned ranks and duties to the clergy, required that churches be formally consecrated, and introduced the practice of baptismal sponsors — godparents — to guide the newly baptized through their lives in the faith. Later accounts call him a martyr, though no contemporary evidence confirms it. The dating of Rome's earliest bishops remains uncertain, their reigns sketched more in tradition than hard record.