BAPTISMAL FONT. — In early Christian times, when the Sacrament of Baptism was administered by immersion, the baptismal font, usually enclosed in a separate building called a baptistery (v.), consisted of a basin which assumed the most varied shapes: rectangular, hexagonal, octagonal, circular, cruciform, and even in the form of a boat. It was usually constructed with the upper rim level with the floor, had a depth not exceeding 75 cm.; access was by two or, more often, three steps, rarely four. The water generally did not exceed 20 cm. in height; in all fonts there is a drain hole for the water; in some there is also an inlet, which in monumental baptisteries was filled by stags, lambs, etc.
The walls of the basin were lined with marble or mosaic. Such are the ancient baptismal fonts found in Rome (S. Marcello and S. Crisogono), at Grado, at Butrinto in Albania, and the very numerous ones in Roman Africa, as well as recently at S. Ma'rudijjeh west of Hebron.
At the time when baptism by infusion began to be practiced, i.e., between the 10th and 11th centuries, the oldest fonts properly so called date, placed both inside baptisteries and parish churches. For a certain period, however, the two forms of baptism, by immersion and by infusion, continued to coexist, and this also explains the form of the earliest fonts, modeled on medieval fountains, with a large polygonal or circular basin.
In the Baroque period, during which the elaborate setting of the font became an integral part of the chapel’s architecture, a typical example is that of the basilica of St. Peter in Rome, placed in a chapel designed by Carlo Fontana, consisting of a large block of porphyry covered with figured and gilded metals according to Fontana’s design. Another fine Baroque example is the bronze font of the cathedral of Osimo, executed in 1610 by P. P. Jacometti, with a massive tabernacle rising from the robust groups of four “Roman towers.” For the modern age, mention should be made of the font of the basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome, a work by Giuseppe Valadier completed in 1826.
LITURGY. — The baptismal font was always considered blessed from the day on which the water for Baptism was blessed in it; for this reason the Missal and the Ritual entitle this rite: *Benedictio fontis seu baptismalis*. The Roman Ritual has two short formulas: one is to be used only when the font must be blessed outside the vigils of Easter and Pentecost; the other was granted by Paul III to Peruvian missionaries and can be used in other places only by special privilege. Ordinarily, the blessing must be performed on the two vigils indicated; it is preceded by a vigil office and followed by the Baptism.
Examining the formulas preserved in the different liturgies, it is noted that regarding the East, a primitive formula for the consecration of baptismal water is preserved in the Ethiopian liturgy, which may have been introduced before 381, when, under the influence of the Constantinopolitan Council, the dogma of the Holy Spirit was given greater prominence, and indeed, with a pneumatic expansion, the same formula is then found in the Syriac liturgy. A second formula, also prior to 381, is found in the Greek liturgy, which also had a prayer for the blessing of water at Epiphany, which
BAPTISMAL FONT — Baptistery with mosaic decoration (5th-6th century) — Timgad.
often had at its center a small pillar with the reserve of water. The statuette of the Baptist could serve both for immersion and for baptism by infusion. Examples of this type include the font of S. Giovanni in Verona, datable around 1200, adorned with eight scenes from the New Testament carved on the panels of the polygonal basin and partly attributable to the art of Briolato, and that of S. Frediano in Lucca (late 12th century), whose circular basin was adorned with stories of Moses by a master Roberto who recalls “for plastic solidity and simplicity” the robust sculptures of Tuscany and the Lombard sculpture. This proves that even baptismal fonts were already at that time a true object of sculpture, similar to the ambones and the most famous pulpits. Moreover, that the use of baptism by immersion lasted even into this period is attested by the Danish verses referring to the font of the Florentine Baptistery (destroyed by Bernardo Buontalenti in 1577 and recently reconstructed), consisting of an octagonal parapet with a square enclosure at its center adorned with Romanesque panels and, at the corners, a small basin with a concave shape, one of which Dante says he broke (Inf., XIX, 16-21) to save a man who was drowning inside II. In the same Florentine baptistery, on the second side to the right, is a fine marble font (1370) from the 14th century, with six bas-reliefs relating to baptism, probably the work of Venetian sculptors. A characteristic example of the Gothic period is also that of the cathedral of Orvieto, octagonal with a large red marble basin supported by eight crouching lions, while above the lid is surmounted by a statuette of the Baptist. It is well known that the construction of a separate building, the baptistery, for the administration of Baptism definitively ceased in the 14th century, but in some baptisteries, however, fonts from the Renaissance period are also found, such as that of the baptistery of Siena, with an octagonal basin, adorned with scenes carved by Ghiberti, Donatello, and Jacopo della Quercia, at whose center rises the beautiful tabernacle by Jacopo with statues of prophets in niches and, as usual, crowned by the statue of the Baptist. In the Renaissance font of the cathedral of Florence, the basin, raised from the ground, has now assumed the proportions of a large cup to which is attached, by a double motif of acanthus leaves, the quadrangular tabernacle surmounted by a spire on which rests the statuette of the Precursor. With the rite changed and the proportions of the font reduced, it is natural that it, no longer needing a separate structure, found its place in the church — as seen in some of the examples above — in a secluded location, generally near the entrance. With the spread of the use of side chapels, the baptismal font also ended up occupying one of these chapels, which was often adapted and transformed to suit its new purpose. A transformation that is quite notable, especially
It was then fused with the preceding one so as to serve two purposes. The Coptic ritual begins with a very ancient prayer for the consecration of water and oil, followed by another, an expansion of that preserved in the *Testamentum Domini*. The Ethiopian ritual contains, in addition to the Coptic formulary (excluding the Trisagion interpolated later), introduced after the 13th century, also the two formulas cited, dating before 381 (though with the pneumatological expansion), along with the addition of a prayer proper to the blessing of baptismal water and oil. 2) In the West, the Roman and Ambrosian formularies exist. According to Schicht, these would be two independent translations of a text in another language, perhaps Syriac. Milan, however, would have received it directly from the East due to mutual relations even in the liturgical sphere: the formula, in fact, appears more complete with the mention of the Syrian Naaman and the pool of Siloam, lacking in the Roman formulary because unfamiliar to the Latins. Rome, without excluding a possible derivation from Milan, seems more likely to have received it from North Africa.
After an introductory collect, the consecratory anaphora follows (undoubtedly) and was intended in its structure to imitate the eucharistic anaphora of the sacred baptismal rites. After a first part of it, the priest divides the water in the form of a cross, as if to fertilize it with the contact of his consecrated hands, just as once the Spirit of God (Gen. 1) moved over the waters of chaos. After another passage, the priest imposes his hand upon the water as if to exorcise it; three signs of the cross are then made in the water to recall the river that flowed from Eden and then divided into four branches. Then another passage from the anaphora, after which the priest makes three more signs of the cross over the water, always in the form of a cross, to purify it, and finally (according to a rite that appeared in Rome around the 8th century) immerses the paschal candle, previously blessed, into the baptismal font three times, concluding the anaphora with the words: “May the power of the Holy Spirit fill this font and grant to the water the efficacy to regenerate (souls). May it wash away all stains of sin: here may nature, created in your image and thus restored to the glory of its Creator, be freed from its former squalor, so that all who enter this font of sacramental regeneration may be reborn to a new and truly innocent infancy.”
The priests then sprinkle the assembled faithful with the blessed water, and on Holy Saturday (in Milan this takes place on the vigil of Christmas) the homes of the faithful. Meanwhile, the oil of the catechumens is poured into the baptismal font.
BAPTISMAL FONT — A baptismal font with the depiction of Christ surrounded by the months of the year (late 12th century). Monfort, church of S. Evroult.
BAPTISMAL FONT — A baptismal font in the Liberian Basilica. Work by L. Valadier (1825) — Rome, basilica of S. Maria Maggiore.
and the chrism (a rite not ancient, introduced when, with the decline of adult catechumens, the special significance of the oil also became somewhat confused), intended for them, to express the grace of the Holy Spirit that fertilizes those waters now ready for Baptism.
The Roman Ritual, in giving the prescriptions for the baptistery, does not have in mind the ancient building but almost exclusively the baptismal font, for which it provides special norms. It is customary today to place it in the first chapel on the left, where tradition places darkness and sin; against these, therefore, the baptismal font rises, from which light and grace spring forth. St. Charles Borromeo (*Instructio fabricae ecclesiae*, 18) makes this obligatory. Over the baptismal font, even in ancient times (cf. *Liber Pontificalis*: Pope Hilarius, d. 468, for the Lateran baptistery; Mansi, VIII, 1037 for Antioch in 518), a dove was placed, symbolizing the Holy Spirit who appeared at the Baptism of Jesus, mystically present and fertilizing the waters of the sacred font. In the Middle Ages, it was prescribed to place a covering of red silk over the font, later predominantly white, still used even though the Ritual does not prescribe II.
The *Ordo Romanus* of St. Amand (L. Duchesne, *Origines du culte chrétien*, Paris 1923, p. 492), the Gregorian Sacramentary, and the Gelasian, Amalarius (PL 105, 1295) warn that after the Vespers of Easter and the Octave all would process *ad fontes*, undoubtedly to meditate on the greatness of the Sacrament received there. In Rome, this ceremony persisted until the 13th century, but in Germany, in many places, until the last century, and it is still practiced in Paris. The Ambrosian rite ordered this procession after Lauds and Vespers on every day; the related formulas have been preserved, but the procession is now performed only at Easter and Pentecost and on the two days following each solemnity.