THE BAPTISTERY
The people who are trying to shape the symbol ritual churches today, such as the Episcopal Church, say that the goal of this new century should be to establish the baptistery as a force equal to the altar and ambo (pulpit). This is because baptism sets the frame work for our Christian faith. Without baptism, we can not become participating members of our church. With baptism, we make a life commitment. We take the risk to give ourselves to God.
The baptistery fonts date from the early Christian church. In the beginning, the church baptized in the same way that John the Baptist did - in a stream or spring of running, "living" water. They immersed the person in the water three times. Even before the persecutions in the second century, Christians met secretly in private homes or the catacombs. In these house churches, the large private bathing facilities were used. The bishops instructed them to use cold water so baptism differed from the Roman bath. The catacomb baptistery of San Gennaro in Naples, Italy was 4' deep and 12 ' in diameter. It was used until the 5th century. Once the Christians started to buy houses and convert them into domus ecclesia, the Christians made permanent immersion fonts in these buildings.
When Christianity became public and took over the Roman basilicas in the third and fourth centuries, the baptistery was often in a room or chamber adjacent to the sanctuary. It was sometimes in separate buildings. This was because the candidates were often naked when they were baptized. Only the assisting ministers were present, and not the congregation. The newly baptized were then dressed in white robes and led back into the church to join their fellow parishioners for the Easter Vigil. For over a thousand years the elect were immersed in large fonts. Before the immersion their whole bodies were anointed with oil of Chrism to mark them for God as priests, prophets and kings, as priests to be a priestly people, as prophets to witness by work and action for Christ, and as royalty not to be spoiled or adored but as a sign of responsibility for those in their care.
Eventually, during that time, because the infant death rate was so high, and because the Christians then believed that babies who were not baptized did not go to heaven, the church began baptizing infants. By the 9th century, the infants were still being submersed, which means the whole baby was swooped under the water. Gradually the fonts became smaller and smaller until by the eleventh century they were like tubs. The 14th century saw them shrink even smaller as 75 years of the “black death plague” gripped Europe and an estimated one quarter of the population died. This century also saw extreme cold where rivers and open water froze.
Rampant witchcraft in the 15th and 16th century led to the use of elaborate font covers to protect the holy water which the witches stole for use in their satanic rites. By the 17th century baptism had become a sort of dry-cleaning where infants or adults were sprinkled. The water had lost all its significance of washing clean of sin.
For about four hundred years the practice of baptism then remained unchanged. The last few decades of the 20th century visionaries began a renewal, a rediscovery of what it meant to be a Christian in terms of architecture, furnishings, and program in addition to theology itself. The 4th century homilies of the bishops were closely studied. Because Christianity was so secret and protected, researchers feel baptism had remained very pure in intent, instruction and ritual.
The infant and adult immersion fonts are now physically designed for the sacrament of baptism that celebrates the embrace of God where "bathers emerge from the tub not just clean but a new creation.” However, people have come to realize that the life of the font is more than the Easter Vigil experience when adults are baptized. The baptistery is more than a place to “dunk” people. We must look at it in the larger picture of enshrining the mystery of dying and rising. That is what we do with the cross; enshrine the mystery of dying and rising. Because Christ was baptized with water, died and rose from the dead, we baptize with water to symbolize our dying to sin and joining Christ in the journey to heaven. We step down into the kingdom and out into life after death. This ritualizes the resurrection of Christ, and we should be overwhelmed by the experience. Only because of that resurrection do we have hope of spending eternity with God after our deaths. In the font we enshrine a life force for incarnation.
What is important about the baptistery is that we touch the water; that it draws us, entices us, and says to us, "Come and touch." To do that the baptistery should not hide the contained water. We must remember that the baptistery is the vessel; the water is its reason for being. It must also be located where it can be easily touched and remind us we are living the baptismal covenant every day.
Water is life giving to all living things. The symbol is stronger, then, when we have abundant water, moving water. That gives strength to the vision that the water of baptism is so abundant that it can not be contained. This imagery of abundant water is helped further when we have spillover from the infant pool to the adult pool, or from the common pool to the floor. This adds the feeling that the waters are difficult to contain and must be recollected.
We need to remember that baptism is risk taking. The baptistery should say to the community, "Do you dare take this risk to be followers of Christ?" Likewise, the action of baptism itself should be risky. To dribble water over is no risk. The font says this is what we are about. This is what we do. We can't gather around the table without it. The tradition of the church from its beginning has been to tie the fundamental elements of its Christian identity to a rite and to a place. The building must teach. That's what we do with the font. If the font is insignificant or out of the way it says, "This is not important."
In it's evolution since Vatican II which has far-reaching influence in the Episcopal, Lutheran, and even Methodist churches, the font has been all over the church. Being able to see the font during the baptism was at first thought to be the critical issue. Now a consensus is starting to form that visibility, while important, is a secondary issue. When the baptizer holds up the dripping infant for all to see, vision reinforces what the ears have heard. It is also all right to ask people to turn around to see, or to move to the place of baptism.
You may have already guessed that the location of choice is becoming the entrance of the worship space. This is the threshold where the worshipers enter; where they can touch the water, where it can be the blessing font to remind them every time they enter church that only through these waters of baptism have they been able to join this community of the faithful. When they dip into the large font where baptisms actually take place, and bless themselves with that water, they are more forcibly reminded that they are marking themselves with the waters of baptism. It becomes a constant reminder of their ongoing conversion and transformation.
Initially, when fonts were placed at the entrance, they were in the gathering space, or narthex. This has two drawbacks. The first drawback is that it really breaks up the flow of ritual when the entire body must move through doors to another space. Secondly, the gathering space is the place for random gathering, an important social experience. The nave, or main body of the church, is the place for ritual gathering, for the sacraments.
When the font is place up front, it says, "Look but don't touch." Only the ordained goes up there. We don't want to enshrine the font like another tabernacle. We only want to enshrine the water. Occasionally, the majority enter from the side of the building, so a discussion of the wisdom of placing the font there instead of the ceremonial entrance is of value.
There are three different ways to baptize: submersion, immersion and effusion. Submersion is where the entire body is taken under the water. Even infants have been submerged in the Orthodox churches for 2,000 years. The priest just blows in their faces to get a squinting, breath holding reflex from the infant and swoops them through the water.
Immersion is when the catechumen kneels in 18" to 36" of water and water is poured over their head three times. This pouring of the water over the entire body is called effusion. It is also possible to effuse a catechumen in 6" to 8" of water or a dry arena. That is a section of floor designed to collect and drain water. The water for this comes from the larger infant font. The dry arena is the least desirable arrangement as there is no large body of water present between baptisms. However, in many church renovations there is no room for the larger adult fonts. In all three of these types of baptism, the person baptizing can get in the water and get wet, too, or remain outside the baptistery and administer the sacrament from there.
It should also be remembered that baptism is a communal celebration, and adequate space should be designed around the font to allow for this. This communal space could also be normal passage space or be occupied by flexible seating when baptisms are not being celebrated.
The shapes of the baptisteries have significance. The most obvious one is the cruciform. These are often the largest of the fonts, usually needing to be 10' across. There are steps leading down into the center and steps on the opposite side ascending out. The cross shape signifies Christ's dying on the cross. It also stands for the reconciliation of opposites in sin and salvation. With this font you get a sense of passage, of stepping down into death and ascending into life.
The round womb shape signifies that warm primordial place where we are given life and new birth. The tomb shapes are the square and rectangle ones. These proclaim Christ's triumph over death. The 6 sided hexagon is symbolic of the sixth day of the Jewish week, the Friday when Christ died. It's symbolism is the same as the tomb.
The form most used for fonts, today, is the 8 sided octagon. The strength and harmony of its 135 angles is perfect to denote the eighth day, the resurrection. It is also popular to have the infant font 6 sided with spillover into an 8 sided pool. This obviously reinforces the sixth day dying and eight day rising enshrinement.
Whatever the shape or design or materials used in the fonts, they should relate to the building or to the altar and the ambo. The fonts are the most successful when they look like they grew out of the building, like they are meant to be a critical part of the building. That helps enforce the belief that baptism is a critical part of the people who worship in that building.
The baptistery area is also the appropriate place for enshrinement. Most obvious is the Paschal candle which is kept near the font except during Easter time. The Chrism oil is also often enshrined near the font, although it is allowed to be displayed elsewhere. What is appropriate is that it has a protected place of honor and just don't sit somewhere.
Imagery and statuary are also desirable here. Most obvious is Mary, enshrined not as the mother of Christ, but as ultimate disciple to God's will and work.
As funeral vigil services are more often conducted in church, the coffin can be enshrined by the baptistery, often over night.
Like many things during the renewal, the baptistery is still evolving. Integration as part of the unified whole design is critical. It is an act of faith that if we build it, educate, and encourage people to use it fully, the sacrament of baptism will once again be considered the life commitment it is intended to be.
1.Aidan Kavanaugh, Yale University Divinity school, GIA Quarterly, Summer 1993
8th Revision of this paper : October 2006
Initially, researched and compiled by Christine Reinhard and Father Francis George for a videotaped educational presentation for the Diocese of Lansing.
Material recorded and since augmented by Christine Reinhard.
SOURCES
Kuehn, R.A. A Place for baptism. Liturgy Training Publications, Chicago, IL, 1991
Mauck, Marchita. Shaping a house for the church. Liturgy Training Publications, Chicago, IL 1990
Environment and Art Letter. A forum on architecture and the arts for the parish. Liturgy Training Publications, Chicago, IL. Selected issues.
Stauffer, S.A. Re-examining baptismal fonts. video cassette Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 1991
Buscemi, John. audio tapes of Form/Reform conferences, Albuquerque, NM, 1990 and Minneapolis, MN, 1992
Mauck, Marchita. Saginaw Diocese Liturgy Conference, February 1996