BAPTISM
274
BAPTISMAL
ing for ships. The priest begs God to bless the vessel
and protect those who sail in it, as He did the ark
of Xoe, and Peter, when the Apostle was sinking in
the sea. The ship is then sprinkled with holy water.
For extended bibliographies of the subject; Vacant, Diet. de theol. cath., s. v. In addition to the references given in the article, the following works deal with the various aspects of Baptism: Dogm.\tic Theology: Schanz. Die Lihre von dtn Sacramenten der kathoUschen Kirche (Freiburg, 1S93); WlL- HELM and ScANNELL, Manual of Catholic Theology (London. 1906), II; Pesch. Pralectiones dogmatica (Freiburg, 1900). VI. Moral Theology: Lehmkchl. Theol. Moral. (Freiburg. 1S9S); Ballerixi-Palmieri. Opus theol. nwr. (Prato, 1891); Gbnicot, Theol. moral. (Louvain, 1907), II; Coppens, Moral Principles and Medical Practice (New York, 1905); Kexrick. Theol. moral. (Mechlin, 1S51), II; Sabetti, Theol. Moral. (New York), 188S; KosrxGS, Theol. moral. (Boston, 1S74). C.vNON Law: Ferraris, Bibl. prompta (Roman ed., 1S86), s. v.; Ladrentius, Instil, jur. eccl. (Freiburg, 1903), nos. S02- 510; VoN Scherer, Kirchenrecht (Graz. 1898), II, 74-84; Phillips, Lehrbuch d. Kirchenrechts, %% 236-237; Van" Espen, Jwi eccl. Univ., II; Benedict XIV. De Syn. diac. VII. Lit- urgy: OKane. Notes on the Rubrics of the Roman Ritual (New York, 1882); Thalhofer-Ebner, Handbuch der kathol. Liturgik (2d ed.. Freiburg. 1894); Falise. Lilurgia practice compendium (Ratisbon. 1876); De Herdt, Sacra Litnrgiee Praris (Louvain, 1899). Ill; Martixucci, Manuale sacr. Cirremoniorum (Rome, 1880), index, s. v. History and .Vntiquities of B.\ptism (Catholic): Probst, Sakramente und Sakramentalien in den drei ersten christlichen Jahrhunderten (Tubingen, 1872); L. Bourgeois, Le bapteme romain au IV^ siicle (Paris, 1902); De Pi:niet, La liturgie baplismale en Gaule avant Charlemagne, in Rev. des guest, hist. (19021, LXXII, 382; Ermoni, Lhist. du bapteme depuis Vedit de MHan {SIS) jusq'au Concile in Trullo, in Rev. des quest, hist. (1898). 313-324; Analecta jur. pont. (1861), V, 107-1147, VIII (1866), 1557-1741; Weiss and Kirsch in Kraus, Real- Encykl.. II, 823-839; Vacant, Diet, de thiol, cath., 8. v.
The Protest.ixt Chcrches: Hofling (Lutheran). Das Sacrament der Taufe (Erlangen. 1846-48); Darwell-Stone, Baptism in Oxford Library of Theology (1899), bibliogr. 229- 303: McGiffert, A Hist, of Christianity in the Apostolic Age (New York. 1903). index, s. v.; Marcus Dods in Hast.. Diet, of Christ, and the Gospels (New York, 1906), 168-171; A Chronological catena of the ancient fathers and councils, etc., on the doctrine of spiritual regeneration in holy baptism (Oxford, 1850); WiLBERFORCE, On Baptism in Tracts fur the Times, No. 67; E. S. Ffrench in Did. Christ. Biog., I, 241-248; Dale. On Baptism i4th ed.. London, 1S72). The Oriental Churches: St^erck. Der Taufritus in den griechischen Kirchen (Freiburg. 1903); William Palmer. Dissertations on subjects relating to the Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Communion (London. 1853); Arcudius. De Concordia Eccl. Occid. et Orient, in septem sacram. administratione septem libri (Paris, 1619-26); A. Palmieri. De la rebaptisation des Latins chez les Grecs in Rev. de lOrienl Chret. (1902). VII, 618, (1903) VIII, iii; cf. ibid. (1901), VI, L'ancienne et la nouvelle theologie chez les Grecs.
Lay Baptism .\nd Infant B.aptism in Early Christian Period: Bingham, .4 scholastical history of the practice of the Church in regard to the administration of baptism by laymen (London, 1712-14), reprinted in his works (Oxford, 1858); A. H. Newman (Baptist), history of Anti-pedobaptism (Phila- delphia, 1897), bibliogr. 394-^06. Baptismal Names: on the right to give baptismal names, and on suitable and un- suitable names, see Theol.-praklische Quartalschrift (1892). XL 381. and Theol. -prakt. M onatsschrift (1900), X, 191, 349. Heretical Baptism: Besides standard theologians see David, Dissertation, etc., sur la reception par I'Eglise du bapttTne des heretiques (Paris, 1670); Th. Bouquillon, De la reiteration du bapteme confere par les hcretiqu^s in Rev. des sciences eccl. (1879), XL, 145; Elnig in PasforBoniis (18981, X. 57. Special Points (Curiosa) of Baptism: Barbier de AIontaelt. Le bapteme au moyen dge in Rev. de I'art chrt't. (.\rras, 1874). Baptism in E\rly Christian Art: For representations of baptism on early Christian monuments see Strzygowski, Ikonographie der Taufe Chnsti (Munich, 1S851. These works complete or correct the earlier but yet valuable works of De Rossi and Garrucci, also Le Blant, Sarcophages chret. antiques de la ville dWrles (Paris, 1878); see also C. F. Rogers. Baptism and Christian Archceology in Studia Biblica et Eccl., V, IV.
William H. W. Fanning.
Baptism by Heretics. See Baptism.
Baptismal Font, a basin or vase, serving as a receptacle for baptismal water in which the candidate for baptism is immersed, or over which he is washed, in the ceremony of Christian initiation. In the Church's present practice it is ordinarily a decorative stone basin, though metal or wood are used, sup- ported on a pedestal or columns at a convenient height for recei\nng the water which is poured over the head of the person baptized, a form which marks the term of a development graphically illustrating the history of the mode of conferring baptism.
Aucn.EOLOGY. — In the Apostolic Age, as in Jewish
times (John, iii, 23), baptism was administered with-
out special fonts, at the seaside or in streams or pools
of water (Acts, viii, 38); Tertullian refers to St.
Peter's baptizing in the Tiber (De bapt., iv); similarly,
in later periods of evangelization, missionaries bap-
tized in rivers as is narrated of St. Paulinus in Eng-
land by Bede (Hist. Eccl., II, xiv-x^•i). Indoor
baptism, however, was not uncommon (Acts, ix, 18;
x\-i, 33) and. for the sake of both privacj' and solem-
nity, came to be the rule; wliile reverence for the
rite itself and for the water, which came in time to
receive a special consecration, gave rise to the use of
a special basin or font for the baptismal ceremony
and, at a later period, for the preservation of the
water. With the establishment of distinctively
Christian places of worship this font became one of
their important adjuncts. In the East it took the
form of a pool or cistern, similar to those of the baths,
often larger, and deep enough to permit total im-
mersion. Whence it was called Kowixf37i6pa (swim-
ming-bath), a name which in its Latin equivalent,
natatorium , was also used in the West , as was the term
piscina with its apt allusion to birth and life in the
waters (Tertullian, De bapt., i; St. Augustine, De
schis. Donat., Ill, ii). The name fons (a spring of
water) was also in early use and came to prevail.
The oldest western fonts are found in the Roman catacombs, cisterns hewn from the tufa in the floor of baptismal chapels. (See B.iptistery.) Examples are to be fotuid in the Ostrian Cemeterj', where in a small shallow basin in the floor a spring wells up in the Cemeterj' of Pontianus, where an oblong reservoir, about eighteen square feet in surface area and three feet in depth, is yet filled with water (Marucchi, Archfologie Chr6tienne, II, 63); that of St. Fehcitas (ibid., 304); and of St. Priscilla, where in 1901 was found a basin of particular interest on account of its presumably high antiquity as a baptismal centre (Marucchi in Nuovo Bullettino, 1901, 73). Besides these actual specimens, the font is also depicted in the remains of early Christian art. In nearly every instance it is a shallow pool or basin in which the neophj-te stands with fe«t immersed, wliile water is poured on him from an overhead stream or from a vase held by the person baptizing. Tliat this was the ordinary mode of baptizing during the early centuries, is a ■view the aceptance of which is com- pelled by all recent study in the archaeologj' of bap- tismal fonts (de Rossi, Bullettino di Archeol., 1876, 8-15; Duchesne, Les Eglises separ^es, Paris, 1905, 89-96). With the church-building acti\-ity of the fourth century the font was reverently enshrined in the magnificent baptisteries which date from that period. It took the form of a basin which was either entirely below the level of the baptistery floor or was partially raised above it by a low curb of masonry, over which the neophytes passed by steps, in going down into the water; to the ascent and descent, as well as to the number of steps this involved, there was often attached a mystical significance (Isidore of Se^^lle, De divin. off., II. xxv). These fonts were either circular or octagonal in form and rarely hex- agonal or square; a few were in the form of a cross (tiregory of Tours, Mirac, I, xxiv), a tj-pe more com- mon in the East than in the West, while an oc- casional sarcophagus-shaped font was suggested, perhaps by the allusion to baptism in Romans, \t, 4.
In size fonts varied, but as a rule they were large enough for the simultaneous baptism of a few cate- chumens. Their average depth of less than three feet points to the continued prevalence of but partial immersion do'rni to the eighth century. Water was provided either by natural springs or by pipes lead- ing into the basins, though there are many examples of its being poured in from above the font, over the heads of the neophytes. Drain pipes conducted the water into the earth or into a ncarbv stream aftei
