fession of faith; and then 30 its rúrepov oikov, its inner room, where the ceremony of baptism was performed. Sidonius Apollinaris 31 also speaks of it as a distinct building, and St. Austin 2 seems to intimate that there were distinct apartments in it for men and women likewise. Which perhaps is the reason why St. Ambrose 33 speaks of it in the plural, styling it the baptisteries of the church.' In the time of Justin Martyr and Tertullian we are not certain that the Church had any of these baptisteries; but this is past all doubt however from their authority, that the place of baptism was not in the church, but somewhere distinct from it. For Tertullian 34, speaking of the ceremonies of baptism, says, ‘it was their custom to renounce the Devil and his pomp and his angels first in the church, and then again when they came to the water;' which implies, that the place of baptism was without the church. And so Justin Martyr 35 represents it, when he speaks of carrying the catechumen to the place where there was water: which perhaps was unlimited in those days; it being an indifferent thing, as Tertullian 36 words it, whether a man was baptized in the sea or in a lake, in a river or in a fountain, in Jordan or in Tiber, as St. Peter and St. John baptized their converts. So that the first ages all agreed in this, that whether they had baptisteries or not, the place of baptism was always without the church. And after this manner baptisteries continued to the sixth age, as appears from what Durantus 37 observes out of Gregory of Tours, that 30 Ibid. [20.] Mystag. 2. n. 1. (p. 311 b.) Διὰ τοῦτο ἀναγκαίως ὑμῖν παραθήσομαι τὰ ἑξῆς τῆς χθεσινής μυσταγωγίας, ἵνα μάθητε τίνων ἦν σύμβολα τὰ ἐφ' ὑμῶν ἐν τῷ ἐσωτέρῳ οἴκῳ γενόμενα. 3) L. 4. Ep. 15. (p. 274.) ... Nam baptisterium, quod olim fabricabamini, scribitis jam posse consecrari. 32 De Civitat. Dei, 1. 22. c. 8. (t. 7. p. 665 f.)... In parte fœminarum observanti ad baptisterium, &c. ... 33 Ep. 33. [al. 20.] ad Marcellin. (t. 2. p. 853 b.) Symbolum aliquibus competentibus in baptisteriis tradebam basilicæ. 34 De Cor. Mil. c. 3. (p. 102 a.) ... Aquam adituri, ibidem, sed et aliquanto prius in ecclesia sub antistitis manu contestamur nos renunciare diabolo, et pompæ, et angelis ejus. 35 Apol. 2. (p. 93 e.) "Επειτα ἄγονται ὑφ ̓ ἡμῶν, ἔνθα ὕδωρ ἐστὶ, καὶ τρόπον ἀναγεννήσεως, ὃν καὶ ἡμεῖς αὐτοὶ ἀνεγεννήθημεν, κ. τ. λ. 36 De Bapt. c. 4. (p. 225 c.) ... Nulla distinctio est, mari quis an stagno, flumine an fonte, lacu an alveo diluatur, nec quicquam refert inter eos quos Joannes in Jordane, et quos Petrus in Tiberi tinxit. 37 De Ritibus, &c. l. 1. c. 19. n. 4. (p. 46.) Primum ingressi estis in porticum baptisterii. he speaks of baptisteries still without the walls of the church: though some now began to be taken into the church-porch, as that wherein he says 38 Remigius baptized King Clodoveus, and thence they were afterward removed into the church itself. Though now the baptistery of St. John Lateran at Rome is still after the ancient model, if Durantus rightly informs us. 2. These baptisteries were anciently very capacious, because, These very as Dr. Cave 39 truly observes, the stated times of baptism re- capacious, and why. turning but seldom, there were usually great multitudes to be baptized at the same time. And then the manner of baptizing by immersion, or dipping under water, made it necessary to have a large font likewise. Whence the author of the Chronicon Alexandrinum 40 styles the baptistery, whither Basiliscus fled to take sanctuary, péya pwriσTýptov, the great illuminary or school of baptism: and in Venantius Fortunatus 1 it is called aula baptismatis, the large hall of baptism. Which was indeed so capacious, that we sometimes read of Councils meeting and sitting therein, as Du Fresne 2 shews out of the 38 Greg. Turon. Hist. Franc. 1. 2. c. 31. (p. 83 b. 7.) Velis depictis adumbrantur plateæ ecclesiæ, cortinis albentibus adornantur, baptisterium componitur, balsama diffunduntur, micant flagrantes odore cerei, totumque templum baptisterii divino respergitur ab odore: talemque ibi gratiam adstantibus Deus tribuit, ut æstimarent se paradisi odoribus collocari. Rex ergo prior poposcit se a pontifice baptizari. Procedit novus Constantinus ad lavacrum, deleturus lepræ veteris morbum, sordentesque maculas gestas antiquitus recenti latice deleturus. 39 Primitive Christianity, part 1. ch. 10. p. 312. (pp. 148, seqq.) The time when baptism was wont to be administered, &c. 40 [Al. Paschale,] in Basilisco, p. 753. Ed. Paris. p. 325.] (ap. Byzant. Hist. Scriptor. p. 259 d. 9.) .... Λαβὼν Βασιλίσκος τὴν γυναῖκα καὶ τὰ τέκνα, ἔφυγεν εἰς τὴν μεγάλην ἐκκλησίαν Κωνσταντινουπόλεως εἰς τὸ μέγα φωτιστήριον. 41 [L. 2. n. 10.] de Baptist. Mo gunt. ap. Bibl. Patr. t. 8. p. 780. ruscat, Quo delicta Adæ Christus in amne 42 In Paul. Silent. p. 593. (ap. Why called φωτιστήρια, places of tion. Acts of the Council of Chalcedon; and Suicerus 43 has observed the same in the Acts of the Council of Carthage, which speaks of a Council of Constantinople held in the baptistery of the church. 3. We may observe also in the forementioned authors, how the baptisteries were commonly called priorńpia, places of illumina- illumination, that is baptism. For baptism itself in ancient writers is very usually styled pórioμa; and hence the place of baptism called wriστýρiov, from the administration of baptisin there, which was always attended with a divine illumination of the soul; whence persons baptized were also called the illuminate, as has been observed in another place 44. But the baptisteries might also have this name for another reason, because they were the places of an illumination or instruction preceding baptism; for here the catechumens seem to have been trained up and instructed in the first rudiments of the Christian Faith. At least they were here taught the Creed, as is evident from that noted passage of St. Ambrose 45, where he says, that after the lessons and homily he went into the baptistery of the church, to make the candidates of baptism learn the Creed.' Therefore from this illumination preceding baptism, as well as that which was consequent to it, the baptisteries might reasonably be called priorýpia, and, as some think, portiστýpia 46, schools of learning, or the illuminatories of the church. 43 Thes. Eccles. voce wrotŃptov, ex Actis Concilii Carthaginensis, p. 118. (t. 2. p. 1493.) 'Ev T φωτιστηρίῳ τῆς κατὰ Κωνσταντινού πολιν ἁγιωτάτης καθολικῆς ἐκκλησίας, καθεσθέντων τῶν ἁγιωτάτων ἐπισκόπων. [Vid. ap. Labb. et Cossart. (CC. t. 2. p. 1151.) Concilium Constantinopolitanum, in quo causa duorum episcoporum, eundem Bostrensem episcopatum sibi vindicantium, definita fuit. Ad calc. Cod. Eccles. Afric. Ἐπὶ ὑπατείας τῶν εὐσεβεστάτων καὶ θεοφιλεστάτων βασιλέων ἡμῶν, Φλαβίου ̓Αρκαδίου Αὐγούστου τῷ τρίτῳ, καὶ ̔Ωνωρίου τῷ δευτέρῳ, τῷ πρὸ τριῶν Καλανδῶν Οκτωβρίων, ἐν τῷ φωτιστηρίῳ, κ.τ.λ. ED.] 44 B. 1. ch. 4. n. I. v. I. p. 31. .... 45 Ep. 33. [al. 20.] ad Marcellin. (t. 2. p. 853 b.) . Post lectiones atque tractatum, dimissis catechumenis, symbolum aliquibus competentibus in baptisteriis tradebam basilicæ. 46 [According to Suicer. (Thes. Eccles. t. 2. p. 1464.) φροντιστήριον was rather employed to denote a monastery or place of retirement, upon the authority of Hesychius and Suidas. I can find no place where the term is applied to a baptistery. Neither is it noticed in that sense by Du Fresne, Glossar. Græcitat., (Lugdun. 1788. t. 2. col. 1 704.) amidst the numerous examples he gives from the Greek Fathers of its difference and a font. was called κολυμβή pa. θρα. 4. It will be easy now for the reader to observe, from what of the has been said, what difference there was anciently between a between a baptistery and a font, though the names be sometimes con- baptistery founded together. For the baptistery, properly speaking, was And why the whole house or building, in which the font stood, and the font where all the ceremonies of baptism were performed; but the piscina and font was only the fountain or pool of water, wherein persons were immersed or baptized. This, in the Greek writers 46, is commonly called кoλvμßý¤pa, and by the Latins 47 piscina, and is sometimes expressly distinguished from the baptistery, as a part from the whole. For Socrates 48 expressly styles it κολυμβήθραν τοῦ βαπτιστηρίου, the pool of the baptistery: which name Dr. Beveridge 49 thinks was given to the font by way of allusion to the Pool of Bethesda. But Optatus 50 has a more mystical reason for it; he says, 'It was called piscina, in allusion to our Saviour's technical term 'IXOTE, which was an acrostic composed of the initial letters of our Saviour's several titles, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Saviour, of which I have given an account in another place 51. But whether either of these reasons be true, or whether the font was not rather so called because piscina and кoλvμßýłpa are common names of fountains, and baths, and pools, in Greek use in the sense of a monastery or a place of retirement for meditation or learning, or sometimes a school. See also before, b. 7. ch. 2. s. 14. v. P.351 ED.] 2. --- Cyril. Hierosol. Catech. [20.] Mystag. 2. n. 4. p. 285. (p. 312 d.) Μετὰ ταῦτα ἐπὶ τὴν ἁγίαν τοῦ θείου βαπτίσματος ἐχειραγωγεῖσθε κολυμβήθραν. Ibid. [21.] Mystag. 3. n. I. (p. 316 a.) Καὶ ὑμῖν ὁμοίως ἀναβεβηKÓσι ȧTÒ TηS KOλvμßηopas тŵv iepov ναμάτων ἐδόθη χρίσμα.—Chrysost. Hom. 64. t. 5. p. 970. [This corresponds with the Homily de Sancto Babyla contra Julianum et Gentiles of Savil, (t. 5. p. 442.) and the Benedictine, (t. 2. p. 531.) But I do not readily find the term therein. It occurs, however, in the Hom. de Resurrect. (Bened. ibid. p. 444 c and d.) Κἂν τὴν οἰκουμένην ἅπασαν ἐμβάλῃς εἰς τὴν κολυμβήθραν, κ. τ. λ. See also Hom. in S. Theophan. (Bened. ibid. int. spur. p. 807 e.)... Bononμa 48 L. 7. c. 17. (v. 2. p. 363. 16.) 49 Not. in C. Nicæn. c. II. n.4.(t. 2. append. p. 73.) Hoc autem nomen [κολυμβήθρα] sortitum videtur a celebri illa koλvμẞhopa sive piscina, in qua cœcus, Christi jussu lotus, rediit videns, Jo. 9, 7., vel ab illa Hierosolymis, ibid. c. 5, 2. 50 L. 3. p. 62. (p. 61.) Hic est piscis, qui in baptismate per invocationem fontalibus undis inseritur, ut, quæ aqua fuerat, a pisce etiam piscina vocitetur. 51 B. 1. ch. 1. s. 2. v. I. p. 3. How fonts and baptisteries adorned. I and Latin writers 51, I leave to the determination of the judicious reader. Du Fresne 52 has observed several other names, such as iñоvóμоs, lavacrum, natatoria, and cloaca, a term peculiar to Gregory the Great. But these are modern names, and so pass them over, only remarking one thing out of him,-—that whereas Procopius, in his Historia Arcana, gives it the name of defaμevn, the receptacle, Suidas mistakes it for the communion-table; which I note, only because it is easy for any one to be led into the like mistake by the authority of that celebrated writer. 5. What form the ancient baptisteries were built in, I find nowhere mentioned in any ancient writer; and almost as little anciently of their ornament, that may be depended on as genuine. Durantus, indeed, has a very formal story out of the Pontifical, under the name of Damasus, how Constantine gave a rich font to the church, wherein he himself was baptized. It was made,' the author says 53, of porphyretic marble, overlaid with silver; in the middle of it was a marble pillar, and on 51 [Vid. Lexic. Facciolat. et Forcellin. (Patav.1830. t. 3. p. 559.).. Lacus et stagnum, in quo vivi pisces coercentur, ut Gell. 2, 20, docet, &c.... Et quoniam in piscinis etiam homines natare solebant, invaluit consuetudo, ut omnes in hunc usum collectæ aquæ, sive frigidæ sive calidæ, piscina dicantur, quamvis in his nihil piscium sit. Koλvußnepa. Plin. 1. 5. ep. 6. (p. 113.) Si natare latius, aut tepidius velis, in area piscina est, &c. Id. 1. 2. ep. 17., Senec. ep. 86., Lamprid. in Vit. Elagab. 19., Sueton. Vit. Neron. 27., Martial. 1. 3. epigr. 44..... Denique piscina dicitur quoque de vasis ligneis amplioribus ad tenendam aquam. Plin. 34. 12. 32. Et in piscinas ligneas funditur.-For the classical use and meaning of koλuμßOpa, see Stephanus by Hase and Dindorf. (Paris. 1841. v. 4. col.1768.) Locus ubi natare possumus aut nos mergere, piscina, lavacrum : with authorities from Plato, Athenæus, Diodorus Siculus, &c.-Also Synesius, (p. 107 d.) Koλvμßýlpas éñoíουν, καὶ νήσους ἐν κολυμβήθραις. Which last illustration shews that the koλuμßhepa was not always a small basin of water.--It is remarkable that in the same place, where Pliny uses piscina in the forementioned sense, viz. 1. 2. ep. 17. (p. 46.) he also employs the term baptisteria in a similar way: for, writing to his friend Gallus, among other descriptions of his villa at Laurentum, he says: Inde balinei cella frigidaria spatiosa et effusa, cujus in contrariis parietibus duo baptisteria velut ejecta sinuantur, abunde capacia, si innare in proximo cogites. Adjacet unctuarium hypocauston. Cohæret calida piscina mirifice, ex qua natantes mare aspiciunt. ED.] 52 In Paul. Silent. p. 593. (ut supra, p. 234. n. 83.)... Fons baptisterii, qui a Procopio et Theophane, an. 2. Theodosii Junioris, et an. 7. Zenonis koλvμßnepa; ab aliis, vπоvóμos; a Gregorio M. cloaca, ab Anastasio, in Hist. Eccles., natatorium vocitatur. 53 Vit. Sylvestri. (CC. t. 1. p. 1410 b.) Fontem sanctum ubi baptizatus est Augustus Constantinus, &c. |