The Baptistry (4/9)
This is the third of a nine-part series explaining various aspects of the floor plan of a church. Holy Mother Church has deliberately filled her buildings with great symbolism; this series will introduce some of the many facets involved in designing and building this home for the Immaculata.
NB: These images and renderings are still approximations of the final design. They are meant to give general knowledge and perspective rather than a precise and final version of what will be built.
“The Baptistry”
By Father Kenneth Novak
The sacrament of baptism is described in Canon Law as “the doorway to all the other sacraments”. As a result, the baptistery is the second focal point of every parish church after the high altar, which continues the life of grace first received at the baptismal font.
In the early Church, it was bishops who normally administered the rite of baptism at their cathedral. But later—particularly when the baptisms of infants outnumbered those of adults—this duty was given to priests thereby requiring every parish church to have a baptismal font.
Church law provides a few rules about the baptistery and its font, but most directives are derived from liturgical tradition, particularly St. Charles Borromeo’s instructions on the design of churches after the Council of Trent.
In the early Church, baptism was typically administered by immersion. Thus, the baptistery was often a separate structure from the church and built in the form of a Roman bath, wherein the catechumen was required to descend into the water. Eventually in the Latin Church, baptizing by immersion was replaced by infusion—or pouring—thereby requiring the pedestal style of baptismal fonts more familiar today.
Tradition requires the baptistery to be a distinct area. In ancient times, as we’ve seen, this was often accomplished by building a separate structure. One of the earliest examples is the Baptistery of St. John Lateran in Rome—the pope’s cathedral—erected by Emperor Constantine.
Today, the baptistery is usually within the church, but must still form a distinct area, either a room or space cordoned off by a railing or something similar. This area should be large enough to accommodate the priest and godparents and its entrance kept otherwise closed to ensure its sanctity.
For symbolic reasons it is preferred that the baptistery be located at the church’s northwest corner (presuming the high altar is orientated eastwards), or near its entrance. The Roman Ritual directs that the baptismal rites begin “ad limen ecclesiae”—outside the church—thus the baptistery should be accessible from the outside.
Another symbolic element—though not often seen—is the preference that the baptismal font be accessed by a downward step to convey the ancient manner of entering the waters of baptism, just as Our Lord entered the River Jordan. Further evoking this imagery, the Ritual prescribes an artistic representation of Our Lord’s baptism by St. John the Baptist be within the baptistery.
Concerning the baptismal font: since medieval times, this has been constructed as a raised pedestal, surmounted with a large bowl. The bowl should be made of non-porous stone or non-corroding metal and divided into two compartments. The largest is for storing the baptismal water specially blessed with holy Chrism and Oil of Catechumens during the Easter Vigil. The smaller bowl receives the poured water during the sacramental rite and has a drain into the ground or a removable basin. The font must also have an airtight cover.
Ideally, the baptistery should also contain two other requisites. The first is an ambry (a repository often built into the wall) for storing the holy oils used during the rite of baptism. (A separate and secondary ambry may also be present for holding the other various baptismal items such as the blessed salt, white garment, candle, and drying cloth.) The second item is a table for holding the necessary items during the administration of the sacrament.
As a final word to the importance of the baptistery, the Sacred Congregation of Rites forbade the administering of baptism in the sacristy except in cases of necessity. By this rule, the Church’s direction that the rite of baptism should be carried out in a permanent and distinct place within a parish church is reinforced.
The obvious exception to this rule is the Easter Vigil (the great night of baptisms and renewal of our Baptismal Promises), when after the baptismal water is blessed before the high altar—and before carrying it to the baptistery to pour into the font—the sacrament of baptism is administered before the entire congregation and not actually within the baptistery, so that all may witness the new baptisms (and thereby be reminded of their own).