In the third course of the dome are also scenes from the life of John the Baptist, amongst which one, the Baptism of Christ, is represented in a form which is but an amplification of that adopted in the catacomb of San

Fig. 43. BAPTISM OF CHRIST IN THE JORDAN. A Bas Relief in the Baptistery of Parma; 13th Century.

Ponziano at Rome. The Redeemer is placed in the middle of a running stream; John on the right bank places his hand on the Saviour's head; on the left bank stand three angels holding His clothes. The scene is repeated in a second baptism on the wall behind the altar. It is almost obliterated.

BAPTISTERY OF PISTOIA.

This baptistery stands opposite the cathedral of Pistoia, and is called San Giovanni Rotondo, although it is an octagon in shape. According to Vasari, this building was erected in the year 1337 by Andrea Pisano. The style of the exterior is Italian-Gothic. The walls are covered with black and white marble in alternate layers, and surrounded by columns decorated with mosaics.

The interior of the baptistery is bare and without decoration, and in its primitive simplicity presents a pleasing contrast with the profuse artistic and idolatrous display so universal in Italy. In the centre stands a large square basin, ten feet in diameter, and four feet deep,

which can contain about nine barrels of water, according to information kindly furnished by an ecclesiastic attached to the cathedral. This font, which is of fine marble, is said to be older than the present building, probably of 1256.

BAPTISTERY OF ST. PETER'S AT ROME.

In his Memorie Sacre delle Sette chiese di Roma, Giovanni Severanus, describing the old basilica of St. Peter, informs us that "in the middle of the transept, that is, in the space between the pilasters of the cupola and the pulpit, towards the north, Pope Damasus, who reigned in the year 367, erected a basin for baptism, by collecting the numerous streams of water which flowed from the Vatican hill, and caused damage to the catacomb underneath." Prudentius, the well-known Christian poet, refers to this font in his Twelfth Hymn, in which he gives a description of the ancient church, and the martyrdom of the Apostles. Damasus himself records this fact in a marble inscription, which is still preserved in the subterranean crypts of the modern basilica. "Invenit fontem præbet qui dona salutis," etc. "He devised a font, which offers the gifts of salvation." Cardinal Bullion, in his Historia Templi Vaticani, says that "this basin was large and deep, for the administration of trine immersion, according to the rite of baptism in those times." (Notandum est fontem illum spatiosum fuisse, ac profundum, ut nempè regenerandos per trinam immersionem recipere posset, pro ut ritus baptismi eo tempore ferebat. Cap. xxii.) This font was pulled down together with the ancient basilica.

In the chapel of John the Baptist, the first on the left of the modern magnificent basilica, there is an ancient vase of red porphyry, which formed the cover of the tomb of the Emperor Otho II., as it did more anciently that of Hadrian, and which now serves as a baptismal font.

When the church was erected, this font was raised on three marble steps, but Benedictus XIII., elected Pope in 1724, being anxious to conform to the ancient rite of administering baptism by immersion, ordered the construction of two steps below the pavement, forming thus a large basin, in which persons could be immersed with ease. Now that the primitive rite is definitively abandoned, this basin is partly closed with a wooden pavement. A commemorative inscription, engraved in gilded letters on a marble slab beneath the large picture behind the font, reads as follows :

*

BENEDICTVS XIII. PONT. MAX.

ORD. PRÆDICATORVM.

HVMANÆ REGENERATIONIS FONTEM

VETERI RITV INSTAVRAVIT

ANNO SAL. MDCCXXV.

PONT. SVI ANNO. II.

(Benedict XIII., Supreme Pontiff, of the order of Preachers, constructed this font of human regeneration for the ancient rite, in the year of salvation, 1725, the second year of his pontificate.)

FRANCE.

Most of the ancient baptisteries in France have been destroyed. The church of St. Jean Le Rond, at Paris, was the baptistery of the cathedral of Notre-Dame, in the vicinity of which it was erected. It was taken down in 1748, and not a vestige of the foundations remains. This

Il fonte battesimale poi, quando venne costruito, ergevasi su tre gradini di lumachella (Martinelli, Basilica Vaticana, lib. ii. p. 116). Ma Benedetto XIII., volendo uniformarsi all' antico rito di conferire il battesimo per immersione, commandò che fosse collocato due gradini sotto al pavimento, formando cosi un vano in cui potessero con agevolezza immergersi que' che si battezzavano. Oggi però, dismesso affatto l'antico rito, il vano è chiuso in parte da un piano di legno. (Valentini, Basilica Vaticana, t. ii.)

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baptistery took its name from the round form of the oratory, in which was the basin for the administration of baptism.

Another baptistery was situated near the house of Ste. Geneviève, the patron of Paris, and was known by the name of St. John the Baptist in 881. (Leboeuf, Histoire de la ville et du diocèse de Paris, i. 20, 437.)

The ancient church of St. John, at Poitiers, was formerly the baptistery of that city. This edifice has the form of an elongated parallelogram, and contains marble columns of various dimensions. In the centre existed formerly a basin, which was excavated in 1804, by M. Siauve, who reports as follows the results of his discovery :-" The workmen," he says, "had no sooner removed the soil with their pickaxes, than an octagonal wall came to the light. I then recalled to mind the following passage of Don Martene :-The church of St. John was formerly the baptistery of the entire city of Poitiers. There were some steps to descend into the font it contained.' On continuing the excavations, one of the steps was discovered. The pavement of the basin, which was probably made of stone or marble, had disappeared, but a canal, which carried off the water, was traced from the font to a drain in the vicinity. I found only two steps, but judging from the thickness of the surrounding walls, and the level of the ancient pavement, there must have been three steps at least." M. de Caumont remarks, in his Cours d'Antiquités Monumentales, that one of the Corinthian columns which support the open arcade of this baptistery is decorated with figures of fishes. This would confirm the baptismal character of that building, since the fish, as we have already seen, was considered an emblem of baptism, and the font was called "piscina" a fish-pond, from the supposed presence in it, by invocation, of IXOTE (The Fish), an acrostic, composed of the initial

letters of our Saviour's several titles, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, Saviour.

The annexed engraving (Fig. 44) represents the plan of a small building at Puy, which was in former times the baptistery of that city. It is an octagon, with a circular

Fig. 44. PLAN OF BAPTISTERY AT PUY, FRANCE.

recess for the altar, and was built in the course of the twelfth century.

One of the most interesting features of the cathedral of Frejus is to be found in the ancient baptistery which belongs to it. This edifice is separated from the church by a porch, and is supported by eight columns of granite, bearing Corinthian capitals of white marble. Chapels have been placed in the intervals between the columns.

At Aix, there is a baptistery which communicates with the nave of the cathedral, and is lower than the pavement of the church. It was restored a few years ago. Eight antique columns of polished granite support the dome of this baptistery.

The baptistery of Chalons was built in the vicinity of the mother-church, or cathedral, and dedicated to John the Baptist. The small chapel built by the side of it, and