The Early Church in the Light of the Monuments; a Study in Christian Archaeology

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1913 edition. Excerpt: ...baptizing 1 See, for instance, the sarcophagus from the Lateran Museum, on plate opposite p. 148. his playmates on the seashore: he did it by pouring water over them, not by immersing them in the sea (Rufinus, " H.E.," i. 14). That this method was the only one possible in the case of clinical baptisms is also obvious. Baptisteries. It was, however, soon felt that, although the practice of baptizing in private houses was, of course, perfectly valid, and, under the circumstances of the persecution, very excusable, yet the dignity of the sacrament demanded a fixed and settled place for its administration. Such places may have existed in some of the great private houses, but we have no certain tradition on the subject, and the evidence seems to tend in the opposite direction. In the catacombs, however, there were undoubtedly such places. Boldetti speaks of several as existing in his days, but only three are known at the present time. The earliest of these is the one discovered by Professor Marucchi in the cemetery of St. Priscilla in 1901, and by him identified with the place ad nymphas ubi Petrus baptizavit, though others regard it as only of the fourth century. The basin can hardly have been used for immersion, and the sacrament was almost certainly administered by affusion. The niches for the lamps are round the chapel and leave the tank below in darkness.1 The second is in the Ccemeterium Ostrianum, close to Sta Agnese, and was discovered in 1876. It seems to be of the third century. The water flows into a hollow cut in the rock which is neither large nor deep, though exact measurements have not been published. In the cemetery of Pontianus is another, apparently 1" Bull, d' arch, crist.," 1901, with plan and photographs. of...