Catholic Corner
June 27, 2021
The baptismal font is located immediately upon entry into the worship space, physically recalling for us the theology of initiation. Our entry into the Christian community is through the waters of baptism. Our encounter with the font each time we enter the space is a physical reminder of this reality. There is both an upper font for infant baptisms and for the faithful to bless themselves, and a lower font for full emersion baptism of adults.
Around the font is the inscription: Here is born in spirit soaked fertility a brood destined for another city. This stanza is from the poem inscribed in the baptistery of the Lateran Basilica in Rome (the Seat of the Bishop of Rome, the Pope). The full inscription from the Lateran is shown below.
Here is born in Spirit-soaked fertilitya brood destined for another City,
begotten by God’s blowing
and borne upon this torrent
by the Church their virgin mother.
Reborn in these depths they reach for
heaven’s realm,
the born-but-once unknown by felicity
This spring is life that floods the world,
the wounds of Christ its awesome source,
Sinner sink beneath this sacred surf
that swallows age and spits out youth.
Sinner here scour sin away down to innocence,
for they know no enmity who are by
one font, one Spirit, one faith made one.
Sinner, shudder not at sin’s kind and number,
for those born here are holy.
Around the inside and outside of the font is a repeating Celtic knot design. This design links the font in the current worship space to the St. Agnes Chapel where it is found in the windows and behind the altar. It was chosen by the community as a motif that would link the chapel as the previous home of the community to the new worship space and specifically to the font, the womb of the Church, from which is born new Christians.
The font is made of the same Conamara marble from which the altar is made, another design choice that links the font and table. Note how the font is a passage. An adult being baptized enters the font on the side nearest the doors. In the celebration of the Rite of Baptism they progress through the font, dying and rising with Christ. As they leave the font, mounting the steps on the other side, they exit into the ritual space, facing the altar. Physically and theologically, the space reinforces the understanding that font leads to table!
Finally, the shape of the font is a mandorla and reflects the meaning of the mandorla throughout the liturgical space, the almond shape formed by the overlapping of two circles, emphasizing the tension of the Christian life, living as we do in the world and called as we are to establish the kingdom of God. Baptism is a meeting point between the human and the divine, a transformative experience that changes the meaning of human life. So we the baptized are a sign of the Kingdom of God and through our baptism we have accepted the responsibility to work for the coming of the kingdom of God.
