Baptismal Font Shapes & What They Mean

St. Augustine was baptized in an octagonal (eight-sided) baptismal font (above) in the Cathedral of Milan, a traditional shape in early Christianity symbolizing rebirth into a new life with Christ on the eighth day after the resurrection.

Do you know what the shape of the baptismal font was at your Baptism? 

When it comes to the history of the Church the differences between the East and the West dominate the conversation. It is no different when it comes to the topic of archeology and specifically the shapes of baptismal fonts.

The word font comes from the word fons (a spring of water). In the East baptismal fonts were called kalymbethra or ‘swimming baths’ because they looked like a pool or cistern often larger, and deep enough to permit total immersion. The Western equivalent word would have been natatorium which was a building containing an indoor swimming pool or pescina (in ancient Roman architecture) a pool or pond for bathing or swimming. 

Before the first indoor baptismal fonts were discovered in the Roman catacombs, baptisms in the earliest days of the Church were performed outdoors in the sea or in streams or rivers similar to how Saint John the Baptist used the waters of the Jordan for his ritual. Once the Church became the official religion of the Roman Empire, there were baptisteries built near the entrance to churches. These separate structures were thought of as baptismal chapels reserved for the sacrament. 

Eventually, the baptismal font was situated in the church building, usually at the entrance signifying the entrance of the person not just into the church building but into the Body of Christ which is the Universal Church through the spiritual effect of the sacrament. These early three foot deep fonts were lined and paved with marble or other decorative stone and were often highly ornamented often with fish, lambs and stags (all animals that point to Jesus). Each font was designed with a theological intention in mind. Usually we can tell from the shape of the font what the particular church thought about Baptism...

Here are the top five shapes of our Catholic Baptismal Fonts and what they mean...

1. Womb Shape: Many Christians refer to the church as  "Mother Church”. In baptism the church as mother gives birth to her children into a new supernatural, divine life. Inspired by the words of Jesus to Nicodemus, baptism became thought of as a new birth or to be 'born again' from 'water and spirit' (Jn 3). In a circular or oval font we are reminded that we become like Jesus - little ICHTHYS’s or ‘little fish’ born from mother church's womb. 

“This sacrament is also called "the washing of regeneration and renewal by the Holy Spirit," for it signifies and actually brings about the birth of water and the Spirit without which no one "can enter the kingdom of God." - CCC 1215

2. Cruciform (Cross) Shape: Saint Chrysostom said, "Baptism is a cross. What the cross was to Christ and what his burial was, that baptism is to us”. In our baptism we received the mandate to pick up our cross and follow Christ. Entering into water is entering into Christ’s death. Coming out of water is rising with Christ in his resurrection. Often the full immersion fonts have three steps into Baptismal font which reminds us of Jesus’ three days in the tomb. 

“To baptize (Greek baptizein) means to "plunge " or "immerse"; the "plunge" into the water symbolizes the catechumen's burial into Christ's death, from which he rises up by resurrection with him, as "a new creature." - CCC 1214

3. Octagonal Shape: In a normal week there are only seven days according to chronos time. But to break out of the ordinary and normal (like Jesus did in the resurrection) there would be an everlasting eighth day. Eight-sided fonts recall the eighth day, the first day of resurrection. Saint Augustine writes about "the Day of the Lord, an everlasting eighth day." Saint Ambrose explains that a certain font is octagonal "because on the eighth day, by rising, Christ loosens the bondage of death and receives the dead from their graves." 

 “Jesus rose from the dead ‘on the first day of the week.’ Because it is the ‘first day,’ the day of Christ’s resurrection recalls the first creation. Because it is the ‘eighth day’ following the sabbath, it symbolizes the new creation ushered in by Christ’s resurrection.” - CCC 2174

4.  Tomb Shape: The oldest font known to still exist, from a 3rd century house church in present-day Syria, is shaped like a coffin. Water in a tomb-shaped font signifies the grave as well as the triumph over death. Churches that practice adult baptism identify the tomb with being joint heirs with Christ in his dying and rising.

“...don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life” (Romans 6:3-4).

5. Hexagonal Shape: St. Ambrose and St. Augustine both link the number six to Good Friday, the day on which Christ died (the sixth day of Holy Week). Baptism is a type of death to our old self bound by sin. It was Saint Ambrose who baptized Saint Augustine in the Cathedral of Milan at dawn on Easter in the year 387.

“When the baptizands come from the water, Ambrose says, it is like Christ coming from the tomb: ‘Since baptism is like death, surely when you are submerged and re-emerge (from the water) this is like a resurrection.'”