At 22:02 24/11/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Dear Bill,
>
>On Tuesday, Nov 24, Stan Metheny cites a note from you on fonts, where you
>wondered "whether there should be a series on this." Meaning, I believe,
>baptism.
>
>I have been trying for several months to learn more about the baptismal
>practices in medieval Denmark. The Catholic Encyclopedia in the section on
>baptism was, on the whole, vague.
Think of the problem of emptying
>the Romanesque font with no drains.
>
>If any water was used for baptism, disposal would be easy. But if blessed
>water of "holy water" were used, disposal might present difficulties.
Dear Jim,
Thank you for your interesting posting. I will read it through again and
reply as best I can as leisure serves. But to reply to the points I have
snipped above: fonts commonly have a plughole, the blessed water draining
away into the consecrated ground of the churchyard. Churches often have a
piscina with a similar drain, where holy vessels and linens are washed, so
that, for example, if the purificator [the cloth used for wiping the
chalice] is stained by the Precious Blood, the stains end up in consecrated
ground, not in the common sewer. This seems a more reverent way of
disposing of holy things.
Bill.
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