Grenoble's Medieval Baptistry

Near my house there is an old church which was build in the Middle Ages. The original foundations were build at the end of the Roman Empire during the 4th -6th centuries. The centerpiece of the original building was a baptistry, filled by a natural spring. I was able to see it today and was really excited to experience a site where Medieval Christians recieved this blessed sacrament. Like any historic site that's been made a tourist attraction, there were numerous signs explaining the history and significance of this baptistry. I was suprised by the content of a couple of them.

"In the ritual of baptism, the water is the center of the ceremony. The future Christian would be baptised after having 'been plunged in the water.' That is the sense of the word 'baptize.'"

"To indicate entrance into the Christian life, the catecheumen, received a course in the ceremony of the administration of baptism. It was essential to the baptism."

"The candidate declared that he had renounced Satan and proclaimed his allegiance to Christ."

Although many of the signs missed much of the spiritual signifiance of the sacrament, they highlighted the historical fact that the mode and practice of baptism at this site was the same as that of the baptists today. At least for the initial decades of this baptistry, 1. only converts who had professed obedience to Christ were baptised and 2. only those who were able to comprehend what was actually happening during the ceremony were baptised and 3. the mode was clearly immersion.



- A model of what the baptistry looked
like during the 4th-6th centuries.