If it’s what I’m envisioning, it’s so that baptismal water can be poured over a person (e.g., from a ewer) without creating a huge spill all over the floor of the church.I recently attended an old (1908) church in Ridgewood, NY. The baptismal font was centrally located in the church but adjacent to it was a thick marble wall, about a foot high, that was six or eight sided and roughly the width and length to accomodate an adult laying down flat on the ground. Does anyone know what it is? I’ve been to numerous churches in my life and never saw anything like it
Hard to say without seeing it. It might be an old baptismal font, or perhaps just the base on which a baptismal font sat (I’m sure that if it was filled with water, you would have mentioned that part). By tradition, Baptismal fonts have 8 sides–,Sunday, the day of Resurrection is the 8th day of the week. It could also be that the marble “font” is newer. In 1908, most baptisms were of infants, so while it isn’t impossible, a font that size in that time-period is unlikely. In recent decades, some older churches have added larger fonts to accomodate adult baptisms–that’s at least a possibility here.I recently attended an old (1908) church in Ridgewood, NY. The baptismal font was centrally located in the church but adjacent to it was a thick marble wall, about a foot high, that was six or eight sided and roughly the width and length to accomodate an adult laying down flat on the ground. Does anyone know what it is? I’ve been to numerous churches in my life and never saw anything like it
Was it perhaps a pool for baptism by immersion? We have something like that, 4-sided, in our church for such a purpose. However, there is water running into it from a fountain, and a smaller font next to it for infant baptism.I recently attended an old (1908) church in Ridgewood, NY. The baptismal font was centrally located in the church but adjacent to it was a thick marble wall, about a foot high, that was six or eight sided and roughly the width and length to accomodate an adult laying down flat on the ground. Does anyone know what it is? I’ve been to numerous churches in my life and never saw anything like it