[892] Cyprian argues for the validity of baptism by sprinkling, when immersion is inconvenient, as in the case of the sick, prisoners, etc., as follows: “In baptism the spots of sin are otherwise washed away than is the filth of the body in a secular and carnal washing, in which is need of a bath, soap, and the like. The heart of the believer is otherwise washed; the mind of man is cleansed by the merit of faith”—Neque enim sic in sacramento salutari delictorum contagia, ut in lavacro carnali et seculari sordes cutis et corporis abluuntur, etc.—Ep. ad Magnum.
Thus, we read that St. Lawrence baptized with only a pitcher of water—urceum afferens cum aqua—and by pouring water on the head of the subject—fundit aquam super caput.—Acta Laurentii. Tertullian also speaks of the “aspersion of water” in baptism—asperginem aquae.—De Pœnitent., 6.
[893] The so-called benitiers, or holy water vessels of the Catacombs, were, it is likely, in some cases at least, baptismal vases. The Romish “holy water” is probably copied from the aqua lustralis of the pagans, which stood at the door of the temples, and into which the worshipper on entering and leaving dipped his fingers. In striking analogy to Romish usage, the pagan priest sprinkled the multitude with the holy dew by means of an aspergillum, or light brush—
Idem ter socios pura circumtulit unda
Spargens rore levi.
[894] The nimbus and other characteristics indicate the comparatively late date of this picture. De Rossi thinks it not earlier than the seventh or eighth century. The ravages of time since the above was copied by Bosio have defaced part of the angel figure. In a similar group in a Latin MS., of the ninth century, the river Jordan flows from two vessels held by two boys. In another group at Monza, of the seventh century, the baptismal water pours from a vase held in the beak of the divine dove upon the head of Christ.
[895] The figures are a light umber, the falling water a pale blue.
[896] The neophytes laid aside their white baptismal robes, or albs, on the Sunday after Easter, hence called Dominica in albis. In the following inscription Pascasius, a neophyte of six years, is said to have received baptism on Easter eve, and to have laid aside his albs one week thereafter in the tomb: PERCEPIT XI KAL. MAIAS ET ALBAS SVAS OCTABAS (sic) PASCAE (sic) AD SEPVLCHRVM DEPOSVIT. (A. D. 463.)
Dr. McCaul notes a striking analogy to Christian forms of expression in an epitaph describing pagan initiation: ARCANIS PERFVSIONIBVS IN AETERNVM RENATVS—“Born eternally by secret sprinklings.” The sprinkling was that of the blood of a bull or ram, dripping on the bodies of the recipients of the lustration through perforations in a platform beneath which they stood.—Christian Epitaphs, p. 57.
[897] Although these in after times became vast buildings, with ample provision for baptismal immersion, in the earlier ages they were quite small; and, according to Smith’s Classical Dictionary, the baptisterium was “not a bath sufficiently large to immerse the whole body, but a vessel or labrum containing cold water for pouring on the head.”—Art., Baths. Eusebius speaks of baptisteries without the church “for those who require yet the purification and the sprinklings (περιῤῥαντήριον) of water and the Holy Spirit.”—E. H., x, 4.
[898] I am indebted for these references to the Rev. Prof. Bennett, D.D., of Syracuse University, late of Berlin, Prussia.