Apt

INFORMATION

FontID: 03584APT
Church/Chapel: [disappeared baptistery]
Church Location: [NB: address & coordinates given for the cathedral at Apt] Pl. de la Cathédrale, 84400 Apt, France
Country Name: France
Location: Vaucluse, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Directions to Site: Apt is located off the D900, about 65 km E of Avignon.
Ecclesiastic Region: Diocèse d'Avignon
Century and Period: , Early Christian
Corblet mentions that St. Auspice, first bishop of Apt, is reputed to have founded a baptistery in this town. Corblet quotes Pierre de Marmet's "Mission de saint Auspice, martyr, premier évêque d'Apt", published in 1685, in which is described a large square basin, made of a local marble-like stone, that St-Auspice had installed, to everyone's surprise, in the middle of the grand square facing the palace. Marmet continues to describe how, in the next few days, a thousand people were baptised in it, "et plongées trois fois dans ce bassin rempli d'eau, au nom du Père et du Fils et du Saint-Esprit, selon l'antique coutume". A few days later, adds Marmet, the foundations for the first Christian church ever in Apt were laid. (Corblet, 1881-1882, v. 2, p. 52-53)

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 43.876111, 5.396944
Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 43° 52′ 34″ N, 5° 23′ 49″ E
UTM: 31T 692575 4860906

REFERENCES

Corblet, Jules, Histoire dogmatique, liturgique et archéologique du sacrement de baptême, Paris: V. Palme, 1881-1882