Tours No. 1

INFORMATION

Font ID: 03640TOU
Object Type: Baptistery
Font Century and Period/Style: 6th century, Early Christian
Church / Chapel Name: Baptistery of Saint-Jean [disappeared]
Church Patron Saint(s): St. John [the Baptist?]
Church Address: [NB: address & coordinates given for the Ancienne chapelle Saint-Jean à Tours] 12 Rue Rapin 37000 Tours, France
Site Location: Indre-et-Loire, Centre-Val de Loire, France, Europe
Directions to Site: The present church is located in the historic centre of the city, just S of the Rue des Halles
Font Notes:
Corblet reports that Gregory of Tours, who became bishop of Tours in 573 A.D., had a baptistery built near the cathedral, that it was dedicated to the honour of Saint-Jean and that he placed there relics of "saint Jean, de saint Serge et de saint Bénigne". It was located to the north of the basilica of St-Martin , and served as chapter-room for the collegiate. (Corblet, 1881-1882, v. 2, p. 73). The Oxford Dictionary of Saints says that "Gregory built also built a new baptistery and enriched this, the old baptistery", thus stating that there was a second baptistery in Tours mentioned in Gregory's Historia Francorum (Farmer, 1987, p. 195)

COORDINATES

UTM: 31T 325061 5251381
Latitude & Longitude (Decimal): 47.392434, 0.681871
Latitude & Longitude (DMS): 47° 23′ 32.76″ N, 0° 40′ 54.74″ E

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: unknown

REFERENCES

  • Corblet, Jules, Histoire dogmatique, liturgique et archéologique du sacrement de baptême, Paris: V. Palme, 1881-1882, vol. 2, p. 73
  • Farmer, David Hugh, The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987, p. 195