Roma No. 9 / Vaticano

Bond (1908:18): "What seems to be a veritable baptistery was recognised in 1900, in the catacombs of the cemetery of Priscilla at Rome; this has a tank, and on the arch the inscription 'Qui sitet cen[iat ad me et bibat]', i.e., 'Let him who is thirsty come to me and drink.'" Tyrrell-Green (1928: 3-4) mentions an early baptistery "discovered in 1901 in the cemetery of St. Priscilla by Professor Marucchi. Its date is not certain, and it may be as late as the fourth century, though Professor Marucchi himself was inclined to identify it with the place where, according to tradition, St. Peter baptized at Rome." [NB: the History of the Christian Church (Schaff, 1997: chapter VII, 84) mentions the Ostrianum catacomb/cemetery (Ad Nymphas Petri, or Fons Petri) as the one where St. Peter is said to have baptised from a natural well]. [see also Index entry for Rome no. 15, for the alleged -and unlikely- font in which Priscilla is said to have been baptised by St. Peter]