Roma No. 9 / Vaticano
INFORMATION
Font ID: 05538ROM
Object Type: Baptistery
Font Century and Period/Style: Early Christian
Site Location: Roma, Lazio, Italy, Europe
Font Notes:
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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]
INSCRIPTION
Inscription Language: Latin
Inscription Location: on an arch
Inscription Text: "QUI SITET VEN[iat ad me et bibat]"
Inscription Notes: Transl. in Bond: "Let him who is thirsty come to me and drink"
Inscription Source: Bond (1985, c1908: 18)
REFERENCES
- Bond, Francis, Fonts and Font Covers, London: Waterstone, 1985 c1908, p. 18
- Cabrol, Fernand, Dictionnaire d'archéologie chrétienne et de liturgie, Paris: Letouzey et Ane, 1907-1953, fasc. xiii, p. 403
- Tyrrell-Green, E., Baptismal Fonts Classified and Illustrated, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge: The Macmillan Co., 1928, p. 3-4