Roma No. 12 / Vaticano / Cemeterium Ostrianum

INFORMATION

FontID: 05723ROM
Country Name: Italy
Location: Roma, Lazio
Font Location in Church: In the catacomb near St. Agnese (?)
Century and Period: 3rd century (?), Early Christian
Tyrrell-Green (1928: 4) lists this as an early baptistery: "discovered in 1876 at the Coemeterium Ostrianum near Sta. Agnese, and dates from the third century. Its hollow cut in the rock for the baptismal water is neither large nor deep." [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].

REFERENCES

Tyrrell-Green, E., Baptismal Fonts Classified and Illustrated, London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge: The Macmillan Co., 1928