Ludinghausen / Lüdinghausen

The entry for this church in Tourenplaner-Muensterland [https://tourenplaner-muensterland.de/PoiInfoLH/?code=22601000&poi=116&backBtn=0] [accessed 27 October 2022] notes a baptismal font made of stone in the first half of the 13th century in this church. The original bucket-shaped basin has two metal bands installed [when?] to prevent the stone from cracking; there is an inscription [transcription not available] on the bands; the four lion protomes of the base are a later replacement. The conical font cover is modern, the work of Alex Weischer, a Lüdinghausen blacksmith [cf. infra]. A communication from Pol Herman to BSI (e-mail of 4 July 2022) includes the English version of an entry in Wikipedia that is footnoted with "Zum Taufbecken im online-Kirchenführer der Gemeinde" as source, but it is a broken or wrong link to the source: "In the year 800, St. Liudger, who was the first bishop of Munster, was given property in Lüdinghausen by a certain Senelhard and his son-in-law Wa lfried. Liudger built Lüdinghausen's first church on this site. Nothing is known about the size and appearance of the church, but it is assumed that the church was only a small wooden building. As a result of the market and minting rights for Lüdinghausen from 974, a new church was inaugurated on July 11, 1037 by Bishop Hermann I of Münster. The church was no longer a wooden building, but a stone church. The church, probably built in the Romanesque style, was under the protection of Saint Stephen and Saint Felicitas with their seven sons. This church existed for almost 500 years until today's parish church was built. Today's St. Felicitas Church is the third in its place. The foundation stone of the choir was laid on February 28, 1507. The oldest item of equipment, and older than the entire church, is the 13th-century baptismal font, which stands in the front of the southern aisle. The circular baptismal font; tapering downwards; probably dates from the first half of the 13th century. It is decorated with a leaf frieze at the top and a profile at the bottom; the two iron hoops are supposed to protect the stone from cracks. The ancient locks and the cone-shaped lid were created around the turn of the century by the Lüdinghausen blacksmith Alex Weischer. The lid is decorated with foliage and tendrils, and with names and symbols referring to the four evangelists and the four rivers of Paradise. The four Latin verses (hexameter) read: Os mutans Phison est prudenti simulatus. Temperem Geon terrae designat hiatus. Est velox Tigris quo fortis significatur. Frugifer Euphrates est iustitiaque notatus. With these verses, the names of the four rivers of paradise (Phison, Geon, Tigris, and Euphrates) become emblematic of the virtues of prudence, temperance, bravery, and justice. The baptismal font is carried by four lions, which were created more recently. The baptismal font includes a silver baptismal equipment (bowl, pitcher, oil vessel), which is kept in a wall niche, together with a so-called Johannesschüssel as wall decoration, which commemorates the martyrdom of the Baptist. The baptismal font itself has running water."