TheMotherChurch 33
with his wife, the event raised the question whether it would now be spiritual
incest for the father to cohabit with his wife—Gratian concluded that it did
not. To moderns, the accident and the legal issues it raised seem far-fetched,
but both are perfectly at home in communal Italy, where mass baptisms and
crowds were normal. Gratian’s confused priest was probably baptizing in a
font like that at Pisa, where the priest had to take the child from the parents,
turn around, immerse him three times, turn back again, and then hand the
child to the godparents. It must have been an awkward procedure, and many
a priest certainly got confused. Gratian’s weird mistake probably happened
many times.
Baptismal logistics were more elegant further north. There two fonts sur-
vive from the early thirteenth century, both of similar form. In the nave of
the baptismal church at Verona is a large eight-sidedvascacarved from a
single block (fig. 24 ). Instead of four individual stalls for the ministers, as in
Tuscany, the pool has, in its center, a single quatrefoil well. Four priests
could stand in it with their backs to the center, facing outward over the
water-filled vessel. This avoided the awkward turning. Leaden plugs on the
top of the eight panels forming the octagonal font fill what must have been
the holes for attaching the cover that protected the sacred water from profa-
nation. This cover also allowed the ministers to get over the water filled
vessel into the central well before baptisms commenced. The side panels
carry bas-reliefs depicting the life of Christ up to his baptism by John in the
Jordan. This particular panel greets us as we enter through the church’s
ceremonial door. The image identifies those reborn in the font with Christ
himself. The second example of a northern font is at Salimbene’s baptistery
in Parma, where it is part of the structure’s intact medieval decorations (fig.
25 ). This font’s imposing size is magnified by its elevation three steps above
the floor. Its pink Veronese marble becomes a vibrant red when wet. The
Parma baptistery contains a second thirteenth-century font of smaller size,
intended for individual private baptisms (fig. 26 ). On the wall above the
smaller font is a fresco that depicts the small font in use (fig. 27 ). To one side
of the image a deacon baptizes a child by immersion while the godparents
look on. On the other side, a bishop baptizes, again by immersion, a king,
perhaps Constantine. The parallel is clear: the baby citizen is sacramentally
equal to a king or emperor, born of the same water. This small font was
used for children whose poor health counseled against waiting until the mass
baptisms of Easter or Pentecost. Such a motive also explains the preservation
of older small fonts even in cities that boasted monumental communal bap-
tisteries with large impressive fonts.
Neighborhoods andChapels
If the cathedral complex was the heart of the Mother Church, the body
extended throughout the area within the city walls and beyond, into the