these is a canon bearing

canon bearing on a matter already spoken of: "Ut nullus presbyter sacrum officium, sive baptismatis sacramentum, aut aliquid donorum spiritalium pro aliquo pretio vendere præsumat; ne vendentes et ementes in templo columbas imitentur."15 About the same time, in that province, an abuse appears to have crept in which the archbishop notices and forbids: “xlij. Sunt quidam qui miscent vinum cum aqua baptismatis non recte : et Christus non jussit baptizari vino, sed aqua."

Some few years before this, the ecclesiastical laws of king Ina had decreed that every infant should be baptized within thirty days, under a penalty: "Infans intra triginta dies baptizetur: si hoc non ita fiat, triginta solidis compenset (parens): si tunc mortuus sit absque baptismate, compenset illud omnibus quæ habet." 16 In the tenth century we find this period somewhat extended, by the canons enacted under king Edgar: "Docemus etiam, ut quilibet sacerdos baptismum peragat, simul ac requiritur et deinde in parochia sua (on hir scriftscire) præcipiat, ut quilibet infans baptizetur intra xxxvij. dies, et ut nemo nimis diu ab episcopo confirmari differat." To the same purpose are, the tenth of the laws of the Northumbrian priests, in the same century; the twenty-sixth of the canons of Ælfric; and lastly, the seventeenth of the ecclesiastical institutes: "If any one bring a sickly child to a mass-priest, be it of whatever masspriest's district it may, then let him baptize it

:

15 Wilkins, Conc. tom. 1. p. 102; Thorpe, vol. 2. p. 99. 27th of Elfric's canons.

Cf.

16 Wilkins, Conc. tom. I. p. 58. 17 Ibid. p. 226. Cf. Thorpe, vol. 2. p. 247.

forthwith, and for no business let him neglect to baptize it, be it from whence it may. If he on any account neglect it, and it die without baptism, then be it known to him, that on doomsday he shall render an account for that soul to God." 18 Once more, a canon of the council of Calchuth in the year 816: "Sciant etiam presbyteri, quando sacrum baptismum ministrant, ut non effundant aquam sanctam super capita infantium, sed semper mergantur in lavacro; sicut exemplum præbuit per semetipsum Dei Filius omni credenti, quando esset ter mersus in undis Jordanis." 19

Passing on to the age which succeeded the Norman conquest we come to a canon of the council of York, in 1195; and now find other particulars: "Statuimus, ne in baptismate plures quam tres suscipiant puerum de sacro fonte; masculum duo mares, et una mulier; fœminam duo fœminæ, et unus mas: ubi autem puer, cujus baptisma ignoratur, reperitur expositus, sive cum sale sive sine sale reperiatur, baptizetur; cum non intelligatur iteratum, quod nescitur fuisse collatum." 20 In the year 1200 a council at London decreed, after repeating that where baptism appeared not to have been performed it was to be administered, "et ut non liceat diaconis baptizare, nisi duplici necessitate; viz. quia sacerdos non potest, vel absens, vel stulte non vult, et mors imminet puero. Si vero in necessitate

18 Wilkins, Conc. tom. 1. p. 218; Thorpe, vol. 2. pp. 353,413. The clause in the last canon about "another mass-priest's district" has reference to an order

immediately following, that no priest should entice people from another's district.

19 Wilkins, Conc. tom. 1. p. 171. 20 Ibid. tom. I. p. 501.

puer baptizetur a laico, quod fieri potest a patre vel matre, absque matrimonii præjudicio, sequentia immersionem non præcedentia per sacerdotem expleantur." 21

A council was held at Durham in 1220, at which we find that several canons relating to the sacrament of baptism were published: "Quælibet ecclesia habeat baptisterium. Baptisterium habeatur in qualibet ecclesia baptismali,22 lapideum, vel aliquod competens, quod decenter cooperiatur et reverenter conservetur, et in alios usus non convertatur. Aqua vero, in qua baptizatur puer, ultra septem dies in baptisterio non servetur. Si vero puer domi 23 a laico, propter necessitatem fuerit baptizatus, aqua, propter reverentiam baptismi, vel fundatur in ignem, vel ad ecclesiam in baptisterium fundenda deferatur; et vas illud vel comburatur, vel ad usus ecclesiæ deputetur. Forma baptizandi. Semper sacerdos interroget laicum diligenter, cum in necessitate baptizaverit puerum, quid dixerit, et quid fecerit. Et si præcedente diligenti inquisitione,

21 Concilia, tom. 1. p. 505. 22 Lyndwood explains this: "Sive cathedrali sive parochiali, tali viz. quæ habet populum: nam in ecclesia collegiata vel conventuali quæ non habet populum, non debet esse baptisterium. Dicitur etiam ecclesia baptismalis respectu capellarum subjectarum, imo ad ipsas ecclesias baptismales tanquam matrices pro baptismo recurritur." Lib. 3. tit. 24, Baptisterium habeatur.

66

23 Sc. ubi natus est puer, vel in alio loco quam in baptisterio ad hoc deputato. Et nota, quod extra ecclesias, ubi sunt fontes baptismales deputati, regulariter non licet aliquem baptizare. Fallit tamen in liberis regum vel principum." Lyndwood, in loc. cit. Thus it would seem that royal children are baptized in the palace of their parents, by special dispensation of the general rule. See the rubric below, p. 33.

facta sibi plena fide, invenerit laicum distincte et in forma ecclesiæ baptizasse in Latino, sive in Gallico, seu in Anglico, approbet factum; sin autem, baptizet puerum: Non intendo te rebaptizare, et si tu non es baptizatus, ego baptizo te, &c. De patrinis. Ad levandum puerum de fonte, tres ad plus recipiantur in baptismo maris, duo mares et una fœmina; fœmina vero a duabus fœminis et uno mare suscipiatur. Quod amplius est, a malo est.' Then follow other canons, similar to some already extracted of other councils, about deacons baptizing; of the baptism of children found exposed, &c.24

Great care was to be taken not only that there should be a cover to the font but that it should have a proper fastening and lock. The ninth of the constitutions of St. Edmund, in 1236, gives a reason and adds a penalty: "fontes sub serura clausi teneantur, propter sortilegia..... Si vero is, ad quem spectat custodia, incaute ea reliquerit, tribus mensibus ab officio suo suspendatur; et si per ejus incuriam aliquid nefarium contigerit, graviori subjaceat ultioni." 25 The "fons sacer cum serura is ordered by the canons of several councils: for example, at York in 1250, and by archbishop Winchelsey in 1305.

The orders just quoted of the council of Durham

24 Concil. tom. 1. p. 576. See Martene, De ant. ecc. rit. lib. 1. cap. 1. 16. One of the earliest orders made by the Church with respect to the cases of exposed infants was in an African council, cited by Bingham, book xi. cap. iv. 17. It was repeated in

the 84th canon of the council in Trullo, upon which the reader should consult Balsamon's commentary, and Zonaras', in Bevereg. pandect. tom. 1. p. 254; and Catalani, Conc. comm. tom. 2. p. 206.

25 Concil. tom. I. p. 636.

were repeated in the province of Canterbury about two years after in a council at Oxford, under Stephen Langton: again, and others to the same effect, in 1236 among the constitutions of archbishop Edmund: in the diocese of Lichfield, in 1237: in the diocese of Chichester, in 1246: and in various other councils, which I do not think it necessary to specify; of which one of the most particular in its directions is the second canon of the synod of Exeter, held under bishop Quivil, in the year 1287.

The York canon of 1250 (referred to in the preceding page) orders a locked font as a part of the necessary furniture of a church.26 Lyndwood explains: "ut aqua servetur munda, et ne laicis vel aliis ad aquam ejusdem pateat accessus ad alique nefaria exercenda." 27 In many parish churches the remains of the ancient fastenings may yet be

26 Concil. tom. 1. p. 698. 27 Lib. 3. tit. 24, Baptisterium habeatur.

28 I may perhaps venture to express surprise that it is still not uncommon to see in English parish churches not merely a common and small bason put into the font in order to supply the place of it, but even this left in a neglected, dusty, or dirty state. In some churches of large and populous parishes there actually is no font at all. It is not easy to understand, with the reformed order of the administration of baptism lying