Martin M. Miles' photos with the keyword: baptismal

Sint-Jacobuskerk was built in 1876-79, replacing an older church. The first church here was probably a wooden one, founded by the Lords of Lichtervelde. Later, a Romanesque church was built. The patron saints were Margaret and James the Greater. James the Greater was chosen because Lichtervelde was a transit point on the pilgrims' route to Santiago de Compostela. During the Second Iconoclasm in 1584, the church was destroyed except for its Romanesque tower. It was rebuilt around 1620. It was damaged during the Franco-Spanish Wars and the War of the Spanish Succession, which ended in 1713. Between 1876 and 1879, it was deemed too small and demolished to make room for the present neo-Gothic church, which was built between 1878 and 1880. In 1918, the church was bombed during the German retreat, but was rebuilt in the neo-Gothic style in 1922/23. The baptismal font, dated to the 11th and 12th century, was created from Tournai blue ston. It is 80x80 cm and 23 cm thick. The tub rests on a firm cylindrical pillar, surrounded by four round small columns. On the side walls are dragon motives. In 1918, the font was buried under the debris of the tower. After a restoration it was again placed in the church.

The very remarkable baptismal in the Église Saint-Barthélémy, (11th century), in the village of Farges-lès-Mâcon. It is romanesque - but this smiling face is bizarre! Was this just a very humorous carver, who worked for a very humorous customer? It is not that the carver could not work better, the whole baptismal is pretty perfect, but this grimacing face.... Or is it a smiling angel, happy that another soul is saved here? Maybe you know better...

The most colourful and surprising item inside the rather bleak Cathedral of Vence is this mosaic behind the baptismal font. It was created by russo-french artist Marc Chagall, who lived in nearby St.- Paul de Vence. Worldfamous Chagall has created many stained windows (Metz, Reims, Mainz, Chichester..) of which the most are very dark blue - in opposite to this light coloured scene, depicting Moses in a small craft of bulrushes, being rescued from the Nile. Maybe this was saying Chagall´s way of saying "Merci beaucoup" to Vence after he was awarded the honorary citizenship of the town.

The collegiate church Saint-Pierre (aka "St-Pierre-aux-Liens") dates back to the 12th century, though many alterations and the fortification seen here, were done later. A church and convent that existed here, got looted and burnt down by the Normans in 866. It was named "Scotorum", so it may be have been founded by Scottish/Irish monks. Around 980 a collegiate was founded here, dedicated to Saint Peter. Under the first monks were Israël and his disciple Theobald, who later became the patron saints of Le Dorat. The church of the collegiate was set on fire by local villagers during a regional war in 1013 and burnt down. The newly built church got consecrated in 1063 - and burnt down in 1080. Soon after this a crypt was built, but the erection of the church above the crypt did not start before 1112. When in 1130, the choir and the radial chapels were completed, the relics of Saint Israël and Saint Theobald were "translated" into the church, what attracted obviously lots of pilgrims following the Via Lemovicensis to a little detour. In the following centuries Le Dorat was threatened by and involved into many wars and feuds and so town and church got heavily fortified. That did not help, when in 1567 a Huguenot-armee of 15.000 troops conquered the place, killed about 400 inhabitants and looted town and convent. All buildings of the collegiate got lost after the French Revolution, only the really large church (74,70 m long) survived the times and now serves as a parish church. This massive baptismal font is a couple of centuries older, that the church. It is probably Carolingian and saw the Normans, when they looted the convent. Baptsimal fonts of that time are often large, as adult baptism was very common during the early times. Note the lions.