Baptismal font

Many fonts are in octagonal shape, as a reminder of the new creation and as a connection to the Old Testament practice of circumcision, which traditionally occurs on the eighth day.

[3] In many churches of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, there was a special chapel or even a separate building for housing the baptismal fonts, called a baptistery.

[4] Saint Ambrose wrote that fonts and baptisteries were octagonal "because on the eighth day,[a] by rising, Christ loosens the bondage of death and receives the dead from their graves".

The mode of a baptism at a font is usually one of sprinkling, pouring, washing, or dipping in keeping with the Koine Greek verb βαπτίζω.

These fonts, which date from the late 12th Century around the years 1170 to 1190, are typically chalice-shaped, ornately carved around the rim with fluting below, and are considered fine examples of English Norman architecture.

In Northern Europe, baroque font covers in the shape of a floating angel which are hung vertically from the ceiling of the choir became fashionable in the Lutheran churches of Germany, Denmark and Sweden during the 17th and 18th centuries.

Full-immersion baptisms may take place in a man-made tank or pool, or a natural body of water such as a river or lake.

Currently, the Roman Catholic Church encourages baptismal fonts that are suitable for the full immersion of an infant or child, and for at least the pouring of water over the whole body of an adult.

The font should be located in a space that is visibly and physically accessible, and should preferably make provision for flowing water.

Baptisms of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are usually undertaken in a simple font located in a local meetinghouse, although they can be performed in any body of water in which the person may be completely immersed.