The Presbyters Project

Ildefonsus describes the baptismal font that miraculously fills with water in the time proper for the baptism.

109. [...] Nam stat plenus fontis loculus et, postquam a sacerdote extiterit benedictus, sustinet omnes concurrentium conuentus, quantum ue ab illo ex fide corporaliter bibatur, quantum ex impetu conuenientium humi uertatur, quantum in diuersas terras religioni conuenientibus uasculis adsportata seruetur, nulla aestimatione colligitur. Stat certe tam indeficiens haurientibus, ut, plus ablato quam capuit, nesciat minorari. At ubi baptizans infantulum sacerdos inmerserit, mox quiescit, sicque uisibiliter redit in nullo, quae inuisibiliter creuit ex nullo. [...]

(ed. Yarza Urquiola 2007: 411)

Ildefonsus describes the baptismal font that miraculously fills with water in the time proper for the baptism.

109. [...] For the [baptismal] font stands full and, after having been blessed by the priest, it sustains all the gathering of those who approach it. It is impossible to estimate how many people have a carnal drink of it out of faith, how much water is spilled on the ground by the impetus of those coming, or how much of it is taken in small vessels out of devotion by those going to various regions. And the font stands certainly full for the drinkers so that more water is taken than the font could contain, and it is not diminished. And when the priest immersed the infant, the water stopped flowing and so it visibly disappeared into nothing as it invisibly appeared out of nothing. [...]

(trans. M. Szada)

Discussion:

This miracle can be compared with similar miracles from the other parts of the Christian world. In the late sixth century, the Piacenza Pilgrim was witness to the Feast of Epiphany at the Jordan (Itinerarium 11): "At dawn . . . the priest goes down to the river. The moment he starts blessing the water the Jordan turns back on itself with a roar and the water stays still till the baptism is finished. All the ship owners of Alexandria have men there that day with great jars of spices and balsam, and as soon as the river has been blessed, before the baptism starts, they pour them out into the water and draw out holy water. This water they use for sprinkling their ships when they are about to set sail" (trans. Wilkinson 1977: 82). There is also the story about the miraculous font at the Spanish springs in Osetta in the Glory of the Martyrs, chapters 23–24 of Gregory of Tours.

Place of event:

Region

Iberian Peninsula

About the source:

Author: Ildefonsus of Toledo
Title: De cognitione baptismi
Origin: Toledo (Iberian Peninsula)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

Ildefonsus was from a Toletan family. As a young man, he was educated in the monastery of Agali, then he was ordained a deacon in Toledo by Bishop Helladius (he writes about these events in his own work De viris illustribus). In AD 657, after the death of Eugenius II, Ildefonsus became the bishop of Toledo at the instigation of King Reccesvinth (reigned 653–72). He died in 667. He wrote De cognitione baptismi during his episcopacy. Along with the passage 2.21–27 from Isidore`s of Seville De officiis it is the most important document of the baptismal practice in the seventh-century Spain. For more detailed information on the text see Robles 1970, and Yarza Urquiola 2007: 278–333.

Edition:

V. Yarza Urquiola, C. Codoñer eds., Ildefonsi Toletani De virginitate Sanctae Mariae, De cognitione baptismi, De itinere deserti, De viris illustribus, Corpus Christianorum. Series Latina 114A, Turnhout 2007

Translation:

Ildefonsus of Toledo, Liber de cognitione baptismi, trans. M.C. Billy, Washington, D.C. 1951.

Bibliography:

L. Robles, 'Anotaciones a la obra de san Hildefonso De cognitione baptismi', Saitabi: revista de la Facultat de Geografia i Història 21 (1970), 73-146.

J. Wilkinson, Jerusalem pilgrims before the Crusades, Warminster 1977.

Categories:

Described by a title - Sacerdos/ἱερεύς

Ritual activity - Baptism and instructing catechumens

Devotion - Supernatural experience

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: M. Szada, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER988, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=988