Here is a nice use of an original pedestal font in the renovated St. Mary Catholic Church, Mt. Angel, OR, built in 1940.  For the renovation, the font may have been moved to just inside the doors from a back corner or a chapel. I don’t really know. The parish apparently decided it did not want to add a cistern font to the arrangement; probably a wise decision in this case. But, the nice octagonal treatment of the floor around the front suggests a cistern. The sculptural group on the covering of the font is of the Baptism of Christ by St. John. I can’t make out the other sculptured images, below, on the trunk of the font but you can make out some beautiful decorative patterns on the basin. I’m guessing those are confessionals in the background of the picture on the right. I wonder if they are still being used as such or are now simply decorative? As confessionals the arrangement makes a wonderful conjoining of the two sacraments. The treatment of the ‘doors’ leads me to think they are just decorative, but, again, I don’t know.

Sanctuary for Sacred Arts – J. David Richen, architect

Tags: Baptismal Fonts, Liturgical art

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