Bible Dictionaries

Charles Buck Theological Dictionary

Baptistry

The place in which the ceremony of baptism is performed. In the ancient church, it is said, it was generally a building separate, and distinct from the church. It consisted of an ante-room, where the adult persons to be baptized made their confession of faith; and an inner room, where the ceremony of baptism was performed. Thus it continued to the sixth century, when the baptisteries began to be taken into the church.