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The Baptistry

The first of the seven sacraments of the Christian Church, Baptism is frequently called ‘the door of the sacraments and the door of the Church’.

In commissioning the Cathedral Cardinal Vaughan asked that the Chapels should physically portray the Christian journey from life to death starting with the Baptistry and ending with the Chapel of the Holy Souls showing the progression from birth to death, the joy of Christmas to the agony and Resurrection of Christ.


The baptismal font
The Baptistry of the Cathedral is an excellent place to start a tour of the interior because the space itself signifies a beginning. In accordance within Roman practice it is railed off and has a gate fastened by a lock. The Baptistry is entered through a broad and deep archway at the south side of the narthex. On the marble alongside the gates there stands a small, finely carved wooden statue of St Christopher.


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The Baptistry is an excellent place to start a tour
of the interior

 

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