What does the architecture of Donatist baptisteries tell us about the Catholic-Donatist schism? Does the placement or decoration of the baptisteries in any way illuminate the disagreement between the two parties? If one looks for clean cut, clear differences between the architecture of Catholic and Donatist baptisteries, even the most basic questions one might ask pose methodological problems. Significant difficulties arise in three areas. First, there is the determination whether a particular baptistery belongs to a particular communion. There is not a distinctively Donatist or Catholic style of architecture.The confusion is complicated by a second factor, individual churches changed hands.(1) Third, there is the pressing problem at present of the priorities of excavators and those publishing reports about possible Donatist sites. Decisions about subject and publication priorities may be internal to the discipline. Archaeologists and historians of liturgy pose different questions. Even more problematic are those external to the discipline. The funding priorities of governmental agencies supportign excavation and sometiems publication change for reasons which have more to do with the agenda of political parties or national governments than scholarship. Finally, there is the fact that the location and size of baptisteries may vary with little apparent relation to time, geography, or sectarian control.

The rhetoric of the Donatists and Catholics proclaimed different theologies of baptism. First, Donatist theologians claimed to have the one and only true baptism. Only those within the true Church could administer the sacraments. Catholics, on the other hand, asserted that both communities had valid baptisms, but that only Catholic baptism was effective. Augustine reasoned that if a person who moved beyond the orbit of orthodoxy did not cease to be baptized (or ordained) that person could still validly baptize (and ordain).(2) Second, both communities located the power of baptism differently. Before the formal split between the groups, the Christians of North Africa had some hesitancy about certain sinners being administrators of the sacrament.(3) As the schism developed the first generation of Donatists located the power to administer sacraments, first, in a minister who had not committed a major ecclesiological and public sin, such as idolatry. Later, the crucial test became the minister's membership in the correct community, the community which was the true Church.(4)The Catholic party took the issue of the locus of power even further and located the power of the sacraments, not in the individual minister or even in the correct church, but in God.(5)

One might be tempted to look at the ritual itself for indicators of differences between Catholic and Donatist practice. Today the skeleton of the ritual remains. There are no indications of significant differences between the two groups in ritual practice despite their theological differences. We are stymied in our investigation by the a shroud of secrecy. Augustine articulated the hesitancy of North African Christians to disclose to outsiders only two items of their religion, what happened at Baptism and at the Eucharist.(6)

However, not all is lost. The very fact that the differences between the two groups are so hard to find leads us back, as it did Augustine, to the rituals and objects Donatists and Catholics have in common, the very things they interpreted differently.(7) A careful examination of their common stock of architecture, ritual and theological rhetoric should lead us to a better understanding of the commonalities. This, in turn, should illuminate differences in interpretation.
 

Material Evidence We will begin with commonalities of architecture, proceed to a synoptic examination of artistic motifs and correlate both to available texts. It is my contention that with very few exceptions, Catholics and Donatists would have been able to use the same physical facilities for Baptism, but would have interpreted that space differently, to suit their diverging ideologies.

Architecture

The first item to consider is the architecture of the baptisteries. It should be noted that not every church had a baptistery.(8) Martyria and memorial chapels regularly lacked them up to Augustine's time.(9) In the fourth century, especially after Julian, there was great competition between Catholics and Donatists so that individual towns might have two cathedrals, one Donatist and one Catholic, each with its own baptistery.(10) In addition to the multiplication of baptisteries due to confessional differences, a large city like Carthage might have more than one baptistery for other reasons. By the beginning of the fifth century, the city seems to have been divided into regions, each with its own main church, a "quasi-cathedral," with its own baptistery.(11) But not until the sixth century, during the Byzantine era do we have a proliferation of baptisteries at non-episcopal churches like martyria and pilgrimage sites.

Where baptisteries are found, they may be a simple room or they may have complexes of rooms attached to them. For example, the baptistery at Hippo was flanked by an even larger room, thought to be a consignatorium. The baptistery at Sbeitla II, "Vitalis," has similarly sized rooms on either side of the baptistery. But that of Januarius at Timgad had no adjoining rooms. Instead, the font was surrounded by a colonnade outside of which was a proportionately larger amount of space.(12) Other diversities included the positioning, size, and shape of the fonts.

Position Baptisteries are rarely part of a separate building in North Africa. Nearly all baptisteries are accessible from either the nave or the apse of the church. Many are positioned to the left of the nave or in what might have been a sacristy to the left of the apse.(13) Some were probably accessible from the nave, but in at least one case, the Donatist basilica at Maktar, the only access appears to have been from the left side of the apse. Rarely are they joined to the narthex.(14) A few baptisteries are located directly behind the apse. No particular location seems to indicate that a church was Catholic or Donatist. The positioning seems determined by two factors. The first is the topography of the building site. What watersheds, cliffs, or other landscape features constrain the architects and builders?(15) Second, the architecture of the pre-existing structures on the site determines the orientation and often the shape of the buildings. At Haïdra I the church was built over a bath. Sbeitla I and III were built on the foundations of public buildings. Sbeitla II was built over a house.(16) At Maktar and at Sbeitla's Church of Severus, Donatist Christians took over and remodeled pagan temples. At Sbeitla the Donatists' baptistry towered over the central part of the city, a very imposing part of the edifice. One might be tempted to say that it was deliberately chosen to emphasize the superiority of Donatist baptism. But the extremely architecturally prominent site for the Donatist baptistery is probably less a function of Donatist baptismal theology than the fact that the former cella of the temple provided a convenient site for a baptistery, a site with many precedents. The reuse of prior foundations along with the original building and the subsequent expansion of churches within the confines of other buildings seems to account for the lack of consistent orientation of both churches and baptisteries. Baptisteries seem to have been located by convenience rather than theology.

Size North African baptisteries vary widely in size. The baptistery of the priest Severus at Sbeitla, while quite tall, is only 3.5 x 1.7m (11.48 x 5.5').(17) At Henchir Massaouda, the baptistery is among the larger at 6x5m (18.6x16.4').(18) Attached rooms can sometimes be larger than the baptistery itself, auch as the "oratory" at the basilica at Dermech, 12.5x 8.25m (41x27').(19)

If there is any trend in the size of baptismal font, it appears that as time progresses and there are fewer adult baptisms, the depth of the font decreases.(20) Again convenience and topography seem to be more important than theology.

Shapes North African baptismal fonts appear in a number of shapes. While there is not a strictly linear development of the shapes of baptisteries, over all, it can be said that the earliest seem to have been round or square, perhaps modeled on basins in homes and in public places such as baths. By Augustine's time these are giving way to polygonal baptisteries. Later polylobed fonts tend to be deeper. These in turn give way to cruciform and quadrilobed fonts in the Byzantine period. In general, simplicity gives way to complexity. Vandal and Byzantine fonts are often shallower than their immediate predecessors, in line with the needs of the ritual as it progressed from partial immersion of adults to effusion of infants.(21) To my knowledge, there is no indication of either drought or the failure of the aqueduct system to explain the parsimonious use of water in the later period.

Columns/Ciboria We must note one feature of the architecture of baptisteries at this point, and that is the use of columns supporting ciboria. Like their counterparts overseas, many North African baptisteries are surrounded by four (or six) columns indicating the presence of a ciborium.(22) This feature parallels the ciboria over the imperial throne and over altars, and in the East those of martyria.(23) Even when pillars are not present, artistic representations of the pillars of a ciborium are there.(24) In North Africa ciboria are very common over the relics of martyrs and over altars which contained the relics of martyrs.(25) In this way Baptism and martyrs, Baptism and the Eucharist, Baptism and death, are linked architecturally.

(This connection of Baptism and Eucharist is reinforced by the occasional use of what appear to be altar tables as the bottom of baptismal basins, e.g., Tebessa I.)

Art For those baptisteries whose mosaics do survive, there are commonalities in iconography which associate Baptism with death and martyrdom. Common motifs for baptismal mosaics include the flora (roses, acanthus and laurel garlands, vines, trees in bloom), fauna (deer, a lamb, doves, partridges, a bee, various fish, panther or leopard, lamb), natural and articifial objects (the rivers of paradise, Chi Rho with alpha and omega, crosses, Noah's ark, ciboria, crowns).(26) In the analyses of the iconography of baptisteries, these are given baptismal interpretations, e.g., the vines as the believer linked to Jesus, the bee as the producer of both the wax of the paschal candle and the honey of the Eucharistic cup for the newly baptized, the ark as the Church in which the baptized are saved, the dove that of Noah or of Christ's baptism. All these have scriptural or patristic warrants. But what is often overlooked in the overlap between these obviously baptismal symbols and the iconography of burial.

Several examples serve to illustrate the connection between the iconography of Baptism and death/martyrdom. The first is the baptistery at Kelibia. At the threshold of the baptistery, one finds the inscription in mosaic: PAX FIDES CARITAS. On its borders is the inscription: S[AN]CTO BEATISSIMO CYPRIANO EPISCOPO ANTIST[IT]E/CUM S[AN]C[T]O ADELFIO PRESBITERO HUIUSCE VNITATIS/AQVINIVS ET IVLIANA EIVS CVM VILLA ET DEOGRATIAS PROLIBVS/TESSSELV[M] AEQVORI PERENNI POSVERUNT. Given the rich iconography of the Kelibia baptistery and the imagery of the fifty Christian tombs found in the same location, we have some basis for the comparison of baptismal and tomb iconography.(27)

Motifs on Kelibia baptistery and Number of Kelibia tombs/50 where the motif occurs

Chi rho 10

and 5

Chi rho with and 6

Roses 49

doves+turtle doves 5 +46

partridges 21

peacocks 30

craters 18

fish 8

grapes 11

candles 1

palm trees 1

olive trees 3

fruit trees 5

leaves (undifferentiated) 5

 

Baptismal motifs not represented on tombs of Kelibia are the duck and ciborium.(28) Here we have a strong iconographic overlap between baptisteries and tombs.

What we see at Kelibia is repeated elsewhere. When W. H. C. Frend compiled his list of popular North African tomb iconography, he cited the Constantinian monogram, the dove, the ark, the anchor, and the Good Shepherd.(29) With the exception of the last two, these motifs are also popular on baptisteries. While we do not have a strong tradition of the last exemplar, the Good Shepherd, in North Africa, we know from other areas that this too was considered a baptismal motif.(30)

We need to add to this evidence the figures in the mosaics of the baptistery at Békalta, northwest of Thapsus (last located at the museum at Sousse) and at Henchir Messaouda, near Sfax. At Békalta, the iconography stands as follows(31) On the border are the words:[GLORIA IN EXCELSIS DEO]/ ET IN TERRA PAX [H]OMINIBVS BONE/ BOLUM[TATIS L]AUDAMVS T[E]. At the rim are acanthus leaves, pomegranates, pears, birds, and trefoil flowers. On the first level one finds birds of prey (falcon or hawk) with wings outstretched, roses, and palms. As one decends one sees: shells, zigzags or lozenges with flowers and rectangles; then vine leaves, lozenges of flowers with St. Andrew's crosses, roses of four petals with leaves. On the walls of the basin there are birds and finally at the bottom, a cross pattée. Except for the unidentified bird of prey, this seventh-century baptistry does not have a significantly different iconography from either the roughly contemporary baptistery at Kelibia or Kelibia's attendant tombs.

The baptistery at Henchir Messaouda is another example. Imagine being a person about to be baptized. As you approached the baptistery to be immersed in the cruciform font, you entered the door and looked immediately at the mosaic on the far wall, just beyond the font.(32) The mosaic shows two deer on either side of tree hung with fruits. The deer on the left is holding a serpent in its mouth and the body of the serpent spans the back of the animal and falls to the earth. The other deer not only has the snake in the same sort of pose but it also tramples the tail of the serpent. Above the deer flies a dove.

What are we to make of this imagery? How can it in any way illuminate the controversy between Catholics and Donatists? Before passing judgment we need to turn to another set of evidence, the baptismal texts of North Africa.

Surprisingly there are few direct comments on the ritual itself. But here we must recall the aphorism of Augustine, that the only two objects of secrecy are Baptism and the Eucharist. Latin Christians seem to have avoided describing rituals except when absolutely necesssary. But scholar-sleuths have reconstructed the ritual.(33)

The ritual seems none too strange: prayers and readings, psalms sung, water exorcized, a candle blessed, catechumens exorcized, signed with the cross, baptized, and anointed. Finally the newly baptized received the Eucharist and a cup of milk and honey. Additional rituals not quite so familiar but necessary with immersion baptism included the removal of shoes and the standing on the garments worn through the final days of the catechumenate, the cilicium.(34) The cilicium was known at Antioch, Edessa, Carthage, Hippo, and Spain, but not elsewhere.(35) The texts on which preachers comment are some of the same as the texts of the modern Easter vigil, the Genesis 1 story of creation and the account of the crossing of the Red Sea in Exodus 14. The psalm sung as the catechumens proceeded to the font, at least in Augustine's church was Psalm 41, "As the deer longs for flowing streams . . ." These texts provided the imagery the preachers on capitalized on, flowed from these and other texts.

Are the texts and images found in the baptismal sermons and elsewhere to see their congruent with the imagery of the baptismal fonts? The answer is 'yes', but it is only here is the divergence of appropriation between Catholics and Donatists evident.

The Common Stock of Images

Donatists and Catholics inherit a common stock of baptismal imagery from stories about martyrs, from Tertullian and from Cyprian. For the latter two sources, the imagery was forged primarily in the heat of two controversies. For Tertullian, it was a gnostic attack on the material instrumentality of water, and for Cyprian, it was the heat of the rebaptism controversy after the Decian persecution.

The martyr stories give us a little information on Baptism.

Time for a special wish, viz. perseverance (Passio Perpetuae 3.5)

Baptizand able to ask for visions and power (Passio Perpetuae 4.1, 7.8)

Martyrdom as second baptism (Passio Perpetuae 18.3, 21.2; Passio ss. Mariani et Iacobi 11.10)

Martyrdom as superior to Baptism (Passio ss. Montani et Lucii 2.1)

Water from the side of Christ (Passio ss. Montani et Lucii 22.3)

Baptism as conferring a seal (Acta Maximiliani 4; cf. Acta Marcelli 5)

Baptizand as bride of Christ (Passio Perpetuae 18.2)
 

From Tertullian, North Africans inherit the following images. Unless otherwise indicated, all taken from De baptismo with the section numbers in parentheses.

Baptismal water likened to the water of creation (3, 4, 5, 8, 9)

Holy Spirit at creation and Baptism (4, 5, 6, 8)

Flood/Noah's ark and dove (8)

Exodus/wandering of the tribes in the desert (9)

Bitter water bettered by God (9, Adv. Iud. 13)

Protection against poisonous serpents (1, 9)

Water from the rock (9)

John's baptism as type (4, 6 and De anima 50, Adv. Iud. 8)
 

Angel of Bethsaida/Baptism (John 4:5) (4, 5, 6)

Christians as fish (1, De res. mort. 52)

Baptism as bath (De ieiun. Scorp.)

Music (8)

Water from the side of Christ (9, 16)

New birth (De res. mort. 23, 37, 47, 48, De pud.)

Baptism in the Mother's/Father's house (20, De pud.)

Baptism/Martyrdom (Scorp., De pud.)

Baptism as the Father's gift (20)

 

From Cyprian, Catholics and Donatists have a wealth of images.

Baptism as new birth (Ad Quir. 1.12, 3.25, De unit. 11, De zel. et liv. 14)

Holy Spirit necessary (Ep. 69.11)

Noah's ark (Ep. 69.2)

Baptism like the death of Paschal Lamb (Ep. 69.3)

Exodus/wandering of the tribes in the desert (Ep. 69.15)

Font in the desert (De unit. 11)

Protection against poisonous serpents (Ep. 69.15)

Baptism and the spotless bride (Ep. 69.2)

Baptism as font, sealed (Ep. 69.2)

Baptism of others as strange font (Ep. 70.1)

Baptism of others as broken cisterns (Ep. 70.1, De unit. 11)
 

Baptism as bath (Ep. 69.2, Ad. Quir. 1.24, De bono pat. 6, De op. et elem. 2)

Angel of Bethsaida/Baptism (John 4:5) (Ad Fort. praef.)

Baptism/True Vine (Ep. 63.2)

As preparation for martyrdom (Ad Fort. praef. 4)

Making baptizands into Eucharist (Ep. 69.5)

 

Catholic Imagery

From the period of the Catholic-Donatist split, we have a good deal of material on Baptism, primarily from Augustine. During this time Catholic imagery draws on its North African predecessors. Very little of the imagery is new or unusual. Italics indicate new images.

Water of creation (Augustine, Serm. II Denis; Guelf. 5 )

Holy Spirit (dove) associated with fire and water (Augustine, Enn. in Ps. 26.2.2.; Serm. 227, Serm. 249.3, Serm. 258.2, Serm. 71.9)

Noah's ark (Optatus 5.1 and 3)

Crossing the Red Sea (Augustine, Serm 213; Serm. 352 and 363.2, Wilmart 5.2, Guelf 18.2, Mai 89; Ps. 72.5, 80.8 and 113.1.4)

Crossing the Jordan (Quodvultdeus, Lib. Promissorum 2-3)

Protection against poisonous serpents (Augustine, Ep. 130.8.16, Enn in Ps. 41.1, De symbolo Serm. 3)

The passion of Christ (Quodvultdeus, Lib. Promissorum 2.2)

Christ as Paschal lamb (Augustine, Guelf. 5)

Blood from Christ's side (Augustine, Serm. 213, Serm. 353, Serm. 363, Enn. in Ps. 72.5, Ep. ad Cath. 24.68)

Blood of martyrs associated with Baptism (Quodvultdeus, Lib. Promissorum 2.2)

Baptism as new/rebirth (Augustine, Serm. 5, 119, 260C; Quodvultdeus, De symbolo Serm. 3)

Baptized are cultivated like the field of the vinedresser of the true vine( Augustine, Serm. 213 and Serm. 260B)

Baptized like grains of wheat, eucharistic bread (Augustine, Serm, Guelf VII, 227, Denis 3 and 6)

Baptism like being crucified/resurrected with Christ (Augustine, Ep. 55.2 and 55.14)

Seal of the sacrament (Augustine, Contr. Cresc. 4.5.6; Enn. in Ps. 30 2.3.3)

Catechumen like a fish (Augustine, Ep. 130.8.16)

Catechumen like a child or foundling (Augustine, Ep. 98.5)

Catechumen like Prodigal Son returning (Augustine, Serm. 112A)
 

Donatist Imagery

It is very difficult to know what imagery predominated in Donatist rhetoric of Baptism. Nearly all strictly pastoral materials have been lost. What remains is primarily literature of controversy. Here I list representative instances of reference to Baptism from the stories of martyrs venerated more or exclusively by the Donatists,(36) the Liber Genealogicus,(37) the pamphlets of Donatist bishops reconstructed by Paul Monceaux (listed below under the names Petilian and Fulgentius),(38) the Gesta of the Conference of Carthage, and the Donatist materials embedded in Optatus of Milevis and Augustine.

New birth (Petilian 4, 24, 61; Parmenian in Optatus 2.10)

Blood from Christ's side (Passio ss. Donati et Advocati 11)

Devil as Serpent (Passio ss. Donanti et Advocati 2)

Christ as the Fish of the baptismal pool (Parmenian in Optatus 3.2)

Baptism/martyrdom (Petilian 17)

Baptism as font, sealed (Parmenian in Optatus 2.11)

Holy Spirit as necessary for Baptism (Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs 23, Petilian 22, 25; Parmenian in Optatus 2.2 and 7)

Noah's ark as type of Baptism (Liber Genealogicus 63, Parmenian in Optatus 5.1 and 3)

John the Baptist as type (Petilian 22, 26)

Angel of Bethsaida/Baptism (John 4:5) (Parmenian in Optatus 2.2 and 6)

Correct baptism as incorporation into the true vine (Parmenian in Optatus 2.9)

Catholic baptism as false or guilt-bearing (Petilian 2, 30, 61,62; Fulgentius 3, 13; Parmenian in Augustine, Contr. ep. Parm. 2.10.20; Cresconius in Augusustine, Contr. Cresc. 2.23.28; cf. Ep. ad Cath. 23.64)

Catholic baptism as providing no father or mother in birth (Petilian 24)

Catholic baptism gives birth to sons of fornication (Gesta 3.258; cf. Parmenian in Optatus 4.8)

Catholic baptism as a leaky cistern (Parmenian according to Optatus 4.9)

While the last four items appear to be new, they are not. They are simply a reworking of earlier motifs.

Gathering the motifs as a chart we have what follows.
 
 

Author Early martyr stories Tertullian Cyprian Catholics Donatists
 

Motif

Creation X X

Holy Spirit X X X X X

Flood/Noah/Dove X X X

Exodus X X X X

Paschal lamb X X

Water in the desert X X

Serpent(s) X X X

John the Baptist X X

Angel of Baptism X X X

Christ(ians) as fish X X X

Vine and branches X X

Bath X X X

Music X

Water/blood from Christ's side X X X X

New birth X X X

Martyrdom X X X X X

Parentage X X X

Baptizand's power X

Baptizand's vulnerability X

Seal of Baptism X X X X

Baptizands as Eucharist X X

Church/Baptizand as Bride X X X

Baptism as sealed font X X

Others' baptism as strange font X X

Others' baptism as broken cistern X X
 
 
 

Interpretation

From the chart one can see significant areas of common inheritance and significant use of the same motifs by Catholics and Donatists. Therefore, it would be no surprise that, in general, one cannot differentiate Catholic and Donatist churches.(39) These significant literary agreements would explain why neither group might feel compelled to renovate baptisteries when churches changed hands in the fourth and subsequent centuries.

However, there are enough differences in the literary use of the motifs to posit that Donatists and Catholics would have interpreted the architecture and art differently no matter where it was seen. A few examples will have to suffice.(40)

New birth. Both communities use the motif of a new or rebirth. Both perhaps would have been comfortable with the baptisteries shaped like that of Vitalis at Sbeitla. Both would have claimed with Cyprian that one cannot have God as Father who does not have Church as Mother. However, the metaphor of family would have served different purposes. Catholics emphasized entry into a common and expansive household, with a welcome home-coming even for the prodigal son. Donatists, on the other hand, stressed the importance of legitimacy and proper lineage, descent from the correct ecclesial fathers. They had only one Mother and she was chaste.

Crossing the Sea. Both sides used the theme of crossing water, whether it was the Red Sea (Augustine and the Donatists) or the Jordan (Quodvultdeus) . But while crossing may have been a metaphor for Baptism, the land into which baptizands crossed was different. The Catholics emphasized the proleptic passage into heaven and the individual struggle in this life until the Consummation at the end of time. Donatists, on the other hand, stressed the corporate and ecclesial struggles on the model of the years Israel wandered in the desert. Coming up from the water was only the beginning of the journey.

Serpent(s). Catholics and Donatists used the serpent motif in their rhetoric of Baptism. As in the previous example, Catholics used an individual and moral interpretation and Donatists a corporate one. For Catholics, the struggle with the serpents represented the struggle with the passions which was overcome at Baptism; for Donatists, the struggle was a corporate interminable one with that "Old Serpent," the Devil, and his minions, the Romans.

Noah's Ark. Other motifs were likewise polysemous. For the Catholics the ark was the inclusive Church, holding in it all eight righteous persons (Noah and his family), substitutes for all who came to Baptism. For the Donatists, it was a exclusivist reminder that all should repent, join the Donatist church and not be left outside to drown in damnation.

Water from the side of Christ. Both parties used the water from the side of Christ as a metaphor for Baptism. Catholics stressed the water which flowed, the connection with Christ. In addition, since the water flowed out of the body, they could argue that Baptism administered outside the confines of the true Church might, nevertheless, be valid. Donatists recognized the flowing water, but they interpreted the scriptural image in the context of the blood which flowed with it from the side of the crucified Christ. If the blood represented suffering, Baptism was the beginning of suffering like Jesus.

Martyrdom. Martyrdom was a common motif but, as one might expect, its employment varied. Catholics emphasized martyrdom in individual, ascetic terms. This "martyrdom" took place between Baptism and the end of time. Donatists interpreted it more literally, if not as shedding blood, at least as suffering harassment in the present.

A potent example of the use of this interpretation concludes this paper and offers a specific example of Donatist interpretation of architecture, its rebaptism, if you will. The source of the interpretation in a Donatist baptismal sermon written between 317 and 321, perhaps by Macrobius, a Donatist bishop. In his sermon he associates the baptismal font with the martyr shrine, and perhaps makes sense of the peculiar constructions we find at Sbeitla and Djebel Oust. At these two sites, we have baptisteries with columns countersunk in the basins of the fonts. Both churches have other fonts in later baptisteries. At the top of the column in each font is a depression which indicates the former presence of reliquaries.

Listen to the Sermo de Passione ss. Donati et Advocati. After relating the torture of the martyr Isaac and his rejection of spurious 'unity' (6).(41) The author relates Isaac's dream of a crown, the motif of both martyrdom and baptism (9-10). The author emphasizes the labor of the saint in the vineyard of God, its grapes another baptismal motif (11). In a deliberate act of desecration the Romans threw the bodies of the martyrs into the sea, but like the baptizands/Israel, they passed through it (14-16) and were recovered.

Finally in last section of the story (18), the author turns to the catechumens.

Now, brothers and sisters, all these conditions which led them [the martyrs] to the heavenly kingdom come round to you. These exemplars compel you. This situation drove them on first to these glories for your sake. The multitude of your own confessions made you teachers through your oft-repeated professions of faith. Now they advise you concerning martyrdom. Your pattern which encouraged others likewise now encourages you. Now they are holding out their arms to you from heaven, waiting for the time when they will run to meet you. Hurry earnestly; run persistently. They are waiting to take up their place of honor right along with you. Come on, do it, sisters and brothers. Hurry, the sooner the better, so that we may rejoice in the same way over you. May our return find among you a reason for boasting just as our departure from these things shared the joys of glory. When it comes to these affairs, our emulation is a share in the joys of your glory. But let us arrive, coming to you in your triumphs. Just as we have announced their victories to you, so will yours be announced here at Carthage to all the rest who succeed you.

The bishop exhorts the catechumens to come to the baptistery and to the martyrs in one act. Here we find a purely sectarian interpretation of the baptismal font, a Donatist interpretation which fits a baptistery known to be Catholic, i.e., the baptistery at Sbeitla, better than any known Catholic rhetoric. This is, I suggest, a graphic example of just the sort of polysemous interpretation that allowed Donatists and Catholics to use the same sorts of fonts while have divergent theologies of Baptism. As easily as Donatists could rebaptize converts, they could rebaptize baptismal fonts.
 

Note: If you have received this paper by e-mail attachment and the synoptic chart is not clear, please let me know and I will bring copies of the chart to the AAR meeting. My e-mail address is mtilley@garnet.acns.fsu.edu.
 

Endnotes
 

1) The basilica of Benian was Donatist until 434/439. Catholic occupation dates from about 446, according to S. St. Gsell Fouilles de Benian (1899), cited in Isabelel Gui, Basiliques chrétiennes d'Afrique du Nord: Inventaire des monuments de l'Algerie, vol. 1: Inventaire et typologie, Collections des Études Augustiniennes, Série Antiquité vol. 129 (Patis: Institut d'Études Augustiniennes, 1992), p. 1.2.

2) Augustine, De bapt. 1.1-2
 

3) See the proceedings of the Council of Cirta, preserved in Augustine, Contr. Cresc. 3.27.30.
 

4) This shift is the contribution of Parmenian, Donatist bishop of Carthage. See Maureen A. Tilley, "From Separatist Sect to Majority Church: The Ecclesiologies of Parmenian and Tyconius," in Studia Patristica 38 (1996), pp. 260-265.
 

5) Optatus, Sancti Optati Milevitani Libri VII 5.1.
 

6) Quid est quod occultum est, et non publicum in ecclesia? Sacramentum baptismi, sacramentum eucharistiae (Enn. in Ps. 103 1.14).
 

7) De bapt. 1.1-2 cf. 2.7.
 

8) E.g., of the three churches at Dermech, there is only one with a baptistery. See Noël Duval, Études d'archéologie chrétienne nord-africaine, Mélanges de l'École Française de Rome 84/2 (Rome, L'École Française de Rome, 1972), pp. 1094-1096. Hereafter, this article is cited as Duval, MEFRA.

9) E.g., Dermech III, a memorial chapel, and the Chapel of St. Stephen at Carthage, Duval, MEFRA, p. 1098.
 

10) By 411 this doubling of sees had grown enormously. For an account of cities and towns with double lines of bishops, see the Gesta of the Conference of Carthage in 411§1.112-131 in Actes de la Conférence de Carthage, edited by Serge Lancel, Sources Chrétiennes 194, 195, 224, 373 (Paris: Cerf, 1972-1991), 195.707-743
 

11) Liliane Ennabli, "Topographie Chrétienne de Carthage: Les regions eccléaistiques," in Actes de Xie congrès international d'archéologie chrétienne. Lyon, Vienne, Genoble, Genève et Aoste (21-28 septembre 1986) (Rome: Pontificio Instituto di Archeologia Cristiana and L'École Française de Rome, 1989), pp. 2.1087-88; and Noël Duval, "Etudes d'archéologie chrétienne nord-afrique: XVII: Une nouvelle cuve baptismale dans le centre de Carthage," Revue des Études Augustiniennes, 34 (1988), pp. 88-89. Hereafter this article is citedd as Duval, REA. For a list of the non-episcopal sites, see Ennabli, p. 1091.
 

12) For Hippo, see Erwan Marec, Hippo Antique: Hippo Regius (Algiers, 1950), p. 41. For Timgad, see Duval, MEFRA, p. 1092.
 

13) On this frequent positioning, see Gui, p. 49. On the room not necessarily being a sacristy first or sacristies being matched, at least in the pre-Byzantine period, see P. G. Lapeyre, "La basilique chrétienne de Tunisie" in Atti de IVe congresso internationale di archeologia cristiana, Vol. 1. Città del Vaticano, 16-22 ottobre 1938, (Città del Vaticano: Pontificio Instituto di archeologia cristiana, 1940), pp. 169-244, specifically, p. 175.
 

14) Lapeyre, p. 225, contains a list of these locations.
 

15) E.g., the positions of the baptisteries at Castiglione (Bou Ismail) and Ksar Belezma. See Gui, pp. 44 and 150. For Tipasa, see Jean Lassus, "Questions sur l'architecture chrétienne de l'Afrique du nord," in Actas del Congreso International de Arqueologia cristiana Barcelona 5-11 octubre 1969 (Città del Vaticano: Pontificio Instituto di Archeologia cristiana; and Barcelona: Consejo superior de Investigaciones cientificas, 1972), pp. 107-125 and pl. 34-37, specifically. pp. 110-112 and pl. 34.
 

16) Duval, MEFRA, p. 1139.
 

17) Lapeyre, p. 213. There is one possibly smaller baptistery of 5.25x2.35m (17.2x7.7') at Carthage near Ste-Monique. See Noël Duval and Alexandre Lézine, "Necropole chrétienne et baptistère souterraine à Carthage," Cahiers Archéologiques 10 (19XX), pp. 97-147, specifically, p. 113. There is some doubt that this is indeed a baptistery. It may have been a monumental well.
 

18) G. L. Feuille, "Une mosaïque chrétienne de l'Henchir Messaouda (Tunisie, région d'Agareb), Cahiers Archéologiques 4 (1949), pp. 9-15, specifically, p. 9.
 

19) Measurements from Lapeyre, p. 203.
 

20) Duval, REA, pp. 91-92.
 

21) On the shapes of baptisteries see Augustine, Ep. 30.8.6; F. M. Buhler, Archéologie et baptême et des installations baptismales (Mulhouse: Centre de culture chrétienne, 1986), p. 10; Chr. Courtois, "Sur un baptistère decouvert dans la region de Kelibia (Cap Bon)," Karthage 6 (1955), pp. 98-123, specifically, pp. 112-13 and 121; Duval, MEFRA, p. 1092, 1113, and 1158; Duval and Lézine, p. 138; and Gui, pp. 150, 239-240 and 342.
 

22) Examples include: Dermech, Jucundus and Vitalis at Sbeitla, the Church of Januarius at Timgad,and Damous-el-Karita. On Timgad, see Gui, pp. 267 and 269-71.
 

23) Chr. Courtois, "Sur un Baptistère decouvert dans la region de Kelibia (Cap Bon)," Karthago 6 (1955), pp. 98-123, attributes many of the characteristics of the Kelibia baptistery to imitation of the baptistery at Gül-Bagçe in Turkey (near Izmir). See especially p. 101, for comments on ciboria.
 

24) E.g., at Kelibia. Jean Cinctas and Noël Duval, "L'eglise du prêtre Felix," Karthago 9 (1958), pp. 157-265, specifically p. 258, point out that a ciborium seems unnecessary where there is a cupola. Whether there was either at Kelibia is unknown.
 

25) For the argument that this is an indication of the connection between baptism and martyrdom, see J. G. Davies, The Architectural Setting of Baptism (London, 1962), pp. 17-18; cf. Gordon Jeanes more far-ranging article, "Baptism Portrayed as Martyrdom in the Early Church," Studia Liturgica 23 (1993), pp. 158-76.
 

26) See Lapeyre, pp. 206, 109, and 213-15; Duval, 218, p.281; Duval and Lézine, "Necropole," pp. 112 and 118.
 

27) Based on the account given in Jean Cintas and Noël Duval, "L'Eglise du prêtre Felix," Karthago 9 (1958), pp. 157-265, specifically, Cinctas' comments on p. 176.
 

28) According to Cintas and Duval, p. 229, the duck is very rare on any funerary mosaics.
 

29) W. H. C. Frend, "The Early Christian Church at Carthage," in Excavations at Carthage Conducted by the University of Michigan III, ed. by J. H. Humphrey (Ann Arbor: Kelsey Museum, 1977), p. 32.
 

30) E.g., Dura and Rome.
 

31) From the description furnished in Nejib Ben Lazreg and Noël Duval, "La baptistère de Békalta," in Carthage: l'histoire, sa trace et son écho (Paris: Association Française d'Action Artistique, 1995), pp. 303-304.
 

32) An extended description of the mosaic and a comparison with other deer mosaics may be found in Feuille. On the dating to the sixth century, see Duval, MEFRA, p. 1158.
 

33) See Tertullian, De bapt., 20, for a narration of the ritual at the turn of the third century; and William Harmless, Augustine and the Catechumenate (Collegeville: Liturgical, 1995), pp. 302-313, for a reconstruction of the rite at Hippo. See also Thomas M. Finn, Early Christian Baptism and the Catechumenate: Italy, North Africa, and Egypt, Message of the Fathers 6 (Collegeville: Liturgical, 1992), pp. 3-22, for a compilation of various sources.
 

34) See Harmless, p. 263, and Finn, p. 157.
 

35) Suzanne Poque, Augustin d'Hippone: Sermons pour la Pâque (Paris: Cerf, 1966), p. 29.
 

36) Maureen A. Tilley, Donatist Martyr Stories: The Church in Conflict in Roman North Africa, Texts in Translation for Historians 24 (Liverpool: University of Liverpool, 1996; Philadelphia:University of Pennsylvania, 1997).
 

37) In Monumenta Germania Historica Auctores Antiquissimi. Vol. 9: Chronica Minora Saec. IV. V. VI. VII., edited by Theodor Mommsen (Berlin: Weidmann, 1892; repr. Munich, Monumenta Germania Historica, 1981), 1.154-195.
 

38) See P. Monceaux, Histoire littéraire de l'Afrique chrétienne depuis les origines jusqu'a l'invasion arabe, 7 vols. (Paris, 1901-23; repr. Brussels: Culture et civilisation, 1963).
 

39) An exception would be the church at Kelibia with its baptismal decoration: PAX FIDES CARITAS, watchwords for the imperial and Catholic campaigns against the Donatists. See Eric Palazzo, "Iconographie et Liturgie: La mosaïque du baptistère de Kelibia (Tunisie)," Archiv für Liturgiewissenschaft 34 (1992), pp. 102-120, specifically, pp. 118-20.
 

40) Rather than making separate references to sources here, I refer the reader to the lists above and to Maureen A. Tilley, The Bible in Christian North Africa: The Donatist World (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1997).
 

41) Section numbers correspond to Migne and to Tilley, Donatist Martyr Stories.