When thinking of baptismal fonts as a source for Christian pilgrimage, many Catholics undoubtedly are at a loss connecting the idea of a pool of water to the great tradition of undertaking a holy journey, whether it be along the Camino de Santiago Compostela in Spain or the yearly journey of faithful Catholics to St. Peter’s in Rome. Yet, this is exactly what Pope Francis has in mind. In his recent Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary Jubilee of the Year 2025, Spes Non Confundit (Hope Does Not Disappoint), the Holy Father writes at length about the traditional octagonal baptismal fonts and cites the example of the font found in St. John Lateran in Rome. This octagonal shape, Pope Francis writes, “was intended to symbolize that Baptism is the dawn of the ‘eighth day,’ the day of the resurrection, a day that transcends the normal, weekly passage of time, opening it to the dimension of eternity and to life everlasting: the goal to which we tend on our earthly pilgrimage (cf. Romans 6:22).” The font in the cathedral of Rome and others like it of many designs, sizes, and varying degrees of grandeur in churches around the world, proclaim the profound nature of the sacrament of Baptism as the beginning of all Christian pilgrimage.

Pilgrim Church

Indeed, this aspect of beginning, genesis, is intentionally woven throughout the rites and links the pilgrimage in faith of every Christian to our first father, Adam, and the new Adam, Jesus Christ. The Church is constantly and simultaneously looking back in history and forward to eternity, as all is in the divine present of the liturgy; not only is beginning a theme, but entrance, or initiation, which implies a final destination and a journey as well. The theological and Scriptural language of the baptismal rites, as well as the buildings and furnishings in and around which they take place, draw from a rich typological tradition the Church has formed from this perspective. From the Pauline image of entering into Christ’s death in the hope of also sharing in the life of his Resurrection, since the earliest centuries of the faith, the baptistry has called to mind the Garden of Eden: a place of harmony with the Creator until sin led to humanity’s banishment. With the gates of paradise closed, mankind was left to wander in waiting for a savior who would deny death that final word and offer a new kind of journey back into communion. O felix culpa—O happy fault!

The theology of baptism is inextricably linked to the creation accounts spanning seven days as a first bookend to the unfolding salvation history, and eternity, described in the book of Revelation as the eighth day. As Pope Francis puts it, because we are baptized into new life in Christ, death does not have the final word: “The reality of death, as a painful separation from those dearest to us, cannot be mitigated by empty rhetoric. The Jubilee, however, offers us the opportunity to appreciate anew, and with immense gratitude, the gift of the new life that we have received in baptism, a life capable of transfiguring death’s drama.” Through baptism, we return to the primal innocence of our first parents in Eden. Indeed, the Garden is one of the primary images of a baptistry in a church, not merely a depiction from a chronological or mythological past, but restored and with access reopened by the Paschal Mystery of Christ as paradise, awaiting those to whom baptism and the life of faith that hinge on that great mystery is bestowed. Death and life are seen side by side: the watery grave and the waters of chaos through which the Savior leads his people to new life. Creator and creation are in harmony once again, with the liturgy providing a look ahead to the restoration of all creation by way of a new heaven and new earth yet to come.

The notion of baptism as a kind of pilgrimage is also suggested in other typological images of passage offered in the Order of Baptism and especially linked to water: the Great Flood, the crossing of the Red Sea by Moses, the baptism of the Lord in the Jordan by John, and the piercing of his heart on the cross after his death which produced a flow of blood and water, from which, according to St. John Chrysostom, the Church was born. In addition, the Great Commission serves as a foundational pilgrimage of the Christian life here on earth, as baptism is only the beginning of the life of faith that must be lived. Evangelization as a kind of pilgrimage is not only implied, it is commanded: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). Each time seeing a baptismal font is an opportunity to remember the tremendous gift of our own baptism, that we have been rejoined to friendship with God the Father in Jesus Christ and made heirs to eternity in paradise. We are also duty-bound to extend this gift and an invitation to the wedding feast of the Lamb to all who will hear, and these encounters help frame the picture of our lives as Christian pilgrims. The Jubilee Year celebrations will help us remember this aspect of baptism. In the Preamble for the Rite of the Opening of the Jubilee Year in Various Churches, the instructions state: “Having crossed the threshold, the bishop makes his way with the ministers towards the baptismal font where he leads the rite of the memorial of baptism while the faithful assemble in the nave facing the font…. The bishop then goes in procession with the ministers towards the altar; the faithful take their places. The sprinkling with water is a living remembrance of Baptism which is the gate of entry in the journey of sacramental initiation and into the Church.”

A few ways to be mindful of these rich pilgrimage images of our baptism include making a little prayer when making the sign of the cross with holy water upon entering a church, especially when passing the baptismal font. These same prayers can be said aloud when blessing children. New parents or newly baptized adult Christians can save bottles of the baptismal water and pray for special reminders of the things promised and expected by baptism: divine sonship of the Father in Christ, a royal inheritance, a destiny of eternity, a duty to proclaim his mercy, and a call to make disciples of all nations. Special symbols on the baptismal candle and gown may also be worthy of examination: the ubiquitous symbol of the scallop shell is tied to pilgrimages to holy sites such as the Camino de Santiago, for instance. The last several popes have also encouraged the faithful to know and celebrate the date on which they are baptized, which offers another opportunity to journey with these truths more deeply every year.

Designed Pilgrimage

Some of the images that have been offered here may be especially pertinent in new places to be visited for the 2025 Year of Jubilee pilgrimage, such as on the occasion of weddings, funerals, baptisms, and the like. The theology is layered and the tradition is vast. While many older churches emphasize a separate chapel-like setting with rich symbolism to recall the creation story and a mystical re-entry to the restored Garden, a common theme in newer churches emphasizes the aspect of pilgrimage, especially by way of relationship between the font and the altar. In this arrangement, where the font is in the narthex or rear of the nave, the font is conspicuously linked to the altar by a central axis and path of travel for the faithful entering the church and especially taking part in the communion procession. Elaborate flooring designs are often seen, sometimes with stories and symbols depicting events from salvation history, and other times in geometric patterns that recount the image of the crystal sea from Revelation or the river flowing from the Temple. The implication is that the journey begun by baptism is sustained by the heavenly food of the Holy Eucharist, anticipating and making present by way of foretaste the banquet of the heavenly liturgy which we will experience, God willing, at the end of time. The font and the altar are often of the same material, another indicator that participation in the Mass is both the right and the duty of the baptized (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 14), that the pilgrimage in faith begun by Baptism is not complete until we reach the new Jerusalem, the destination of our heavenly home (SC, 8).

For those in the United States, this year is not only a Jubilee, but also the third year of the Eucharistic Revival. In his 2007 Post-Synodal Exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis, Pope Benedict XVI urged mystagogical catechesis, an often-underdeveloped aspect of the Initiation of Christians, both as children and as adults, to understand the signs and symbols of the liturgy, and their connection to the events of salvation history and their application to everyday life. As we reflect on signs and symbols of the Eucharist, the anticipation of the end of our earthly journey in faith, may we likewise strive—by a planned pilgrimage to a holy site, taking part in a baptism, or simply walking past a baptismal font—to reflect more deeply upon our baptism, the start of our journey as pilgrims toward our heavenly home.