Figure 1.--This image comes from the Pontifical (a liturgical book) of William Durand (about 1230-1296), in a copy issued in the second half of 14th century.
The miniature shows the baptism of a baby. We can see an intermediate situation between the ancient way of baptism (the full immersion of the body) an the modern way in the western Catholic Church (the pouring on the head). Here immersion has been discontinued, but the baby was unclothed and the water was poured on the whole body. Source: Bibliotheque de France, Paris.
Christianity was recognized by the Emperor Constatine and became the state religion (3rd century). Roman emperors began demanding that the Church standadize theology and rites. At first the only major change was that the converts be clothed. Gradually as mass conversions became less common and churches became more plentiful, priests began using rivers less and churches more. This image comes from the Pontifical (a liturgical book) of William Durand (about 1230-1296), in a copy issued in the second half of 14th century (figure 1). The miniature shows the baptism of a baby. We can see an intermediate situation between the ancient way of baptism (the full immersion of the body) an the modern way in the western Catholic Church (the pouring on the head). Here immersion has been discontinued, but the baby was unclothed and the water was poured on the whole body Emersion was a strongly held belief. And many early medieval churches had separate baptimals to ptovide a pool in which converts could be emersed. This change from using rivers took place over a very extended period. The Catholic Church finally ruled at the Council of Ravenna that full immersion was not necessary (1311). 'Pouring' was the new method of performing Baptism. After the Reformation (1519), many Protestants decided that full immersion was more in keeping with Biblical teachings.
