Steeped in ancient tradition, Archbishop resurrects full-immersion baptisms at cathedral

By Christina Gray

Being baptized into the Catholic faith as an adult is a life-changing experience, the meaning of which Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone believes is expressed most fully in the ancient tradition of full-immersion baptisms. At last year’s Easter Vigil at St. Mary’s Cathedral, 17 catechumens were baptized in a new immersion baptismal font built especially to return the cathedral to this liturgically rich practice.

This year, nearly 50 catechumens are expected to emerge from the baptismal font and into new lives of grace after Easter Vigil baptisms on April 19, according to Deacon Christoph Sandoval, coordinator of the cathedral’s Order of Christian Initiation of Adults.

Ritual symbolism

Last year after the cathedral’s first full-immersion baptisms at the Easter Vigil, Archbishop Cordileone talked to Pablo Kay, editor of Angelus magazine, about his reasons for returning to full-immersion baptism. He said baptism is the “door to all of the other sacraments.” As such, its sanctifying threshold is more “forcefully and convincingly” conveyed through the rituals of full-immersion baptism.

“Yes, it’s a lot of heavy lifting to do a baptism by immersion,” he said, referring to the physical and liturgical orchestration required. “But it’s very profound.”

The symbolism of east and west was built into early Christian baptisms, the Archbishop said, and is reflected in the cathedral’s full-immersion baptisms. To be clear, it’s not mere stagecraft; every liturgical detail lays out the steps in a walk of redemption.

On the west side of the baptismal font — the west being the last place where the light of the sun arrives — catechumens renounce their sins.

“It’s a place of darkness, so, renouncing sin is renouncing the darkness,” the Archbishop said.

After turning to the east, catechumens profess their faith, “because east is the source of light, where the sun rises.” They enter the baptismal waters from the west side of the font in three steps. They are immersed three times, symbolizing the three days Christ spent in the tomb, then they walk three steps back up, symbolizing their being united with Christ in His resurrection.

St. Cyril of Jerusalem (A.D. 313-386) told early Christians that “having gone down dead in sins, you come up quickened in righteousness….and at the self-same moment, you were both dying and being born; and the water of salvation was at once your grave and your mother.”

Inspired by prisoners

Father Jerald Geronimo, parochial vicar of St. Mary’s Cathedral, told Catholic San Francisco that it was the Archbishop’s baptism of San Quentin State Prison inmates that helped spark the Archbishop’s desire to bring full-immersion baptisms to the cathedral.

“It is my understanding that they have a full-immersion font there (San Quentin), and he would use this font every year at Easter time,” said Father Geronimo. The power of full immersion can be palpable for all those present to witness, he said. “These baptisms are of men who once were very far from Christ due to their past lives of sin and darkness but who now have fully repented and want to fully live a new life of holiness in Christ Jesus, the Light of the World.”

Cross-shaped immersion font

Once a decision was made to introduce full-immersion baptism at the cathedral for the 2024 Easter Vigil, there was the not-insignificant matter of needing a suitable immersion baptismal font.

Deacon Sandoval said that when the cathedral was designed more than 50 years ago, early plans included an immersion font. This perhaps reflected the liturgical ambitions of the Second Vatican Council at the time ground was broken for the new cathedral in 1965. The council endeavored to make the symbols of Christian life more tangible to the world, he said. In any case, the final plans did not include one. The marble baptismal font at the entrance to the church is for baptism by affusion (a Latin derivative that means to “to pour on”). This font will still be used for infant baptisms or those physically unable to step into the immersion font.

Located adjacent to the original font, the immersion font was donated to the cathedral by members of the Neocatechumenal Way from St. Peter’s Parish in the Mission District. The Neocatechumenal Way is a movement inspired by the catechumenate of the early Catholic Church where converts from paganism were prepared for baptism. On the sides of the new font are icons painted in the style of Kiko Argüello, a Spanish artist and co-founder of the Way.

Cathedral a “model of liturgy”

Father Geronimo said full-immersion baptisms are more “forcefully convincing to the eyes of all witnesses” because they are a “reflection of Christ’s bodily sacrifice for our sins.”

He recalled the communal joy at last year’s Easter Vigil after the first full-immersion baptisms.

“Everyone had a smile on their face that night,” he said, including the Archbishop, concelebrating priests, altar servers and family and friends of the catechumens.

He called it a “grace-filled moment,” to watch catechumens of all ages go into the water and rise out of it radiating the “contagious joy of a person who realizes that he or she has been cleansed from their sin.”

Don Reynolds, manager of the Archbishop’s residence for more than two decades, said he was the last catechumen to enter the font last year. He said he left it obviously soaking wet, but “lighter and at peace.”

“I finally came to the realization that I needed God in my life,” he said. “It had been right in front of me, and I was kind of in denial about it.”

Father Geronimo said the Archbishop’s intention is for the cathedral to be a “model of liturgy” for other parishes. He and cathedral pastor Father Kevin Kennedy endeavor to implement the Archbishop’s vision of evangelizing all visitors to the cathedral through “truth, goodness and beauty” for the greater glory of God.

“A full-immersion baptism, by its very liturgical and ritual nature, incorporates truth, beauty and goodness in a very powerful way,” said Father Geronimo. “This year is the Jubilee Year of Hope, and full-immersion baptism has hope written all over it.”

Christina Gray is the lead writer for Catholic San Francisco.

Photo: Dennis Callahan, Archdiocese of San Francisco