holy water font
A holy water font or stoup is a vessel containing holy water which is generally placed near the entrance of a church. It is often placed at the base of a crucifix or other Christian art. It is used in Catholic, as well as many Lutheran and Anglican churches, to make the sign of the cross using the holy water upon entrance of the church.
Also recorded as stoup · holy water stoup · bénetier
holy water font
Jwh · CC BY-SA 3.0 lu
- Field
- holy water vessel · liturgical furniture
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for holy water font. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q642861 · wikipedia · Holy water font
In this article
Gallery
Holy water is blessed by a priest or a deacon, and its usage by Christians serves as a reminder of their baptismal vows. The holy water font is a derivative of the cantharus, which has been used by Christians since the time of the early Church to perform ablutions before entering the church (while these are no longer normative in Western Christianity, canthari are found at the entrance of certain Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox churches). • Illustration — Holy water font at the entrance of the Cathedral Church of Our Lady of Walsingham in Houston, Texas
• Illustration — Holy water font in Santa Maria Maddalena, Rome, Italy • Illustration — A carved stoup at the Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Pondicherry, India • Illustration — Carved stoup at the entrance of the Church of St Mary and St David, Kilpeck, England • Illustration — Holy water font at Saint Elizabeth of Hungary Church, Paris, France
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Holy water font, revision 1369628727 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Furniture
924 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- high chairTerminology
- high strikerTerminology
- Hikone screenTerminology
- hollow log coffinTerminology
- home altarTerminology
- home apothecaryTerminology
- home stoupTerminology
- hook-a-duckTerminology
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own an object connected with holy water font?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.