A little-known fact is that many baptismal fonts are created with eight sides. This may seem like a trivial point, but it is a very symbolic number in the Catholic Church.
Historically Catholics are very deliberate about numbers, using numbers that are not arbitrary, but that are linked with specific biblical events.
New Creation
One of the most potent reasons behind using the number eight is how closely it is associated with the Resurrection and the new creation. Jesus rose on the eighth day, the day after the Jewish sabbath.
This means that when we are baptized, we are ushered into God's new creation, foreshadowing our ultimate participation in the New Heavens and the New Earth.
Secondly, Jewish boys were circumcised on the eighth day and St. Paul explained to his communities how “True circumcision is not outward, in the flesh. Rather, one is a Jew inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart” (Romans 2:28-29). Baptismal fonts are often designed in an octagonal shape to represent this new life and “circumcision of the heart.”
Third, the number eight recalls the ark and how eight people were saved by water.
[W]hen God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water.
The next time you see a baptismal font, count its sides and see if it has the number eight. If it does, then you will know the rich symbolism behind it.
