Catholic theologian Joseph Pohle wrote the following about the history of the methods of administering baptism, as well as a note on deaconesses and the eventual cessastion of that function:
A few observations on the history of the various methods of administering Baptism may prove useful.
a) During the first twelve centuries Baptism was generally administered by immersion. Three times in succession the candidate was plunged entirely in water by the baptizing bishop or priest, assisted by deacons, or, in the case of adult females, by deaconesses. Numerous ancient baptisteries (fonts sacri, κολυμβηθραι) in various parts of the western world attest the antiquity of this custom. The Greeks (Russians, Bulgarians, etc.) have retained Baptism by immersion, though they no longer practice it in its pure form, but dip the child in warm water up to the neck and then pour water over his head. Despite the complaint of Marcus Eugenicus of Ephesus, the Orientals at the Council of Florence (1439) raised no objection to the Latin mode of baptizing, though to-day they regard it as invalid.
Baptism by immersion was still the rule in Western Christendom at the time of St. Thomas, for he says in the third part of the Summa: “Although it is safer to baptize by immersion, because this is the more ordinary fashion, yet Baptism can be conferred by sprinkling or also by pouring . . . “
In Spain, which had been overrun by the Arian Visigoths, a single immersion was substituted for the three formerly employed, in order to illustrate Catholic belief in the unity of the Godhead in three Persons. St. Martin of Bracara (d. 580) decried this practice as Sabellian, but it was approved by Pope Gregory the Great (d. 604) and formally prescribed by the Fourth Council of Toledo (632).
β) Baptism by effusion gradually came into use in the thirteenth century, and finally replaced Baptism by immersion entirely in the West. St. Charles Borromeo still prescribed the ancient form of trine immersion for the churches of the Ambrosian rite, and this form continued to be widely used in Europe up to the sixteenth century. The reasons for the universal adoption of the change probably were the difficulties arising in cold countries and in regard to the immersion of women. When Europe had become entirely Christian, and there were no longer any adult pagans, the institute of deaconesses ceases to exist.
The method of baptizing by aspersion has never acquired practical importance, and the discussion of its validity is therefore purely academic. (Joseph Pohle, The Sacraments, A Dogmatic Treatise: The Sacraments in General. Baptism. Confirmation [2d ed.; St. Louis, Miss.: B. Herder, 1917], 219-21)
