Dedication, Rite of

DEDICATION, Rite of. - It is the consecration of a church to withdraw it from profane use and to make it a sacred place.

The first Christian gatherings were held in private houses, where the Eucharist was celebrated, which later received a consecration from the sacred use to which they were put, as attests the Oratio panegyrica de aedificatione Ecclesiarum (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., X, 3) which deals with the d. of the cathedral of Tyre, and the account of the d. of the Constantinian basilica in Jerusalem (id., Vita Constantini, 45). In the West a special blessing prayer was perhaps already added, to which St. Optatus of Milevis (De schismate Donatistarum, VI, 3) and St. Ambrose (Exhort. virginitatis, 10) seem to allude. Formularies for the solemn Mass on such an occasion are found in the Leonine, Gelasian and Gregorian Sacramentaries. After the Constantinian peace, the cult of the martyrs acquired great importance for the solemnity of the d., and over their tombs, where on the anniversary of their death the divine sacrifice was celebrated in the catacombs, the first basilicas arose. Later, from the middle of the 4th century, churches were erected in honor of a martyr even in those places where there were no tombs, but where relics were deposited in the altar, which was therefore considered as their tomb. In Rome, however, until the 7th century, the urban churches were without relics, since the law prevented their deposition within the city. In time the custom was established of dedicating the church to some saint; with this the transport and placement of the relics also came to obtain a fixed place in the rite of consecration, so that the most solemn part of the d. was constituted by the triumphal procession with the relics, as attest St. Ambrose (Epist., 22, 1-2), Sozomen (Hist. eccl., VII, 21) and St. Jerome (Contra Vigilantium, 5). In this way the depositio Martyrum became confused with the d. of the church and it became law to place the relics of the martyrs beneath the altars. The rite of the d. was then composed as follows: 1) throughout the preceding night the vigils were celebrated before the relics solemnly exposed in another church. 2) The following morning the relics were carried, with the singing of psalms and hymns and with many lighted lamps, in solemn procession into the church to be dedicated, where they were deposited in the altar. 3) With the Mass celebrated there the solemnity ended. According to a letter of Pope Vigilius to Profuturus of Braga, the consecration of a church consisted simply in the celebration in it of the divine Sacrifice; in the case that the church was dedicated to a saint, the placing of the saints' relics was added. The pope moreover already knows of a sprinkling of the church with holy water, though not as an obligatory ceremony, later called Gregorian water (v. GREGORIANA, ACQUA). Other ceremonies were added later: in the East especially the anointing of the altar with chrism, already mentioned by St. Ephrem; in the West such an anointing is not found before the Council of Agde (506), can. 14 (Mansi, VIII, 327); from the Gallican rite came the anointing of the walls of the church, the ablutions and more. These rites, deposition, sprinkling and anointing, already in the 6th century are found united in the Gallican rite of the d. (Gregory of Tours, De gloria confessorum, 20) and increased thereafter more and more as demonstrate, from the 8th century, the numerous Ordines dedicationis. Spreading thus and fusing the Eastern uses with the Western, there resulted that complex of rites which today make the d. of a church one of the most solemn and significant ecclesiastical ceremonies. The present rite of the d. of a church is contained in the Roman Pontifical

On the evening preceding the consecration, in the place where the relics of the saints to be placed on the altar are deposited, Matins and Lauds of the Commune plurimorum martyrum must be recited, because, according to an ancient use, at least one relic must be of holy martyrs. During the night a guard of honor is kept before the relics. On the following day, after the penitential psalms have been recited before them, the procession goes to the door of the church to be consecrated, and with the singing of the litanies the protection of all the saints is implored, then the water and salt are blessed and, once the blessing with holy water has been given, the consecration begins with the solemn taking possession of the new house of God by the bishop, who at the beginning, making three times with his clergy the external circuit of the church, sprinkles its walls; at the end of each circuit he knocks at the door of the church asking: Attollite portas, etc. (Ps. 23, 7). At the third circuit the church is opened and the bishop makes the sign of the cross on the threshold with his pastoral staff, putting the demons to flight, because Christ crucified thus takes possession of the church, a thought which is then further illustrated with other ceremonies. The bishop then enters the church with only the clergy and the attendants and, having closed the door, invokes the Holy Spirit, recites again the litanies of the saints, and while the Benedictus is sung, writes with his pastoral staff the Greek and Latin alphabet in two strips of ash, in the form of a decussate cross, starting from the four corners of the church. It was in fact the custom among the Romans to mark with a great X on the ground the space destined for the construction of a new house, and Roman land-surveyors were accustomed to trace transverse lines, marked at the ends with letters, in measuring land; and since this X had the form of the decussate cross and of the first letter of the name of Christ (Χριστός), this ceremony came to indicate that Christ was taking possession of that place; the recollection then of the phrase of Apoc. 22, 13 ("I am the alpha and the omega") suggested the idea of inscribing in the two lines of the X the Greek alphabet, to which later the Latin was added, and in some places also the Hebrew (v. ABECEDARIO).

The building, now God's property, receives a special sanctification, and first in the altar. After invoking God, the bishop prepares and blesses the Gregorian water, in which salt, wine and ash are mixed, probably in imitation of the rite of Moses (Ex. 24, 6 ff.). With it the bishop marks a cross on the upper and lower part of the door to sanctify it and washes the five crosses of the altar, one in the middle, the others at each of the four corners; he sprinkles the altar seven times, then, going around the church, he also sprinkles three times the interior walls and the floor; passing from the high altar to the door and from one side to the other from the middle of the church he pours the holy water toward the four cardinal points, thus symbolically indicating the four rivers of paradise that flow from the new paradise, that is, from the church. With these sprinklings, united with prayers of very ancient origin, the lustral or purifying effects of the consecration are expressed. A solemn Preface follows which implores the sanctification of the place. The rest of the water is then poured at the base of the altar, together with the lime. Then the bishop with the the clergy leaves the church and goes to the chapel where the relics are kept and solemnly exposed. With them the solemn procession is formed, in which the people take part, circling around the new church. After the anointing of the door with chrism, the bishop, having made the solemn entrance, anoints in the four corners the sepulcher, or small cavity of the altar, with chrism and deposits the relics within it, and closes it, anointing with chrism also the cover in the form of a cross above and below. The consecration of the altar, thus already begun, is perfected in the numerous anointings that are performed: twice it is anointed with the oil of catechumens and once with chrism in the five places indicated by a cross, then the entire table with the oil of catechumens and then with chrism; during these anointings antiphons and psalms are sung that explain their profound and symbolic meaning. After the anointing of the altar table the bishop consecrates the interior walls of the church, making upon them, or on the columns or pillars, twelve anointings with chrism, incensing each cross three times. Returned to the altar, he burns there a symbolic sacrifice, composed of grains of incense and wax candles, and while all kneel, the Holy Spirit is invoked. All the prayers recited or sung thus far by the bishop are now summarized in a new Preface. The bishop then anoints with chrism the front part of the altar and the point of junction of the table with the body of the altar at the four corners. With this last anointing the consecration of the altar and of the church ends. Then, after the altar cloths and the other furnishings have been blessed, the altar cleaned and vested with its ornaments, after a final incensation and some prayers, the solemn Mass begins, in which, after the consecration, the lamp is lit that must burn perpetually before the Blessed Sacrament. Thus the ceremony ends. For the anniversary of the d., v. also CHIESA, in Enc. Catt., III, coll. 1508-11.

Filippo Oppenheim

D. « ANGELICA ». - With this expression one usually designates the miraculous d. of a church attributed to Christ with the assistance of angels and saints.

The most celebrated example is the angelic d. of Einsiedeln, which is celebrated annually on September 14; if, however, that day falls on a Sunday, the solemnity lasts eight consecutive days (until 1853, 14 days), with a great influx of pilgrims. The primitive chapel was dedicated on September 14, 948 by Conrad, bishop of Constance. In this regard the legend narrates that the prelate, keeping vigil the night before the d., heard in the chapel angelic chants, and precisely those of the rite of the d. In the morning a celestial voice cried out three times that the sanctuary had been consecrated with divine intervention. This fact is reported by a bull of Leo VIII, of September 11, 664 (Jaffé-Wattenbach, n. 3708), existing only in copies of the 14th century, of highly disputed and disputable authenticity. The legend then, fully developed in the same 14th century, narrates how Christ, having descended from heaven, took the violet chasuble (even today the solemn Mass is celebrated in violet), and with the assistance of saints (St. Stephen would have sung the epistle, St. Lawrence the gospel) and of angels proceeded to the consecration. The first general reports of this miraculous d. date back only to the 11th century. In the 16th-18th centuries the angelic d. became an extraordinary solemnity for all of Switzerland, and even today the feast is extremely popular. The foundation of this account remains purely legendary.

Other angelic d. are asserted, for example, for the churches of St-Denis (Paris), St-Pierre-le-Vif (Sens), for the cathedrals of Westminster (London), Augsburg, Prague, Vercelli, Avignon, and for the sanctuary of Monte Gargano.

Giuseppe Löw