BLESSING OF A HOUSE. — The need to place one’s dwelling under the protection of the divinity has led all peoples to institute special ceremonies for the construction of new houses or for their first entry.
Thus the Greeks placed their homes under the protection of Zeus *Erkeios*; the Romans under the Lares or Penates; the Jews likewise knew the blessing of a new house (Deut. 20:5). Jesus recommends to the Apostles the blessing of houses upon entering them (Mt. 10:12), establishing the formula: *pax huic domui*... Among the Fathers, St. Athanasius (Epistula ad Marcellinum, 17: PG 27, 29) is the first to recall a special blessing of the house. The *Rituale Graecorum* (ed. J. Goar, Paris 1647, pp. 604 ff.) contains one form for the laying of the first stone, another for the inauguration of the new house, and a third for other blessings.
In the Latin Church, the Gelasian Sacramentary (III, nos. 72–76; ed. H.-A. Wilson, Oxford 1894, pp. 283–88) includes four prayers (no. 72) to be recited by those entering a house (*Oratio nes intrantibus in domo, sive benedictio*), other prayers for a Mass to be said in the house (a practice very common in the Middle Ages; cf. Franz, op. cit. in bibl., p. 606), the *Orationes per sententes in domo*, i.e., for the benefit of visitors, and finally other prayers for the blessing of water to be performed likewise in the house. Over time, the Mass in a new house has become a simple blessing.
The Roman Ritual provides three formulary prayers for the blessing of houses: one for Epiphany, which is performed, in addition to the use of holy water, with incensation; another for Holy Saturday, which employs baptismal water taken from the font before the sacred chrism is mixed in, and which in ancient times was not sprinkled by the priest but by the devout people themselves in their homes, vineyards, and fields; today these two blessings of the house are reserved to the parish priest (CIC, can. 462, 69). A third formulary may be used by the priest anywhere and whenever necessary.