CONSECRATION. – It is the stable and legally valid passage of a person or thing from the profane order (ius humanum) to the sacred order (ius divinum), by means of a rite. In the Christian liturgy, the c. par excellence is that which the priest performs in the Mass, changing the bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus Christ (v. EUCARISTIA). Besides this, the Roman Pontifical enumerates five properly so-called c.; that is, distinct from blessing (v.); they are: that of the bishop (v. ORDINE), of the fixed altar, of the sacred stone for the altar, of the chalice and paten, and of the church (v. the individual entries).
Fundamental to all religions, beginning with the lowest, is the belief in a dual sphere into which being is divided: that of the sacred and that of the profane. The latter is often also regarded as the sphere of the impure (Lev. 10, 10; Ex. 22, 26). Thus forms of
c. are found everywhere. Its objects are especially temples, altars, sacred groves, other immovable property of the temple, and particularly the image of the divinity: also men, women, boys and girls. In general, three moments may be distinguished in c.: 1) purification, necessary when the profane is also impure: hence the requirement of a preliminary bath, ablutions, shaving or cutting the hair, beard, or nails; therefore, in Christian worship, an exorcism or at least sprinkling with holy water almost always precedes c. 2) Detachment from the profane world, usually by means of local separation, and sometimes more radically, by means of destruction; this element is found in Christian worship, where a consecrated thing is completely segregated from profane use and serves exclusively for sacred use; and a sacred person, in order to devote himself solely to divine service, is exempt from many civil obligations, with special privileges. 3) Admission into the sacred world, through assimilation of the divine force or spirit, whereby the person being consecrated himself becomes sacred. In the Christian religion this element is expressed by the delivery of the instruments, by putting on sacred vestments, and by the rite of the consecrator’s imposition of hands upon the person being consecrated, a rite used in the Old Testament, where it occurs as a means of transmitting one’s virtue and office to another; and in the New Testament also as a means of communicating the Holy Spirit (Gen. 48, 14 ff.; Num. 27, 18 and 23; Mc. 5, 25; 8, 23-25; 10, 13 ff.; Lc. 4, 40; 13, 31 etc.; Act. 6, 6; 13, 3; 28, 8; I Tim. 4, 14; II Tim. 1, 6); then by incensation, by anointing with sacred oils, especially chrism, according to the circumstances, and by the formula of the consecratory prayer, which is generally the most solemn form of the Preface. In the higher religions, c. also acquires another, more elevated and spiritual meaning: the dedication of a person to the service of God, as an interpreter of his will toward humanity and an intermediary between the religious community and God.
In general, in pagan religions, the direct way of passing from the profane order to the sacred is
the communication which the divine makes of itself, even if through accidental contact. But when the divine does not spontaneously communicate itself to the profane, the latter, in order to become sacred, must artificially be brought into communication with it by means of a rite of c.
The negative purpose is achieved, as regards purification, through the usual means of ablution, fasting, etc.; and, as regards separation from the profane world, through withdrawal into the desert, residence in a sacred place such as the temple, and abstention from certain practices of common life, such as intoxicating beverages, participation in funerals, sexual practices, etc. The positive purpose, that is, communication of the divine supernatural force, is achieved through word or action, or both. Words are attributed either a magical virtue of various kinds (among primitive peoples) or the efficacy of bringing about their meaning; through action, in many ways, the thing or person to be consecrated can be brought into contact with a sacred person or thing, so that the divine virtue residing in the latter may flow into the former. Such actions are: introduction into the innermost part of the sanctuary and placement upon or near the altar, delivery of the instruments of one’s office and putting on sacred vestments, touching the statue of the deity, participation in the table of the gods by tasting special foods and beverages or taking part in sacrificial banquets, sprinkling with lustral water or the blood of the victim, bathing the entire person in the blood of a sacred animal, anointing with oil or other precious ointments, attendance at the representation of the deeds of the gods, and above all the sudden vision of the light issuing from the sacred place.
In Christianity, c. are generally performed through word and action. Since, according to Roman law, c. is the act by which a thing is removed from civil commerce and dedicated to the worship of the gods, thereby making it a res divini iuris (res sacra), the effect of conferring upon a thing the quality of being sacred occurred only if the act was performed by magistrates or others ex auctoritate populi Romani (in the imperial period, competence belonged to the prince or the person designated by him); likewise, in the Christian religion, for the c. of a person or thing, not just any priest is always required, but a bishop, to whom c. is reserved, or his delegate. Sacred things were regarded as belonging to the divinity: Gaius (II, 9) excludes any right of ownership (quod divini iuris est, id nullius in bonis est); according to the jurist Trebatius (Macrobius, Saturn., II, 3), everything that the common people regard as belonging to the gods is sacred (sacrum est, quidquid est, quod deorum habetur).
BIBLI: J. Marquardt, Römische Staatsverwaltung, III, 2nd ed., Leipzig 1885, p. 268 ff.; C. Meurer, Der Begriff und Eigentümer der heiligen Sachen, Düsseldorf 1885; P. D. Chantepie de la Saussaye, Lehrbuch der Religionsgeschichte, 4th ed., edited by A. Bertholet and E. Lehmann, Tübingen 1925; G. Wissowa, Consacration, in Pauly-Wissowa, VII, cols. 896-902; Various authors, s. V. in Enc. Ital., XI (1931), pp. 182-84. Filippo Oppenheim