DESSECRATION. — It is the act by which an object, a place of worship, or a cleric is deprived of the sacred quality received through consecration or ordination. An ecclesiastic who has rendered himself unworthy of the sacred ministry through faults for which he has incurred particular penalties is de-sacralized by a prescribed formula in the Roman Pontifical (Degradations forma), by which he is stripped, not only of the individual insignia of the sacred Orders, but also of the faculties he had obtained; moreover, if his hands had been anointed, they are lightly scraped to remove the holy unction. In this desecration, the procedure begins with the last Order which the guilty party has received and proceeds step by step, one after the other, up to the first; for example, from the archiepiscopal pallium down to the first tonsure.
A church loses its consecration when it is completely destroyed or when the greater part of the building has collapsed, or when the local Ordinary restores it to profane use according to the norm of can. 1187. Since the consecration or blessing of a church pertains not to the pavement but to the entire building, especially the walls, and not merely to their inner face, the church is not desecrated when the high altar is desecrated (S. Congr. of Rites, decr. 3651), when only the roof is restored, when all the plaster has fallen (decr. 3545, 2; 3962, 1), or when a part of the walls has collapsed (decr. 3326, 1). The same applies if the entire building, though always in minor parts and at different times, is renewed (decr. 3269, 2). A church or public oratory, if de-sacralized, must be consecrated or blessed anew (can. 1191 § 1). A fixed altar loses its consecration when the mensa is detached from its base, even momentarily (can. 1200 § 1; S. Congregation of Rites, decr. 3605, 7). Such a separated mensa cannot be used as a portable altar (decr. 3198), unless a portable altar-stone is placed upon II. The desecration of a church does not extend to the altars, nor vice versa (can. 1200 § 4), because the church and the altar each have their own distinct consecration.
Sacred furnishings lose their consecration or blessing if they are so damaged or altered that they have lost their original form and are no longer suited to their use, or if they have been employed for an unsuitable purpose or exposed for public sale (can. 1305 § 1; V. ALTAR, CHALICE, CHURCH, PATEN, PYXIS).