Desecration

DESECRATION. - It is the act by which the quality of sacredness, obtained through consecration or ordination, is taken away from an object, a building of worship, or a cleric. An ecclesiastic who has rendered himself unworthy of the sacred ministry as a result of offenses for which he has incurred particular penalties is desecrated with a formula prescribed in the Roman Pontifical (Degradationis forma), by which, in addition to the individual insignia of the sacred Orders, the faculties obtained are also taken from him; furthermore, the hands, if they have been anointed, are to be lightly scraped to remove the holy unction. In this d. one proceeds beginning from the last Order that the guilty party has received and continues always, one after another, down 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 the greater part of the building has collapsed, or when the local Ordinary returns it to profane use according to the norm of can. 1187. Since the consecration or blessing of a church does not concern the floor, but the entire building, especially the walls, and not only 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; 3062, 1), or when a part of the walls has collapsed (decr. 3326, 1). The same is to be said if the entire building, but always in lesser parts and at different times, is renovated (decr. 3269, 2). A church or a public oratory, if desecrated, must be consecrated or blessed again (can. 1191 § 1). A fixed altar loses its consecration when the table is detached, even only momentarily, from its base (can. 1200 § 1; S. Congregation of Rites, decr. 3605, 7). Such a table separated from the support cannot be used as a portable altar (decr. 3198), unless the sacred stone is placed upon it. The d. of a church does not extend also to the altars and vice versa (can. 1200 § 4), because church and altar have their own consecration, one different from the other. Sacred furnishings lose their consecration or blessing if they are so damaged or changed that they have lost their original form to such an extent that they are no longer suited to their use, or if they have been used for an unbecoming purpose or exposed for public sale (can. 1305 § 1; v. ALTARE; CALICE; CHIESA; PATENA; PIESIDE).

Filippo Oppenheim