PURIFICATION. — It has the same general meaning as lustration (v.) and, like it, aims to render things and persons fit to come into contact with what is sacred, either by consecrating them, or purifying them, or protecting them from possible evil influences. And since the transition from the sacred to the profane (as from the profane to the sacred) must be carried out with due caution, the term “purify” also means “desecrate,” and it is used, for example, in Catholic liturgy to restore to common use objects that have been in contact with sacred things; thus one speaks of purifying the chalice after the consumption of the sacred Species; purificatory is the name given to the linen cloth used for wiping the chalice itself; the purification of the fingers is that which the priest performs at the end of the sacrificial action and whenever he has directly touched the Most Holy Sacrament.
This special sense, excluding the sacredness of the “pure” object, was known to Roman jurists; Ulpian (D. 7, 2-4) calls “pure” that place “qui nec sanctus, nec sacer, nec religiosus est,” that is, one on which no sacred prescription rests that would impede its profane use.