PURIFICATION. - It has lustration (v.) and, like the latter, has the purpose of rendering things and persons fit to come into contact with what is sacred, either by consecrating them, or by purifying them, or by preserving them from possible evil influences. And since the passage from the sacred to the profane (as that from the profane to the sacred) must be carried out with due precautions, the term “to purify” also means “to desecrate,” and 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; the purificator is the small linen cloth used for cleansing the same chalice; the purification of the fingers is that performed by the priest at the end of the sacrificial action and whenever he has directly touched the Most Holy Sacrament.
This special sense, excluding the sacred character 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 upon which no sacred prescription rests that would prevent its profane use.