TITLES OF CHURCHES
Official designation assigned to a church or oratory.
### I. CURRENT PRACTICE
Every church, whether consecrated or solemnly blessed, every public or semi-public oratory, and every fixed altar must have a title, that is, a designation which may be a saint, an angel, a divine person, or a mystery of Christ or of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In this regard, can. 1168 of the Code of Canon Law (CIC) establishes the following: §1 a title once assigned cannot be changed; §2 the feast of the titular must be celebrated annually; §3 a blessed cannot be chosen as titular without a special apostolic indult.
The title is generally established by the consecrating bishop, but it may also be proposed by the community or the person erecting the church, at least before the consecration. Both the Roman Pontifical and the Roman Ritual, in describing the rite for the laying of the first stone, include in the principal prayer a place for the insertion of the saintly title; in the solemn consecration, the same name must also be inserted in the Litany of the Saints; and in the document to be enclosed in the altar, the title of the church must also be indicated (Pontificale Romanum, De benedictione et impositione primae lapidis; Rituale Romanum, Tit. IX, nn. 16–17).
Certain decrees of the Sacred Congregation of Rites further specify that the saintly title should be that of a saint inscribed either in the Roman Martyrology or at least in the proper calendar (diocesan or religious) of the place.
The title may also be the Blessed Virgin Mary, under a particular and liturgically approved title, such as *Mater gratiae*, *Auxilium christianorum*, *Virgo admirabilis*, etc., or under a particular mystery of hers (Immaculate Conception, Nativity, Assumption, Sorrows, etc.). The person of Christ may be the title under liturgically approved titles such as *Salvator* (the most ancient and venerated Christological title), *Redemptor*, *Christus Rex*, *Cor Iesu*, *Sanctissimum Sacramentum*, *Nativitas Domini*, *Transfiguratio*, etc. As for the other divine persons, the Holy Spirit may also be a title; the Father, however, is not usually given as a title, but rather the Holy Trinity.
With regard to the saints of the Old Testament, in the Middle Ages it was not uncommon to choose as titles Job, Daniel, David, the prophet Simeon (the Simeon of the Gospel who prophesied to Mary and her sorrows), and very often John the Baptist; later, Anne and Joachim were also chosen. These latter may still be used today as titles, given their connection to the New Testament.
Once a title has been assigned to a consecrated church or altar, it cannot be changed except by apostolic indult; however, another title may be added, also by apostolic indult, which will then be celebrated liturgically with equal right. Any profanation of the church does not remove the title, which is annulled only by complete destruction, formal desecration, or conversion to profane use. If, however, the church, the same building, or a new reconstruction on the site is reopened, the old title revives without alteration. It is not lawful, on such an occasion, to change the title or add another without express apostolic indult. If a title has more than one feast in the calendar, such as St. Michael, St. John the Baptist, the Blessed Virgin Mary, or Christ, then at the time of consecration the date to be celebrated as the titular feast must be indicated. The titular feast of all churches dedicated to Christ the Saviour is that of the Transfiguration (6 August), and for those dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, unless otherwise established, it is her Assumption (15 August).
The titular feast of a church is of the first class with a common octave, to be celebrated by the clergy actually attached to it; otherwise, only a solemn Mass is celebrated.
It should be noted that until the decrees of Pius X in 1911–13, the technical term "title" of a church was not so precise; more commonly, the saintly title was referred to as the patron of the church, and the feast was spoken of as the patronal feast or patronage. However, when the title was not that of a saint (or an angel or the Blessed Virgin Mary), the designation "title" was preferred, since mysteries could not be considered as patrons. Today, therefore, in the strict technical liturgical sense, the word "patron" is reserved for "patroni loci" and for the particular patronage of saints (v. PATRONATO).
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### II. HISTORY
The use of saintly titles, or rather of church titles, is very ancient and derives from the civil (pagan) custom of designating houses and various landed properties by the name of the owner or protector. The title ensured protection of the property; St. Augustine, in his *Enarrationes in psalmos* (In ps. XXI, enarr. II, n. 31; PL 36, 180), vividly recounts how some people, to give greater importance to their house, placed it under the title of a more powerful figure; thus, the Donatists, instead of the name of Christ, preferred the name of Donatus. However, at least in Rome, and very probably elsewhere, the first houses of the Church (Christian community) bore the title of the donor or founder. This also applied to the great basilicas: the Constantinian, Liberian, and Sessorian basilicas; certain denominations, however, also derived from the locality or a particular sacred element: *S. Croce in Gerusalemme*, *S. Maria ad praesepe*, *S. Giovanni al Fonte*, etc. It is certain that during the period of the great reconstructions of the Roman parish churches (the "titles" in the strict sense), that is, in the 4th and 5th centuries, the custom arose of dedicating the churches themselves to a saint as title or protector and quasi-owner of the church. At the same time, the old original title often remained in use: *S. Lorenzo in Damaso*, i.e., the church of St. Lawrence, built on the old title founded by Damasus; *S. Lorenzo in Lucina*, i.e., the church of St. Lawrence built on the previous title of the matron Lucina, etc. As churches multiplied, they naturally took the title of the saint in whose honour they were built and dedicated; it cannot, however, be denied that the fact that in the cemetery churches from the outset a particular saint was venerated, who gave his name to the church, also had an influence. Be that as it may, from the 6th century onwards, canon law began to sanction the use of saintly titles for churches, in the form then practised of imposing not the name of the founder or donor, but that of a saint or a mystery.
In the Middle Ages, given the idea of feudalism and patronage, the saintly title enjoyed the greatest veneration, and titular feasts became popular and civil festivals of great importance, occasions for markets and public gatherings. Offerings of every kind made to the church were presented to the patron, that is, the titular of the church, to place oneself under his particular protection; violations of ecclesiastical property were regarded as direct injuries inflicted upon the saintly titular.
Increasingly greater importance in recent times has been assumed by studies and investigations into the geographical distribution and historical period of the various titles of churches; this study is sometimes supplemented and refined by including, alongside the titles, the actual local sacred place-names. Moreover, investigations sometimes turn rather to the general cultural aspect, folklore, the history of ecclesiastical property, the history of the cult of various saints, the diffusion of their relics, etc.: in short, sanatorial geography (so to speak) is proving itself ever more as a very rich source for ecclesiastical and cultural history, especially of antiquity and the Middle Ages.
In this way, the periods of particular veneration of certain saints can be reconstructed (one need only consider the example of S. PETER, whose name is found in the place-names of almost all Christian countries).
BIBL.:
Patron Saints of English Churches, London 1915; J. Dorn, Beiträge zur Patrozinienforschung, in Arch. f. Kulturgesch., 13 (1917), pp. 9-49, 220-55 (very instructive); J. P. Kirsch, Die röm. Titelkirch. im Altertum, Paderborn 1918, pp. 3-4, 117 SGR. (for the origin of the use of titles); J. Trier, Patrozinienforschung, in Kulturgeschichte, in Hist. Zeitschr., 134 (1926), pp. 329-49 (very instructive); H. Fink, Die Kirchenpatroze. Tirols, Passau 1928; E. Hennecke, Patrozinienforschung, in Die Rel. in Gesch. u. Gegenw., IV, Tübingen 1930, cols. 1010-11 (with bibliography); K. Meisen, Nikolauskult. u. Nik. brauch, Münster 1931; K. Puchner, Patrozinienforschung, in E. K. Hennecke, Munich 1932 (dissertation); M. G. Lavergne, La toponymie, in V. Carrière, Introd. aux études d'hist. ecclés. locale, II, Paris 1934, pp. 497-552 (very practical and instructive); E. Klebel, Patrozinien im deutsch. Südosten, Klagenfurt 1935 (excellent for the influence of the Salzburg mission); F. Hatheyer, Die Pfarrpatroze. der Diözesen Österreichs, in Zeitschr. f. kath. Theol., 72 (1950), pp. 213-22; G. Imbrighi, Il toponimo «San Pietro» nella regione italiana, Vatican City 1953; J. B. Lehner, Patron, in LThK, VIII, cols. 1-3 (with particular regard to Germanic regions). Giuseppe Löw