CONSECRATION
280
CONSECRATION
chrism and incensed. The consecrator then blesses
the incense and sprinkles it with holy water. Then he
forms it into five crosses, each consisting of five grains,
on the table of the altar, in the middle and at the four
comers. Over each cross of incense he places a cross
made of thin wax taper. The ends of each cross are
lighted, and with them the incense is burned and con-
sumed. This ceremony sjTiibolizes the true sacrifice
which is thereafter to be offered on the altar; and it
indicates that our prayers must be fer\-ent and ani-
mated by true and lively faith if they are to be accept-
able to God and efficacious against our spiritual ene-
mies. Finally, the bishop traces with holy chrism a
cross on the front of the altar and on the juncture of
the table and the base on which it rests at the four
corners, as if to join them together, to indicate that
this altar is to be in future a firmly fixed and constant
source of grace to all who with faith approach it.
Then follow the blessings of the altar-cloths, vases,
and ornaments of the altar, the celebration of Mass,
and the publication of the Indulgences, as at the end of
the consecration of a church.
Loss of Consecration. — An altar loses its consecra- tion: (1) when the table of the altar is broken into two or more large pieces : (2) when at the corner of the table that portion which the consecrator anointed with holy oil is broken off; (3) when several large stones of the support of the table are removed; (4) when one of the columns which support the table at the corners is removed ; (5) if for any reason whatever the table is removed from the support, or only raised from it — e. g., to renew the cement; (6) by the re- moval of the relics, or by the fracture or removal, by chance or design, of the small cover, or slab, placed over the cavity containing the relics. (See also Al- tar, History of the Christl^n.)
Box.!, Reriim Lilurgicarum libri dno (Turin. 1747-53); Mahtkne, Be antiquis Ecclesiae ritibus {Venice. 1753): Ber- nard, Cours lie Itlurgie romaine—le Ponlifical (Paris, 1902). II; Amberger. Pastoraltkfologie (Ratisbon, 1SS4), II: ^'A^ der Stappen. Sacra Lihirgia (Mechlin. 1902), III: Iti im. ( -rv,, di Scienza Liturgica (Bologna. 1904); S. I.. T.. 77;, .1/fnr, in Am. Ecd. Rev., July, 1904; Schulte, Consecmn.la i .\e« York, 1907).
III. C'ox.SECR.iTioN OF .^N Alt.\r-Stone. — Mass must be celebrated either on an altar which has been consecrated or on a consecrated altar-stone, or port- able altar (Ruhr. Gen. Miss., XX). Its consecration is a less solemn function than the consecration of an altar. It may take place on any day of the year, in the morning, as, after its consecration, Mass must be celebrated upon it the same day. If several stones are consecrated, it suffices to celebrate Mass on one of the altars so consecrated. The ceremony may take place in the church, sacristy, or any other suitable place.
The cavity for the relics is made on the top of the stone, usually near its front edge. It may be in the centre of the stone, but never on its front edge (Cong. Sac. Rit., 13 June, 1899). Relics of two martyrs, with three grains of incense, are placed immediately (i. e. without a reliquary) in its cavity, which is closed with a small slab of natural stone fitting exactly upon the opening. The Cong. Sac. Rit. (16 Feb., 1906) de- clared that for valid consecration it suffices to have enclo.sed in the cavity the relics of one martyr. The Pontifical makes no mention of the blessing of the ce- ment with which the slab is secured, but the Cong. Sac. Rit. (10 May, 1890) prescribes it.
Ordinarily, only a bishop may consecrate an altar- stone, but by pontifical privilege some abbots have this faculty for altar-stonos used in their own churches. The Holy Sec frequently grants this privilege to priests labouring in mission;irv countries. The bi.'jh- ops of the Tnitcd Stiitrs h:ive the faculty of delegating priests to perform this function by virtue of the " Fiic- ultates Extraordinaria'", (', VI. The relics are not exposed, nor are Matins and Lauds recited on the
evening before the consecration; neither is the vigil
kept. The ceremonies are similar to those used at the
consecration of an altar. Hence the blessing of the
Gregorian water, the sprinkling and incensation, the
anointing with holy chrism and the oil of catechu-
mens, the burning of incense and the offering of the
Holy Sacrifice, take place; and the symbolical mean-
ings of these ceremonies are the same as those given at
the consecration of an altar.
IV. CoNSECR.\Tiox OF A Church. — By a decree of the Council of Trent (Sess. XXII), Mass should not be celebrated in any place except a consecrated or blessed church. Hence it is the wish of the Church that at least cathedrals and parish churches be sol- emnly consecrated, and that smaller churches be blessed (Cong. Sac. Rit., 7 Aug., 1875), but any church and public or semi-public oratory may be con- secrated (Cong. Sac. Rit., 5 June, 1899). Both by consecration and by blessing a church is dedicated to Divine worship, which forbids its use for common or lirofane purposes. Consecration is a rite reserved to a bishop, who by the solemn anointing with holy chrism, and in the prescribed form, dedicates a build- ing to the service of God, thereby raising it in per- petiium to a higher order, removing it from the malign influence of Satan, and rendering it a place in which the prayers of the faithful are more readily heard and favours are more graciously granted by God (Pontifi- cale Romanum). The blessing of a church is a less solemn rite, which may be performed by a priest dele- gated by the diocesan bishop. It consists in the sprinkling with holy water and the recital of prayers, thus making it a sacred place, though not necessarily in perpetuum. Consecration differs from mere bless- ing in this, that it imprints an indelible mark (St. Thomas, II-II, Q. xxxix, a. 3) on the building, by reason of which it may never be transferred to com- mon or profane uses.
The consecration of churches dates probably from Apostolic times and is, in a sense, a continuation of the Jewish rite instituted by Solomon. Some authors attribute its origin to Pope St. Evaristus (d. 105), but it is more probable that he merely promulgated form- ally as a law what luid been the custom before his time, or prescribed that a church cannot be conse- crated without the celebration of the Holy Sacrifice. That churches were consecrated before peace had been granted to the Church would appear not only from the life of St. Cecilia (Roman Breviary, 22 No- vember), who prayed for a cessation from hostilities against the Christians in order that her home might be consecrated as a church by St. I'rban I (222-230), but also from the life of St. Marcellus (308-309), who ap- pears to have actually consecrated a church in the home of St. Lucina (Roman Breviary, 16 January). Before the time of Constantinc the consecration of churches was, on account of the persecutions, neces- sarily private, but after the conversion of that em- peror it became a solemn public rite, as appears from Eusebius of Ca?sarea (Hist. Eccl.. X): ".\fter these things a spectacle earnestly prayed for and much de- sired by us all appeared, viz. the solemnization of the festival of the dedication of churches throughout every city, and the consecration of newly-built ora- tories." The passage clearly indicates that churches were consecrated before, and that accordingly the an- niversaries of the dedication might now be publicly celebrated.
It is difficult to determine in what the rite of conse- cration consisted in early times. M;my sermons preached on these occa.sions are still extant, and we find occasional not ices of the vigil kept before the con- secration, of the translation of the relics, and of the tracing of the Greek and the Latin alphabet on the pavement of the church. The relics were not always the whole body of a saint or even large portions of it, but sometimes merely articles with which the martyr
