Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 4.djvu/753

 DECRETUM

673

DEDICATION

C, >ii,stitutions of John XXII, and is named " Extrava- •;antes Joannis XXII"; the second is called " Ex- t ra\agantes communes" and contains the decretals of ililTerent popes commonly met with in the manuscripts ami editions. They were brought to their present tMrm by Jean Chap^uis in 1500 and 1503. (See CoHPns Juris C^vnonici; Extr.wag antes; Decre-

lAI.S.)

i. \rRIN. Introducho in corpus juris ,■ m < 1 r. itnirK, 18891;

S( HNK-iDER. Dif Lehre von den Kir,i, ; (2nd ed.,

K'l'i^lwn. 1892); ScHtiLTE. Gcsc/iiVif. '. ','_ .! ■hr Litera-


 * !''s kanonischcn Rechls (Stuttgart, Is.:, I.^MJ;; Taunton,

/ iiw of the Church (London. 1900 ; the manuals of canon

"f VON SCHERER, WeRNZ, SaGUC-LLER, SmITH.

A. Van Hove. Decretum Gelasianum. See Gelasius.

Decretum Gratiani. See Corpus Juris Can-

iiM.'i; Decrktal,*. Papal.

Decretum of Gratian. See Corpus Juris Oan- ■ iMt i; Dechb:tals, Papal.

Dedication, a terra which, though sometimes used i>t' persons who are consecrated to God's service, is iiioic properly applied to the "setting aside" of places for a special and sacred purpose (cf. Hastings, Diet, of tli^' Bible). The Christian, indeed, believes that God i- I verywhere and that the Divine Immensity fills all s) Mc; but this faith does not exclude the idea of re- M rving a special spot in which the creature may hold communion w'ith his Creator and worship Him. That tlio setting aside of this hallowed place was ever done with a certain show and ceremony is evident from the (■\aniples of Jacob (Gen., xxviii, 18), of Moses (Lev., viii, 10), and above all, of Solomon (III Kings, viii). I his precedent of the Old Law was too obvious to be 1 1\ crlooked in the New, and we may be sure that the iiioilcrn custom was consecrated by Apostolic usage. I n a fragment of a martyrology ascribed to St. Jerome I I)'.\ch^ry, Spicilegium IV) this passage occurs: I: ■ma; dedicatio primae Ecclesiae a beato Petro con- -1: iitae et consecratee ". It is not strange, however, ill il owing to the persecutions of the first three cen- I ; 1 1 1 s, references to the dedication of churches are ex- ii' ini'ly rare. The first authentic accounts of this kind are furnished by Eusebius (Hist. EccL, X, iii, iv; Dc Vita Const., IV, xliii, in P. G., XX), and Sozomen I Hist. Eccl., II, xxvi in P. G., XLVII) in regard to the r ithcdral of Tyre (.314) and Constantine's church at .!> iisalem. The well-known historical document en- titled "Peregrinatio Silvia;" (Etheria) has a full de- >. I iptioiiof the celebration of the dedicatory festival of tlh- cluircli of Jerusalem as it was witnessed by our pil- ^1 iM-tuithoress in the fourth century (cf. Cabrol, I de la priere antique, p. .311). Here it will I I' to emph;isize, in connexion with the dedication lurches, (1) the ritual employed, (2) the minister,
 * ii.M-e.ssity and effects, and (4) festival and its days.

1. In tlu; beginning the dedication ceremony was v 1 y simple. A letter of Pope Vigilius to the BLshop of I'lai-ara (.5.38) states: "Consecrationem cujuslibet ec- cl. .-ite, in qua non ponuntur sanctuaria (reliquia;) r. li liritatem tantum sciraus esse missarum" (We .\ that the consecration of any church in which as (relics) are not placed consists merely in the ' ration of Masses). That the primitive ceremonial sted mainly in the celebration of M;lss, where were no relics, is also shown from the old "Ordines iini" (rf. Mabillon, "Museum Italicum", II, in P. I LXXVIII, 8.57). Where relics were used the cere- Ill ■ny of traiLslating and depositing them under the a!- ir formed a notable feature of the dedication rite 'Ordo of St. Amand" in Duchesne, "Christian dip", Ix)ndon, 190.3, Appendix; "Ordo of Ver- ' in Bianchini, ed., "Lib. Pont.", III). The first r 1 1 1 [ ilete formulary is found in the Gelasian Sacramento aryinP. L.. LXXIV), which embodies the Roman liturgical usages of the seventh century. Here the IV — 43

rite consists of prayers, sprinklings with holy water, and blessings. So quickly, however, was this ritual elaborated that in the ninth century it attained the completeness which it enjoys at the present time (cf. the eighth-century "Liber Sacramentorum" in P. L., LXXVlII; "Ordiies Romani", ed. Martene, "De Ant. Eccl. Rit.", Ill; Daniel, "Cod. Lit.", I). The modern dedicatory ceremonial assumes two forms according as a church is simply blessed or solemnly consecrated. In the former case the function consists of prayers, sprinklings of holy water, and Mass (cf. Roman Ritual; Schulte, "Benedicenda", p. 155, etc.). The solemn rite of consecration is described in the article Conse-

CR.\TION.

2. The solemn ceremony of dedication, or consecra- tion is found in the Roman Pontifical and is performed de jure by a bishop (see Consecration). The simpler rite, which is given in the Roman Ritual, is generally reserved to bishops, but may be also undertaken by a priest with episcopal delegation.

3. All churches, public oratories and semi-public, if destined for Divine worship in perpetuum, must be at least blessed before the Sacred jlysteries can be regu- larly celebrated in them (Cong, of Rites, Sept., 1871). Purely private or domestic oratories may not bo thus dedicated, but simply blessed with the Benedidio loci (cf. Roman Ritual or Missal) on each occasion Mass is said in them. As a rule the principal churches in every district should be consecrated in the solemn manner, but as certain conditions are required for licit conse- cration that are not always feasible (cf. Irish Ecclesi- astical Record, April, 1908, p. 430) the onlinary simple dedication rite is regarded as practictdly tidequate. Both forms render the place sacred, timl eoiitrilmt-e, as sacramentals, to the sanctification of the faithful, but they differ in this that while a church that is conse- crated must, if polluted, be reconciled by a bishop, a church that is simply blessed may be reconciled in similar circumstances by a priest (cf. Roman Ritual).

4. Another difference in the effects of the two forms of dedication is that a consecrated church is entitled to celebrate each year the anniversary feast of its con- secration, which is to be held as a double of the first cla.ss with an octave, by all the priests attached to the church. A church that is only blessed has no right to this anniversary feast unless per accidenx, thtit is, when it is included in the special indult granted for the simul- taneous celebration of the anniversaries of all the churches in a district or diocese. In this case the Office and Mass must be celebrated in every church, within the limits of the indult independently of their consecration (Cong, of Rites, n. 38G3). Though any day may be selected for the dedication of a church, yet the Roman Pontifical suggests those "Sundays and solemn festive days" which admit the dedicatory Office and Mass, as well tus the anniversary celebration.

In addition to the autli-aiin ■ ii' ! liip foUowing may be usefully consulted; Cata i v, m !,iriiim in Pontificale RoTnanum (Paris. 1850); i ' '<^ mlheca, s. v. Ecclesia

(Paris. 1865); De Herdt. /-, . / • , w,f,:s (Louvain. 1905); Bernard, he Pontifical (Pari«, lOOJi, II; Many. De Locis .Sacn^ (Paris. 1904); Schulte. BcTi^rftcrmia,- (!"oTt.sccran(/a (New York, 1906), very full on ceremonial.

Patrick Morrisroe.

Dedication, Feast of the (Scriptural), also called the Feast of the Machabees and Feast of Lights (Jo- sephus and T.almudic writings), mentioned in the Old Testament (I Mach., iv, 56), and in the New (John, x, 22). It was instituted by Judas Machabeus (64 b. c.) ti be celebrated yearly on the 25th day of the month Kislew and during its octave, in commemoration of the purification of the temple of Jerusalem which had been polluted by Antiochus Epiphancs on that day three years previously (I Mach., iv, 41-64; II Mach., vi, 2). Ll^nlike the great Hebrew annual feasts, it could be celebrated not only in the temple at Jerusa- lem, but also in the synagogues of all [)laces. It w;is observed with manifestations of joy such as accom-