page_title: Dedication
section_title: Medieval Western customs
hierarchical_section_title: Dedication / Dedication of churches / Medieval Western customs
caption_attribution_description: English: Mosaic in the central aisle of en:Notre-Dame de la Daurade, Toulouse: Latin and Greek alphabet in the form of a diagonal cross, reminiscent of the extraordinary form Latin rite of the dedication of a Church. Deutsch: Mosaik im Mittelgang von Notre-Dame de la Daurade, Toulouse: lateinisches und griechisches Alphabet diagonal überkreuz in Anlehnung an den alten Kirchweihritus. Im Kreis drumherum: HÆC EST DOMVS D̄N̄Ī / FIRMITER ÆDIFICATA / BENE FUNDATA EST / SUPRA FIRMAM PETRĀ Weiter außerhalb: MCMXXXVIII / XI. NOVEMB. MDCCCXXXVIII
context_page_description: Dedication is the act of consecrating an altar, temple, church, or other sacred building. It also refers to the inscription of books or other artifacts when these are specifically addressed or presented to a particular person. This practice, which once was used to gain the patronage and support of the person so addressed, is now only a mark of affection or regard. In law, the word is used of the setting apart by a private owner of a road to public use.
context_section_description: The manuscripts and printed service-books of the medieval church contain a lengthy and elaborate service for the consecration of churches in the pontifical. The earliest known pontifical is that of Egbert, Archbishop of York (732–766), which, however, only survives in a 10th-century manuscript copy. Later pontificals are numerous and somewhat varied. A good idea of the general character of the service can be obtained from a skeleton of it as performed in England after the Reformation according to the use of Sarum. The service is taken from an early 15th-century pontifical in the Cambridge University Library as printed by W. Makell in Monumenta ritualia ecclesiae Anglicanae.
  There is a preliminary office for laying a foundation-stone. On the day of consecration the bishop is to vest in a tent outside the church, then proceed to the door of the church on the outside, a single deacon being inside the church. There he blesses holy water, twelve lighted candles being placed outside, and twelve inside the church. He then sprinkles the walls all round outside and knocks at the door. He then sprinkles the walls all round outside a second time, then a third time, knocking at the door each time. He may then enter, all laity being excluded. The bishop then fixes a cross in the centre of the church, after which the litany is said, including a special clause for the consecration of the church and altar. Next the bishop inscribes the alphabet in Greek letters on one of the limbs of St Andrews cross from the left east corner to the right west corner on the pavement cindered for the purpose, and the alphabet in Latin on the other limb from the right east corner to the left west corner. He then genuflects before the altar or cross, blesses water, mingled with salt, ashes and wine, and sprinkles it on all the walls of the church inside three times, beginning at the altar. He next sprinkles the centre of the church lengthwise and crosswise on the pavement and goes round the outside of the church sprinkling it three times. Next, reentering the church and taking up a central position, he sprinkles holy water to the four points of the compass, and up towards the roof. Next he anoints the twelve internal and twelve external wall-crosses with chrism before walking around the church three times inside and out and censing it.
  Then there follows the consecration of the altar. First, holy water is blessed and mixed with chrism. With the mixture the bishop makes a cross in the middle of the altar, then on the right and on the left, then on the four horns of the altar. The altar is then sprinkled seven times or three times with water not mixed with chrism and the altar table is washed, censed and wiped with a linen cloth. The centre of the altar is next anointed with the oil of the catechumens in the form of a cross. After the altar stone has been anointed with chrism, the whole altar is rubbed over with oil of the catechumens and with chrism. Incense is next blessed, and the altar censed, five grains of incense being placed crosswise in the centre and at the four corners On the grains, five slender candle crosses are placed and lit. Afterwards the altar is scraped and cleansed. The altar cloths and ornaments are sprinkled with holy water and placed on the altar, which is then to be censed. All this is subsidiary to the celebration of mass, with which the whole service is concluded. The transcription and description of the various collects, psalms, anthems and benedictions which make up the order of dedication have been omitted.
  The Sarum order of dedication described above is substantially identical with the Roman order. There is, however, one very important and significant piece of ritual, not found in the English church order, but always found in the Roman service, and not infrequently found in the earlier and later English uses, in connection with the presence and use of relics at the consecration of an altar. According to the Roman ritual, after the priest has sprinkled the walls of the church inside three times all round and then sprinkled the 
caption: Mosaic showing the Greek and Latin alphabets in Notre-Dame de la Daurade, France
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