THE DEDICATION OF CHURCHES
Dedication of the church of Monte Cassino
Luca Giordano
COCHEM'S EXPLANATION OF THE HOLY SACRIFICE OF THE MASS
CHAPTER II THE EXCELLENCE OF HOLY MASS.
THE DEDICATION OF CHURCHES
The consecrating bishop, who, together with the congregation, has prepared himself by fasting on the preceding day, sets apart overnight the relics to be used in the
consecration. On the morning of the day appointed he
betakes himself to the place whither they have been
carried, and after vesting pontifically recites with the
clergy present the seven penitential psalms and the
Litany of the Saints. He then goes in procession with
the clergy round the outside of the church, the door of
which is closed, sprinkling the upper portion of the walls
with holy water in the form of the cross, saying *
In the name of the Father 4% and of the Son 4% and of
the Holy + Ghost— the clergy meanwhile singing a re-
sponsory. On coming back to the church-door the
bishop says a short prayer, and knocks with his pastoral
staff at the door, saying: Attollite portas, principes, vestras f
etc. (“ Lift up your heads, ye princes, and be ye lifted up,
ye eternal gates, and the King of glory will enter.”) He
then goes round the church again, sprinkling the lower
part of the walls with the same words; and on returning
to the door says a different prayer, and knocks with his
staff as before. A third time he goes round the church,
this time sprinkling the middle part of the walls; he
then knocks three times with his staff at the door, saying:
M Be opened ! ” And upon the door being opened he
makes a cross with his staff on the threshold, saying:
* Behold the sign of the cross; let the spirits of evil
depart! ” Entering into the church, he says: “ Peace be
to this house ! ”
In the middle of the church the bishop kneels down
and intones the hymn Veni, Creator Spiritus ; this is
followed by the Litany of the Saints and the canticle of
Zachary: Benedictus Dominus Deus (“ Blessed be the Lord
God of Israel. ”) While these are being sung he forms
a cross with the letters of the Latin and Greek alphabets,
which he inscribes with his staff on ashes wherewith the
floor of the church has previously been sprinkled; then,
kneeling before the high altar, he chants three times the
words, Beus y in adjutorium meum intende, etc. (“ O God,
come to my assistance,” etc.). Thereupon he blesses with
the prescribed form of prayer ashes, salt, water, and wine,
mixing them together and signing them repeatedly with
the cross, and proceeds to consecrate the high altar and
the other altars. Dipping his thumb in the preparation
which he has just blessed, he makes a cross in the middle
and in the four corners of the altar-stone, saying: “ Let
this altar be sanctified 4* to the glory of God, of the Vir-
gin Mary, and all the saints, and in the name and com-
memoration of St. N . [naming the patron of the church],
in the name of the + Father,” etc. These words are
repeated five times. Thereupon he goes round the altar
seven times, sprinkling it with holy water and reciting
the Miserere
.
He next goes three times round the interior of the
church, sprinkling the walls above, below, and in the
middle whilst three psalms and antiphons are sung. He
also sprinkles the floor of the church in each of the four
corners, with certain prayers and the sign of the cross,
and returns to the high altar. He then blesses chalk and
sand, and mixes them with holy water, thus preparing
the mortal for the laying of the altar-stone. Afterwards,
going in procession to the place where the relics were
deposited on the previous evening, he incenses them,
and carries them with lighted tapers and smoking censers
round the church. Pausing on the threshold, the bishop
makes three crosses on the door, saying: u In the name of
the Father*, and of the Son*, and of the Holy* Ghost,
be thou blessed, sanctified, and consecrated.^
When the procession reaches the high altar, the bishop
makes five crosses with chrism in the cavity of the altar,
called the sepulchre, places the case containing the relics
in it, incenses them, and closes the repository or sepulchre with a stone that has been blessed and the mortar
prepared for the purpose. Thereupon he incenses the
altar itself, and hands the censer to a priest, who goes
round it incensing every part. Meanwhile the bishop
makes five crosses with oil of catechumens on the table
of the altar, one in the centre and one in each of the
corners, with the same words employed when blessing
the water, incenses the crosses, and goes round the altar
incensing it. After the prescribed prayer and psalm
have been recited he again anoints the altar, making
five crosses upon it, saying: “ Let this altar be blessed,
sanctified, and consecrated." He then again incenses the
crosses and the whole altar. This ceremony is repeated
a third time, whilst psalms are chanted by the clergy.
Finally, the bishop pours oil and chrism over the whole
altar **»kbing it in with his hand. He then goes round
the interior of the church, and anoints the twelve crosses
upon the walls with the chrism, saying: “ Let this church
be hallowed and consecrated in the name of the Father,
etc.,” and incensing each cross three times. Returning
to the altar, he blesses the frankincense, lays five grains
of incense wherever the five crosses were made, forms
five small crosses out of wax tapers and lights them.
Whilst they are burning, he kneels down, as do all
the clergy present, and intones the hymn Vent, Sancte
Spiritus . This is followed by more prayers and a pref-
ace; the clergy chant Psalm lxvii. in thanksgiving for the
graces received; the bishop makes a cross with the
chrism below the table of the altar, and recites more and
longer prayers. After that he rubs his hands with bread
and salt, and washes them in water. The clergy wipe
the altar with linen, cover it with an altar-cloth, decorate
it as best they can, whilst psalms and responsories are
sung. In conclusion the bishop incenses the altar three
times, and proceeds to celebrate a solemn pontifical High
Mass.
All who have been present at the dedication of a
church cannot find words to express their surprise at the
number of different ceremonies, anointings, benedictions,
and prayers that appertain to the ritual. What is the
object of all of these? It is in order to render the
church a temple meet for the great and holy sacrifice
offered up therein to the most high God, and to hallow
and consecrate the altars whereon the spotless Lamb of
God is to be slain in a mystical manner.
This is sufficient to convince any Christian of the
sanctity of our churches and altars, and the great reverence we ought to pay to them. Solomon’s temple was
but a foreshadow and type of the Christian Church, and
yet in what respect it was held both by Jews and heathen!
How much the more should we reverence and respect
our churches, hallowed as they are by so solemn a dedication ! We read in the Third Book of Kings that Solomon, on the occasion of the dedication of his temple,
offered up no less than two and twenty thousand oxen,
and a hundred and twenty thousand rams. These animals were all slaughtered by the priests, purified, and
laid in pieces on the altar. And while the king prayed
aloud fire fell from heaven and consumed the victims.
The whole temple was filled with a cloud, and the glory
of the Lord appeared in the cloud. And all the people,
who beheld the fire and the glory of the Lord, filled with
awe, fell upon their faces and adored the Lord. There-
upon King Solomon, standing on a high place in the
sight of the assembly of Israel, spread forth his hands
towards heaven and said: “Is it then to be thought that
God should indeed dwell upon earth ? For if heaven
and the heavens of heavens cannot contain Thee, how
much less this house, which I have built ! ” (in. Kings
viii. 27.)
Who, indeed, can fail to be amazed at this, and feel
himself unable rightly to comprehend the dignity of that
sacred temple ? And yet that temple was but a type, an
image, of our churches. In that there was nothing but
the Ark of the Covenant, which only contained the two
stone tables of the law, a basket of showbread, and
Aaron’s rod that had blossomed. The sacrifices of the
Jews were only animals that were slaughtered and burnt,
besides offerings of bread, wine, cakes, etc., whereas our
churches are dedicated by the bishops with incomparably
greater solemnity; they are anointed with holy oil and
chrism; they are blessed by being sprinkled with holy
water and incensed with frankincense; they are hallowed repeatedly by the sign of the cross, and consecrated finally by the oblation of the most holy sacrifice
of the Mass. Instead of the Ark of the Covenant we
hire the tabernacle, where the true bread of heaven,
the adorable Sacrament of the Altar, the body and
blood of Christ, is continually reserved. If it is right to
hold Solomon’s temple in honor, how much more ought
we to reverence our consecrated churches, in which God
dwells in person.
Our churches are called the house of God, and this
in very deed they are, since God Himself dwells in them,
and is always to be found in them. He is surrounded
continually by a countless host of angels, who serve Him,
who adore Him, who worship Him, who praise Him, who
offer our prayers to Him. This was foreshadowed by
the vision of the patriarch Jacob. Overtaken by night
in the open country, he laid down to sleep, and in a
dream he saw a ladder standing upon the earth, the top
of which reached to heaven. By this ladder the angels
of God were ascending and descending, and at the top
of it he beheld God Himself. Jacob woke from his
sleep trembling, and said: “ How terrible is this place !
This is no other but the house of God, and the gate of
heaven.” (Gen. xxviii. 17.) He took the stone on which
his head had rested, poured oil upon it, set it up for an
altar, and on his return journey he offered sacrifice
upon it to God. That was a type of the Christian
Church, with its altar, anointed with holy oil and chrism,
of which we can in truth say: “ How terrible is this
place ! This is no other but the house of God, and the
gate of heaven,” for here the angels ascend and descend,
and carry up our petitions to heaven. Our churches
are the place of which God speaks by the mouth of the
prophet Isaias: “I will bring them [the people of the
Lord] into My holy mount, and will make them joyful
in My house of prayer. Their holocausts and their vic-
tims shall please Me upon My altar; for My house shall
be called the house of prayer for all nations.” (Is. lvi. 7.)
From all this we learn the sanctity of our churches,
and the respect we owe to them. It is because they are
the house of God, and Jesus Christ dwells in person
within them in the Blessed Sacrament, surrounded by in-
numerable angels, that we know not how to honor them
enough, how to be sufficiently devout and recollected in
prayer. If we had a living faith, we should enter a consecrated church with trembling; we should worship Christ
present in the Adorable Sacrament with deepest reverence, and invoke the assistance of the holy angels who are
there. Such was David’s custom, as he tells us in the
words: u I will worship towards Thy holy temple; I will
sing praise to Thee in the sight of the angels.” (Ps.
cxxxvii. 2, i.) Therefore to be inattentive in church, or
in any other way to displease God by disrespectful behavior, is an insult to the Divine Majesty and dishonor
to the house of God. Let us firmly resolve on entering
a church not to utter or listen to an unnecessary word,
nor to look about us, but to behave reverently, to pray
devoutly, to adore the Lord our God, to confess our sins
and implore the divine mercy.
Furthermore, we may learn how excellent a thing
is the holy Mass from the solemn ordination of priests
and clerics. Every priest must be admitted to seven
different grades of orders before he is empowered to offer
the holy sacrifice of the Mass. The four minor orders
indicate that he who receives them is taken into the service of the Church, and may assist the priest who celebrates Mass. But they do not confer the right so much
as to touch the chalice, the paten, the corporal, or the
purificator; for this the fifth order, that of the subdiaconate, must be received.
Only the subdeacon, the deacon, and the priest are
entitled to handle the sacred vessels employed at the
altar, or to cleanse them. It is of great importance
that all the things that are required for the celebration
of the holy Mass should be kept scrupulously clean and
in good condition, as they are used in the highest act of
divine service, and are brought into contact with the
most sacred body and blood of the Lord. It is greatly
to be deplored when proper and clean vestments and
vessels are not provided, or when the congregation is
backward in supplying the priest with the funds requisite
for the purpose.
Cochem's Explanation of the holy sacrifice of the Mass ~ Martin, von Cochem, 1634-1712
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