In 4–6 -acion. [ad. L. consecrātiōn-em, n. of action f. consecrāre to CONSECRATE. Cf. F. consecration (13th c.).]
1. The action of consecrating; a setting apart as dedicated to the Deity; dedication with religious rites to a sacred purpose.
1382. Wyclif, Ex. xxix. 22. It is the wether [1388 ram] of consecracioun.
1460. Capgrave, Chron., 84. Innocent … ordeyned eke the consecration of oyle, with whech men be anoynted at here ende.
1690. Norris, Beatitudes (1694), I. 165. The Divine Presence is the greatest and most solemn Consecration of any place that can be.
1726. Ayliffe, Parerg., 194. Consecration, according to a Definition of the Canonists, is a Rite or Ceremony of dedicating and devoting Things to the Service of God with an Application of certain proper Solemnities.
1860. Pusey, Min. Proph., 31. The unhappy women were consecrated to their vile gods and goddesses and to prostitution. This dreadful consecration, yea desecration.
1870. Emerson, Soc. & Solit., Wks. (Bohn), III. 55. Does the consecration of Sunday confess the desecration of the entire week?
attrib. 1535. Coverdale, Lev. viii. 31. Eate it and the bred in ye maunde of the consecracion offeringes.
b. esp. The formal dedication and setting apart, by a bishop, of a church, churchyard, or burial-ground.
By Hooker Eccl. Pol., V. xii. called dedication; but in recent times dedication has been employed to denote a less formal kind of consecration of a burial-ground, not having the legal consequences attaching to consecration.
1570–6. Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 335. The Bishops assembled for the consecration (as they call it) of the great church of Sainct Andrewes.
a. 1626. Bp. L. Andrewes (title), The form of Consecration of a Church or Chapel (1659).
1727–51. Chambers, Cycl., The consecration or dedication of a church is an episcopal ceremony.
1866. J. M. Dale, Clergyman’s Legal Handbk., v. 57. Private chapels … are maintained by the persons to whom they belong. They need no consecration.
1873. Phillimore, Eccl. Law, II. 1761. The consecration of churches may be performed indifferently on any day.
1876. Blunt & Phillimore, Bk. of Ch. Law, V. i. 312. The Sentence of Consecration [of a church] is pronounced after the Offertory including the offering represented by the deeds upon the altar, has been made.
1883. trans. Pellicia’s Polity of Chr. Ch., 147. The dedication of a church was called its consecration.
1891. MS. Enrolments of Consecrations, Durham, This Sentence of Consecration was read by me the undersigned John Booth.
c. with a and pl. (Sometimes more or less concr. = Consecrated things.)
1538. Bale, Thre Lawes, 831. Ceremonyall rytes are also commendable, In holy dayes, garmentes, temples, and consecracyons.
1560. Bible, Lev. viii. 28. These were consecrations for a sweete sauour which were made by fire vnto the Lord. Ibid., viii. 31. The bread that is in the basket of consecrations [so 1611]. Ibid., viii. 33. Vntill the dayes of your consecrations [1611 consecration] bee at an ende.
2. The giving of the sacramental character to the eucharistic elements of bread and wine.
(Variously taken according to the opinion held of the nature of the Eucharist.)
1395. Purvey, Remonstr. (1851), 41. Where consecracioun or halewinge hath neighid, of the breed is maad Cristis flesh.
a. 1400. Apol. Loll., 8. Als oft as a nobil man seiþ it bi twex þe consecracioun & Agnus Dei.
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., IV. (1520), 37/1. In olde tyme the consecracyon of the gloryous blood was made in tree vessells.
1564. Becon, Compar. Lord’s Supp. & Mass, Epil. Blasphemies against Christ … invocation of dead saints, confection, consecration, application, and oblation of the body and blood of Christ.
1659. Pearson, Creed (1839), 232. The bread and wine even after consecration leave not their own nature, but remain in their former substance, shape, and form.
1662. Bk. Com. Prayer, Communion. Rubric, He shall say the Prayer of Consecration, as followeth.
a. 1699. Stillingfl., Serm., II. ii. (R.). The people … are told, that they [priests] can make their God at any time by pronouncing the five words of consecration.
1854. Hook, Ch. Dict., 247. If it be demanded to what words the consecration of the elements ought to be ascribed, I answer, to the prayer of the faithful offered by the priest, and to the words of institution repeated by him.
1885. Catholic Dict., 216/1. The form for the consecration of the bread in the Roman Missal is ‘Hoc est enim corpus meum.’
3. Ordination to a sacred office: spec. the action or religious ceremony of ordaining a bishop.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VI. 115. Theodorus þe archebisshop con into Kent … in þe secounde ȝere of his consecracioun.
1513. More, Rich. III., Wks. 66/2. The consecracion of a bishop.
1552. Bk. Com. Prayer, Order Consecr. Bps. Rubr., Then shall the Archbishop demand the kings mandate for the consecration.
1704. Nelson, Fest. & Fasts (1739), 479. To confirm the Elections and Consecrations of all Bishops in their Provinces.
1882. J. H. Blunt. Ref. Ch. Eng., II. 37. Spiritual jurisdiction was understood to flow generally from Consecration.
4. Rom. Antiq. Apotheosis, deification; also transf.
1490. Caxton, Eneydos, xxvii. (1890), 98. The obsequyes & consecracyon of anchyses, his olde fader.
1658. Sir T. Browne, Hydriot., ii. 9. The magnificent burning, and consecration of Severus.
1751. Chambers, Cycl.
1837. Penny Cycl., VII. 465/1. Consecration is a name given to the apotheosis of the Roman emperors, and coins and medals commemorating these events have the inscription Consecratio.
† b. Loosely applied to canonization. Obs.
1677. Hale, Prim. Orig. Man., II. v. 167. We see how the Roman Calendar swells with new Consecrations of Saints.
† 5. Dedication to destruction; anathematization. Obs. Cf. CONSECRATE v. 7.
1700. Tyrrell, Hist. Eng., II. 925. He confirmed the Consecration denounced by his Predecessor against Frederic the Emperor.
6. transf. and fig. Dedication or devotion to some cherished purpose or pursuit; also, appropriation to a special purpose.
1781. Cowper, Retirement, 223. ’Tis consecration of his heart, soul, time, And every thought that wanders is a crime.
1844. Lingard, Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858), I. App. i. 368. Consecrations of tithes, as they were called, had already taken place among the Anglo-Saxons; since the tithes of Thory’s lands, in Ropeslai hundred, had been consecrated to a distant church, the abbey of Peterborough.
7. transf. and fig. The action of rendering sacred; hallowing.
1805. Wordsw., On Peele Castle. The light that never was, on sea or land, The consecration and the Poet’s dream.
b. Sanction by law, custom, or usage. [mod.F.]
1861. Maine, Anc. Law, ii. (1876), 39. Each group of circumstances which is adjudicated upon receives, to employ a Gallicism, a sort of consecration.
1877. F. Hall, Eng. Adj. in -able, 7. Apparently, ‘common usage’ has obtained, with him, such a degree of consecration, that he looks upon any symptom of discontent with it as a going beyond just ‘liberty.’
