Title XL: On the Consecration of a Church or Altar

Latin source headnote: When the altar or the stone containing the seal has been removed, the altar, but not the church, will be reconsecrated.

Alexander III.

To these things, if the altar has been moved, or only that stone placed upon it that contains the seal has been broken or even diminished, it ought to be consecrated anew. But on account of this the church is by no means accustomed to repeat its consecration, although certain canons appear to intimate it. Nevertheless, it is not prohibited from doing so.

Latin source headnote: Churches can be consecrated even on non-feast days.

Innocent III, to the Bishop of Tournai.

Your fraternity caused us to be asked whether it was lawful for you to celebrate dedications of churches on both Sundays and ordinary days; concerning which we respond to your inquiry in this way: in your diocese it is lawful for you to impart dedication to churches on both Sundays and ordinary days. [Given at Rome, on the seventh day before the Ides of February, in the seventh year. 1205.]

Latin source headnote: It contains two statements, and first it says the same as the preceding chapter in this title. The second statement says that unconsecrated oil can be mixed with consecrated oil, and the whole becomes consecrated.

The same, to the Bishop of Nidaros.

That in doubtful matters (And below: [cf. c. 30, On the Sentence of Excommunication, V. 39.]) But an altar on which the slab to which the blessing of consecration is applied by pontifical ministry has been moved or enormously broken ought not undeservedly to be consecrated. Nor do we deny that unconsecrated oil can be mixed with consecrated oil. [But the clerics, etc. Given near Civita Castellana, on the sixth day before the Ides of October. 1198.]

Latin source headnote: A church polluted by homicides and wounds inflicted upon persons there is reconciled.

The same, to the Archbishop of Compostela.

You proposed, while constituted in our presence, that when pilgrims from diverse regions come to the church of Saint James, and some wish to vindicate against others through contentions and quarrels the keeping of the altar at night, homicides sometimes happen and wounds are sometimes inflicted; on account of which you humbly petitioned that we deign to provide for that church by another manner than through the benefit of reconsecration. We respond to your fraternity in this way: while the church and altar remain, it can be reconciled through water blessed with wine and ashes. [Given at Viterbo, on the twelfth day before the Kalends of July, in the tenth year. 1207.]

Latin source headnote: Several altars can be consecrated simultaneously in the same church; and the same applies to several bishops.

The same.

Since you are (And below: [cf. c. 6, On the Use and Authority of the Pallium, I. 8.]) You should therefore know that, where necessity demands, both several altars in one church and several bishops simultaneously you will be able to consecrate.

Latin source headnote: When the roof has fallen while the walls remain unharmed, and the altar-table has not been enormously broken, neither the altar nor the church is consecrated anew.

The same.

After the wooden structures of your church were consumed by a certain fire that occurred, although the walls remained unharmed and the table of the principal altar suffered a small fracture at its extremity, you sought to be instructed through the Apostolic See whether on account of this the consecration of that altar, or even of the entire church, ought to be renewed. To this we have considered that this response should be given to your inquiry: since the walls remained in their integrity and the slab of the altar was not moved or enormously damaged, on account of the aforesaid cause neither the church nor the altar ought to be consecrated anew. [Given at the Lateran, on the Nones of October, in the fifteenth year of our pontificate. 1212.]

Latin source headnote: A church or cemetery is polluted if an excommunicated person is buried in it.

The same, to the Bishop of Sens.

You consulted us (And below: [cf. c. 14, On the Competent Forum, II. 2.]) But cemeteries in which the bodies of excommunicated persons happen to be buried through the violence of their relatives will have to be reconciled by the sprinkling of solemnly blessed water, as is accustomed to be done in dedications of churches. [But the procurations, etc. Given at the Lateran, on the third day before the Kalends of May, in the sixteenth year of our pontificate. 1213.]

Latin source headnote: One who caused a church to be consecrated is bound to endow it. This it says, and keep this case in mind.

Honorius III, to the Queen of Hungary.

Since, as became known to us from the report of the beloved sons of the chapter of Oradea, kindled by the zeal of devotion you caused their church to be consecrated, we assuredly hope that the zeal which induced you to the consecration of that church ought also to animate you to confer an endowment upon it, and indeed, since a church is not to be consecrated unless provision has been made for it from an endowment, you ought the more liberally to open the hands of your munificence to endow the aforesaid church, inasmuch as you can do it more easily and are now more strongly bound to it as though by a debt.

Latin source headnote: A polluted church cannot be reconciled by a simple priest, even if the water was blessed by a bishop.

Gregory IX, to the Bishop of Astorga.

We do not deny that a church can be reconciled by another bishop with water blessed by a bishop, while prohibiting this from henceforth being done by simple priests, notwithstanding the custom of the province of Braga, which ought rather to be called a corruption; for although a bishop can commit those things that belong to jurisdiction, he cannot entrust to clerics of an inferior grade those things that belong to the episcopal order. But what has hitherto been done by the same persons concerning reconciliation at the command of bishops we mercifully tolerate. [Churches, etc. (cf. c. 9, On the Immunity of Churches, III. 49.) Given at the Lateran, on the twelfth day before the Kalends of June, in the seventh year of our pontificate. 1233.]

Latin source headnote: A church, even one not consecrated, is to be reconciled if it is polluted.

The same, to the same.

If an unconsecrated church has been polluted by anyone's semen or by the shedding of blood, let it immediately be washed with exorcized water, lest the instruments of divine praise be suspended [in it]; nevertheless, it is to be consecrated as soon as it can be. [Given at the Lateran, on the twelfth day before the Kalends of June, in the seventh year of our pontificate. 1233.]