Dear Christopher
Thanks for your posting; apology was unnecessary but
accepted. In turn, I apologise for any confusion I may
have caused on this topic!!
As previously mentioned, the English word
'desecration' rather than taking just the meaning of
'exsecratio' has also added the meaning 'pollutio'
which is probably less than helpful under the
cirumstances. For the purpose of further postings I
will do my utmost to use 'desecration' and
'deconsecration' as they are understood by most list
subscribers...
So 'pollutio' is the word which seems to be used in
the MA, is the short answer.
The 'material alteration' of an object/building
relates more to the need for reconsecration following
'legitimate' changes rather than to 'pollutio'; again,
sorry if I didn't make this clear.
I'm not sure whether riding a horse into a church
constitutes 'pollutio', although I suspect it
certainly would be a nuisance! I'll have a check of
Aquinas unless anyone else gets there first (3a,
somewhere around qq82ff). I vaguely remember, though,
some of the Jerusalem churches having doorways
designed to trip horses on the way in (please note, no
actual horses were harmed in the writing of this
posting).
One thing on which I think most authorities would be
agreed is that bloodshed in a church constitutes
'pollutio'. In which case a good place to look for
reconsecration information would be in the times
following the murder of Thomas a Becket. I suspect the
reconsecration of Canterbury Cathedral cannot have
passed off without note.
The pontificals do not, as you mentioned, contain any
sort of 'secularisation' rite for a building.
Post-Tridentine authorities are of the opinion that a
building is de facto 'deconsecrated' by being handed
over to secular use, whether lawfully or not. If this
was also true of the MA there may well be documents in
diocesan archives formally handing over church
buildings.
I will have a good trawl through my collection of
microform pontificals and see what I can come up with
regard to the reconsecration and post again when I
have more information....
Cheers
Rob
____________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free @yahoo.co.uk address at http://mail.yahoo.co.uk
or your free @yahoo.ie address at http://mail.yahoo.ie
|