medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
On 27/11/2012 11:32, Madeleine Gray wrote:
>
> Does anyone have any information on how this was done - liturgies etc - and how is it actually done now, in different traditions? I ask because of the huge complexity of the status of the church of St Teilo, Llandeilo Talybont, which has been rebuilt at our National History Museum at St Fagans near Cardiff. A medieval church, it was 'deconsecrated' (sorry, can't think of another shorthand term) by the (disestablished) Anglican church in the 1970s but as far as I know this was a paper process - no ritual involved. So one could still argue that the fabric retains its (Catholic) consecration. It has been rebuilt on a new unconsecrated site. The new building contains two medieval altars complete with consecration crosses which have been brought from other churches. It also has its original font which would also have been consecrated. As far as the museum is concerned the 'new' church is not consecrated - but I do wonder what its status would be in view of its complex history.
> On thing I feel we didn't explore in sufficient depth in our Experience of Worship project on medieval liturgies in practice was this question of valid consecration - the 'priest' was actually an Anglican canon. When he celebrated the Mass in the Sarum liturgy, in that church, on a medieval altar, what was he actually doing? (in his own eyes and in those of other participants)
> We also had considerable debate about whether we should include consecration crosses in the design of the wall paintings for the new church. In the end we didn't, but it remains a grey area.
No, no, no. The whole point is that there is no liturgy for
"deconsecration". (And there never has been. The word is a misnomer -
the opposite of consecration is desecration.) The Church of England has
a formal legal process for deconsecration simply because the act of
consecration causes the building or land to be taken onto the diocesan
register, meaning that it cannot be legally sold.
The Roman Catholic view is that a building is "deconsecrated" simply by
being taken out of use ("relegate it to profane but not sordid use" - in
practice, they are quite happy to sell for any use whatsoever...)
John Briggs
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