*we will add terms to this list as definitions become available
Consecration
An act by which a thing is separated from a common and
profane to a sacred use, or by which a person or thing is dedicated to the
service and actualization of the Divine through prayers, rites, and ceremonies.
The custom of consecrating persons to the Divine service and things to serve in
the worship of the Divine has a sacred place in the history of humanity. We
find rites of consecration mentioned in the early cult of the Egyptians and
other pagan nations. Among the Semitic
tribes it consisted in the threefold act of separating, sanctifying, or
purifying, and devoting or offering to the Deity. In the Hebrew Law we find it
applied to the entire people whom Moses, by a solemn act of consecration,
designates as the People of God.
We distinguish consecration from blessing,
both in regard to persons and to things. In both, the persons or things pass
from a common or profane order to a new state and become the subjects or the
instruments of Divine protection. At a consecration the ceremonies are more
solemn and elaborate than at a blessing. The ordinary minister of a
consecration is a bishop, whilst the ordinary minister of a blessing is a
priest/priestess. At every consecration the holy oils are used; at a blessing
customarily holy water is used but not necessary. The new state to which consecration elevates persons or things is
permanent, and the rite can never be repeated, which is not the case at a
blessing; the graces attached to consecration are more numerous and efficacious
than those attached to a blessing.