Thomas M.Izbicki
[See also: CANON LAW; CLERICIS LAICOS; INNOCENT III; LAW AND
JUSTICE]
Friedberg, Emil, ed. Quinque compilationes antiquae necnon Collectio canonum lipsiensis.
Leipzig: Tauchnitz, 1882.
Duggan, Charles. Twelfth-Century Decretal Collections and Their Importance in English History.
London: Athlone, 1963.
Tierney, Brian. “Tria quippe distinguit iudicia: A Note on Innocent III’s Decretal Per
venerabilem.” Speculum 37(1962): 48–59.
DEDICATION OF THE CHURCH
. In the Middle Ages, every cathedral and monastic or parish church was dedicated by a
bishop in accordance with an ornate and venerable ceremony that has been substantially
modified only since the Second Vatican Council (1962–65). The feast of the dedication in
the Roman rite existed by the early 6th century, and its shape in later centuries, after it
had been transported north of the Alps, can be studied in Ordo romanus 4 and, most
importantly, in Ordo romanus 42, along with the Gallican-influenced Ordo romanus 41,
which dates from the second half of the 8th century. A fusion of the Gallican and Roman
ceremonies is represented in pontificals dating from the 10th century onward and in the
pontifical of Guillaume Durand, bishop of Mende, compiled 1293–95.
The anniversary of the dedication of its church was of primary importance in the
calendar of each community and was celebrated each year by the Mass and Office for the
feast of the Dedication of the Church (often known by the incipit of its introit: Terribilis
est); in addition, the feast of a cathedral might well be honored in secular churches
throughout the diocese. The particular date of the dedication can therefore often be useful
in helping to determine the origin of a liturgical manuscript. In many churches, the feast
of the Dedication was celebrated at the Octave of the feast of the patronal saint, or soon
after. Tropes and sequences, as well as other devotional texts and music, were written for
the dedication throughout the later Middle Ages, and their texts, along with the numerous
sermons written for the occasion, form a significant commentary upon changing
interpretations of the feast.
Margot Fassler
Andrieu, Michel. Les Ordines romani du haut moyen âge. 5 vols. Louvain, 1931–61.
——. Le pontifical romain au moyen âge. 4 vols. Vatican City: Biblioteca ApostolicaVaticana,
1940, Vol. 3: Le pontifical de Guillaume Durand.
Benz, S. “Zur Geschichte der römischen Kirchweihe nach den Texten des 7. bis 9. Jahrhunderts.”
In Enkainia: Gesammelte Arbeiten zum 800-jährigen Weihegedächtnis der Abteikirche Maria
Laach am 24. August 1956, ed. Hilarius Emonds. Düsseldorf: Patmos, 1956, pp. 62–109.
Fassler, Margot. Gothic Song: Victorine Sequences and Augustinian Reform in Twelfth-Century
Paris. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993, pp. 211–40.
Forgeur, R. “Dedicatio Aquensis.” Scriptorium 42(1988):76–83.
Michaud, J. “Dedicaces en Poitou: faste des cérémonies (c.800– c. 1050).” Bulletin de la Société
des Antiquaires de l’Ouest et des Musées de Poitiers 15/2(1977):143–62.
The Encyclopedia 555