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CONSECRATION
Sacer was the Latin for something set aside as holy. By prefixing con, meaning "together," consecrare resulted, the general significance of which was that by adding to some holy object a formal ceremony the object was declared to be holy to the public, and must therefore be treated as such. The ceremony of consecrating a Lodge room is a way of giving notice to the public that it has been dedicated, or set aside, for Masonic purposes only.
- Source: 100 Words in Masonry
CONSECRATION
The appropriating or dedicating, with certain ceremonies, anything to sacred purposes or offices by separating it from common use. Hobbes, in his Leviatian (part1v chapter 44), gives the best definition of this ceremony. "To consecrate is, in Scripture, to offer, give, or dedicate, in pious and decent language and gesture, a man, or any other thing, to God, by parting it from common use."
Masonic Lodges, like ancient temples and modern churches, have always been consecrated. The rite of consecration is performed by the Grand Master, when the Lodge is said to be consecrated in ample form; by the Deputy Grand Master, when it is said to be consecrated in due form; or by the proxy of the Grand Master, when it is said to be consecrated in form. The Grand Master, accompanied by his officers, proceeds to the hall of the new Lodge, where, after the performance of those ceremonies which are described in all manuals and monitors, he solemnly consecrates the Lodge with the elements of corn, wine, and oil, after which the Lodge is dedicated and constituted and the officers installed.
- Source: Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry
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