Consecration is the act of setting a person, place or object apart from ordinary use and dedicating it to the sacred, so that what was common becomes holy. The practice rests on the widespread religious distinction between the sacred and the profane, between what belongs to God or the divine and what belongs to ordinary life, and consecration is the rite by which something crosses that boundary. Churches and temples are consecrated before they are used for worship, altars and sacred vessels are set apart for holy purposes, priests and monarchs are consecrated to their offices, and offerings are consecrated in being given to God. Once consecrated, a thing may not lawfully be returned to common use, and to treat it as though it were ordinary is regarded as desecration, a violation of its holiness.
The forms of consecration vary widely. In the biblical tradition places, objects and persons are consecrated by anointing with oil, by sacrifice, by the spoken word of dedication and by the laying on of hands. In Christian worship the term also names the central moment of the Eucharist, in which the bread and wine are consecrated and, in the understanding of the Catholic and Orthodox churches, become the body and blood of Christ. Parallel rites of dedication mark the sacred spaces, objects and personnel of religions across the world. In every case consecration expresses the conviction that holiness is not merely a quality of feeling but a real status that can be conferred, marking off a realm set apart for the divine within the ordinary world.