Literary notes about Consecrate (AI summary)
The term consecrate frequently serves as a vehicle for imbuing objects, actions, or even lives with a sense of sacred purpose. In literary works, it appears as both a literal ritual act, such as sanctifying altars or ordaining priests ([1], [2], [3]), and a metaphor for personal dedication and immortalization, like pledging one’s life to a cause or memory ([4], [5], [6]). At times it enlarges its scope from formal religious ceremonies to the act of honoring legacies or marking transformative moments ([7], [8], [9]). In each instance, consecrate elevates what might otherwise be mundane into something hallowed, transforming physical spaces and lives into sites of reverence and significance ([10], [11]).
- And thou shalt consecrate the hands of them all, and shalt sanctify them, that they may do the office of priesthood unto me. 28:42.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - And shall consecrate to the Lord the days of his separation, offering a lamb of one year for sin:
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - And thus shalt thou purify and consecrate them for an oblation of the Lord: for as a gift they were given me by the children of Israel.
— from The Bible, Douay-Rheims, Complete - Let the day therefore be fixed; and on it I will consecrate myself, in life or death, to the happiness of my cousin.”
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - Chase away your idle fears; to you alone do I consecrate my life, and my endeavours for contentment.
— from Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley - Where are the young men who will consecrate their best years, their ambitions and their enthusiasms to the welfare of their native land?
— from Rizal's own story of his life by José Rizal - To thee neither hands build, nor lips consecrate: but hearts, through ages, are faithful to thy worship.
— from Villette by Charlotte Brontë - How could Philip condemn his predecessor, and yet consecrate his memory?
— from The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon - For to what but to felicity should men consecrate themselves, were felicity a goddess?
— from The City of God, Volume I by Bishop of Hippo Saint Augustine - This day let all things ready wait Mine eldest son to consecrate.”
— from The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Valmiki - I told the king that we would like to consecrate the place, 298 and to set up a cross there.
— from The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 33, 1519-1522 by Antonio Pigafetta