The Feast of the Dedication is frequently kept in many parishes now and its observance has been found {79} to be most helpful to both Priest and People, recalling to mind the joy and gladness of the day of the Consecration of their Church and being the time for the revival of old faiths and pledges, and consequently of renewed interest in the Church, its work and its worship. Deposition.--The name used in the general Canons for degradation from the office of the Ministry, as the penalty for offenses therein enumerated. Deposition can only be performed by a Bishop after sufficient evidence. When a Bishop thus deposes any one, he is required to send "notice of such deposition from the Ministry to the Ecclesiastical Authority of every Diocese and Missionary Jurisdiction of this Church, in the form in which the same is recorded." The object of this is to prevent any one thus deposed from officiating anywhere in the Church. He has been cut off from all office in the Church and from all rights of exercising that office. Deprecations.--The name given to certain petitions in the LITANY (which see). Descent into Hell.--An article of the Creed in which we confess our belief that our Lord while His Body lay in the grave, descended into the place of departed spirits. The word "Hell" as here used is the English translation of the Greek word _Hades_, which means not the place of torment, (for which another Greek word is used, viz., Gehenna) but that covered, hidden place where the soul awaits the General Resurrection. The Rubric before the Creed gives this interpretation of the word, and permission is given to churches to use instead of it, the words "place of departed spirits," "which are considered as words of {80} the same meaning in the Creed." (See INTERMEDIATE STATE.) Diaconate.--The office of a Deacon, or the order of Deacons collectively. Dies Irae.--The first two words of a Latin hymn, meaning "Day of Wrath," being the 36th of the Hymnal. It is supposed to have been written in the Twelfth Century by Thomas of Celano. The translation of this hymn used in the Hymnal was made by the Rev. W. J. Irons, in 1869. It seems to be a poetic and devotional embodiment of the words to be found in Hebrews 10:27, "a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation," and is much used during Advent. The music to which it is usually sung was written by the Rev. John B. Dykes in 1861, and is a most beautiful rendering of this ancient and sublime hymn. Digest of the Canons.--The name given to the collection of the laws or canons of the American Church enacted and set forth by the General Convention. The word "Digest" is derived from the Latin word _digestus_, meaning carried apart, resolved, digested, and is applied to a body of laws arranged under their proper heads or titles. The Canons set forth by the General Convention as thus arranged come under four titles, viz.: