All these bishops took an actual part in the service. In the consecration of the church of Mans, in 1120, the high altar was consecrated by Gilbert, Archbishop of Mans: S. Julians by Galfred of Rouen: Hildebert of Mans consecrated S. Mary's; Reginald of Anglers that of the Holy Cross. There is a fine passage to the same point in Sugerius's book on the dedication of the church of S. Denis: 'Right early in the morning,' saith he, 'archbishops and bishops, archdeacons and abbots, and other venerable persons, who had lived of their proper {198} expense, bore themselves right bishopfully; and took their places on the platform raised for the consecration of the water, and placed between the sepulchres of the holy martyrs and S. Saviour's altar. Then might ye have seen, and they who stood by saw, and that with great devotion, such a band of so venerable bishops, arrayed in their white robes, sparkling in their pontifical robes and precious orfreys, grasp their pastoral staves, call on God in holy exorcism, pace around the consecrated enclosure, and perform the nuptials of the Great King with such care, that it seemed as though the ceremony were performed by a chorus of angels, not a band of men. The crowd, in overwhelming magnitude, rolled around to the door; and while the aforesaid episcopal band were sprinkling the walls with hyssop, the king and his nobles drive them back, repress them, guard the portals.' Yet the principal actor on the occasion was the bishop of the diocese. The thirty-sixth canon of the second Council of Aries decrees, 'If a bishop be minded to build a church in another diocese, let its dedication be reserved for the diocesan.' S. Columbanus, being only a priest, dedicated the church of S. Aurelia (Walfrid. Strabo. _Vita S. Gallo_, cap. vi). The preceding night was spent either in the church or in neighbouring churches in a solemn vigil. S. Ambrose testifies that this was done on occasions of the dedication of the Ambrosian church (_Epist_. 22, _ad Marcellina_). So S. Gregory of Mans, in his dedication of the church of S. Julian, removed the relics of that saint into the church of S. Martin, and there kept vigil (_De Glor. Mart_, ii, 34). Relics were considered indispensably necessary: so S. Paulinus (_Epist_, xxxii, _ad Sever_.) This church was dedicated in the name of Christ, the Saint of saints, the Martyr of martyrs, the Lord of lords, and was honoured {199} with the relics of the blessed apostles. See also the beautiful epistle of S. Ambrose, translated in 'The Church of the Fathers.' The phrase was, _Consecrare ecclesiam de reliquiis Beati n_. Yet some churches were consecrated without relics. The second Nicene Council decreed that in this case they should be supplied. Those portions of the consecrated elements were placed with these: to which perhaps that expression of S. Chrysostom is to be referred--'What is the altar by nature but a stone? But it is made holy, when it hath once received the body of Christ.'