Key:dedication

Dedication, and its related wikipedia and wikidata subtags is used to capture the saint or devotional aspect for which a religious building is dedicated.

Often this is part of the name=*, but not always.

Rationale

Religious buildings (places of worship, monasteries, etc.), and some other religious sites, notably in Christian churches, are often dedicated to a saint, god, distinguished prophet or teacher. Some dedications are to devotional objects, such as "Holy Cross" or "Sacred Heart", or a particular aspect of a saint, e.g., St Mary Star of the Sea (Stella Maris), or "Maria Himmelfahrt".

The name of the dedicatee is usually incorporated into the name of the place of worship, but it is not uncommon for an alternative name to be used (Jesus College Chapel is dedicated to St R[h]adegund).

Although in many cases the dedication can be derived from the name tag this is awkward. Tagging the actual dedicatee with a distinct tag allows: regular queries, for instance in Overpass; use of a namespaced wikidata tag which further enables queries across languages (e.g., Hl. Maria, St Mary, Santes Fair) and disambiguation of saints with similar names (St Catherine of Alexandria and St Catherine of Siena, and others) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_saints_named_Catherine

Usage

The basic usage is very similar to subject=* for artworks (q.v.), or name:etymology=* for streets and buildings. The base key dedication=* is used for a free text description of the dedicatee. This will usually just be the name, but may include further information. dedication:wikipedia=* provides a standard format Wikipedia link, ideally in the language of the dedication (so, for churches in Welsh villages with Llanfair in the name this should be "cy:Y Forwyn Fair"). Lastly dedication:wikidata=* provides a link to the wikidata item for the dedicatee.

In principle only the last tag is absolutely necessary, but it is recommended to use all three when possible. In particular wikidata tags are not readily checked by mappers in the field if they do not have Internet access. Also wikidata tags have been known to be accidental mismatches and these can not be spotted easily.

Examples

• St Mary Star of the Sea, Sandymount, Dublin. Our Lady, Star of the Sea Famously appears in the Naucissa episode of Joyce's Ulysses. http://m.joyceproject.com/notes/130002starofthesea.html

• Il Gesu, Rome. Dedicated to the Holy Name of Jesus. Church of the Gesú

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Ges%C3%B9

Dual & Multiple dedications

SS Peter and Paul is a common dedication, particularly for Roman Catholic churches. Use free text in the dedication=*, but separate wikipedia and wikidata items with colons, unless there is an item for the combination.

Jesus College, Cambridge includes three saints in its formal name.

Some dedications are to two aspects of the dedicatee (e.g., King Charles, King and Martyr, Tunbridge Wells). There doesn't seem to be any additional value in trying to capture this.

https://www.stmarysstaroftheseasandymount.com/

Relationship to other tags

As this tag operates in a way closely analogous to other tags, notably name:etymology=* and subject=*, it is worth pointing out why it is necessary in some cases.

In the main usage is recommended when the most common name of a religious institution does not include the names of the holy people or objects to which it is dedicated. For instance cathedrals are often named after the city in which they are located, so name:etymology=* would be wrong. Nor are dedicatees subjects of the place of worship, although there may be statues, stained glass etc. depicting the dedicatee, in which case subject=* is appropriate for these objects.