secularization (sek ularizashon)

[F. sécularisation = Sp. secularizacion = Pg. secu laris ação = It. secolarizzazione; as secularize + -ation.] The act of rendering secular, or the state of being secularized. (a) Conversion to secularism: as, the secularization of the ma es. (b) Conversion to merely secular uses or purposes: as, the secular i zati on of church property, especially called alienation (see alienation (b)); the secularization of the Sabbath; on the Continent, especially in the former German empire, the transfer of territory from ecclesiastical to temporal rulers: as, the secularization of the bishopric of Halberstadt in the Peace of Westphalia. (c) Absolution or release from the vows or rules of a monastic order; change from the status of regular to that of secular: as, the secularization of a monk. (d) The exclusion of religion and ecclesiasticism from civil or purely secular affairs; the exclusion from the affairs of this life of considerations regarding the life to come; the divorce of civil and sacred matters: as, the secularization of education or of politics. Also spelled secularisation.