The authority for the dedication festival is our Lord's observing the feast of the dedication of the Temple. This festival has an octave: as also had the Jewish feast, though the Passover and feast of Tabernacles had not.

'But this festival specially denoteth that eternal dedication, in which that other church, the holy soul, shall be so dedicated and united to God that it shall never be transferred to other uses: which will take place in the octave of the Resurrection.' The Psalms for the office of the festival are the Domini est terra, Judica me Domine, Deus noster refugium, Magnus Dominus, Quam dilecta, Fundamenta ejus, and Domine Deus (Durandus, Book VII, 48).