Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SEC-U-LAR-I-ZA'TION, n. [from secularize.]

The act of converting a regular person, place, or benefice into a secular one. Most cathedral churches were formerly regular, that is, the canons were of religious or monastic orders; but they have since been secularized. For the secularization of a regular church, there is wanted the authority of the Pope, that of the prince, the bishop of the place, the patron, and even the consent of the people. – Encyc.