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SACRILEGE

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 988 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SACRILEGE , the violation or profanation-of sacred things, a See also:

crime of varying See also:scope in different religions. It is naturally much more See also:general and accounted more dreadful in those See also:primitive religions in which cultual See also:objects See also:play so See also:great a See also:part, than in more highly spiritualized religions where they tend to disappear. But wherever the See also:idea of sacred exists, sacrilege is possible. The word itself comes from the See also:Lat. sacrilegium, which originally meant merely the See also:theft of sacred things, although already in See also:Cicero's See also:time it had grown to include in popular speech any insult or injury to them. The See also:history of sacrilege reflects a large phase of the See also:evolution of See also:religion. In primitive religions inclusive of almost every serious offence even in See also:fields now regarded as merely social or See also:political, its scope is gradually lessened to a single part of one See also:section of ecclesiastical See also:criminology, following inversely the development of the idea of holiness from the See also:concrete to the abstract, from See also:fetishism to See also:mysticism. The primitive See also:defence against sacrilege See also:lay directly in the nature of sacred things, those that held a curse for any violation or profanation. This brings us at once into the whole See also:field of See also:taboo (q.v.). From it we pass without a break, merely narrowing the application as the conception of sacredness See also:grew clearer and less associated with magic, into See also:early criminal See also:law with its See also:physical sanctions. The Levitical See also:code exacted of the offender reparation for the damage with the addition of one-fifth of the amount, and an expiatory See also:sacrifice (Lev. v. 15, 16). Even the See also:gold and See also:silver ornaments of the images of false gods were not to be coveted nor appropriated for fear of being contaminated with the curse which they could impart (cf.

Dent. vii. 25). The tragic See also:

story of the stoning of Achan, who See also:stole some of the spoils of See also:Jericho which See also:Joshua had consecrated to the See also:treasury of Yahweh, is one of the most graphic details of Old Testament history (cf. Joshua vii. 20-25). No religion was more prodigal in rules to safeguard that which was See also:holy or consecrated than the Jewish, especially in its See also:temple See also:laws; violation of them often led to See also:mob violence as well as divine chastisement. The temple rules do not apply to synagogues, however, and unseemly conduct in them is liable only to See also:civil See also:action. The whole wide field of Jewish taboo naturally involves sacrilege as its See also:reverse See also:side. Such violations of holy things as making See also:mock of the Scriptures, or even reciting them as one would See also:ordinary literature, was sacrilege in the eyes of the See also:rabbi. Even See also:imitation of the See also:style of the See also:Talmud has also been accounted sacrilege. While the See also:Roman cults were amply protected by taboos, there was no comprehensive See also:term in Roman law for religious violations and profanations in general. Sacrilegium was narrowly construed as the theft of sacred things from a sacred See also:place.

Sacred things, according to See also:

Gaius, were those things that had been definitely consecrated to the gods—and so had come to partake of their holiness. Sacred places did not include private shrines. According to See also:Ulpian the See also:punishment for sacrilegium varied according to the position and See also:standing of the See also:culprit and the circumstances under which the crime was committed. For the See also:lower classes it was crucifixion, burning or the See also:wild beasts. The latter See also:penalty was also attached to theft of sacred things by See also:night, but stealing by See also:day from a temple objects of little value brought only See also:sentence to the mines. See also:People of higher See also:rank were deported. During classical times the law kept to the narrow meaning of sacrilegium, but in popular usage it had grown to mean about the same as the See also:English word. Traces of this usage are frequent in Augustan writers. The early See also:church Fathers use the word most frequently in the restricted sense, although an effort has been made to read the wider meaning in See also:Tertullian. But by the See also:middle of the 4th See also:century the narrower meaning had disappeared. In See also:Ambrose, See also:Augustine and See also:Leo I., sacrilegium means sacrilege. The wider meaning had invaded the law as well.

See also:

Mommsen was of the See also:opinion that sacrilegium had no settled meaning in the laws of the 4th century. But it was rather that an enlarged application of the idea of sacred made the crime of sacrilege in the sense of violatio sacri a more general one. This was partly due to the See also:influence of See also:Christianity, which sought to include as objects of sacrilege all forms of church See also:property, rather than merely those things consecrated in See also:pagan cults, partly to the efforts of the later emperors to surround themselves and everything emanating from them with highest sanctions. In the Theodosian Code the various crimes which are accounted sacrilege indude—See also:apostasy, See also:heresy, See also:schism, Judaism, paganism, attempts against the See also:immunity of churches and See also:clergy or privileges of church courts, the desecration of sacraments, &c. and even See also:Sunday. Along with these crimes against religion went See also:treason to the See also:emperor, offences against the laws, especially See also:counterfeiting, defraudation in taxes, seizure of confiscated property, evil conduct of imperial See also:officers, &c. There is no formal See also:definition of sacrilege in the code of Justinian but the conception remains as wide. The church had found in the imperial law a strong See also:protector. The penitentials (q.v.), or early collections of disciplinary canons, gave much See also:attention to sacrilege. In the earliest of them, sacrilege in the narrower sense is not a See also:separate class of crime, but the wider usage goes with See also:variations through the different collections. There is also the greatest difference in the penalties assigned, reaching from little more than restitution of property to See also:penance of one to five or even fifteen years. The Frankish synods emphasize the crime of seizing church property of every See also:kind, including the vast estates so envied by the lay See also:nobility. In the Pseudo-Isidore the See also:attempt was made to include even property on which the church had merely a legal claim.

The See also:

murder or injury of the clergy is also sacrilege in both penitentials and capitularies. The practice of magic, superstition, &c., are also frequently referred to as sacrilege, especially during the See also:long struggle with See also:German heathenism. With the definite See also:triumph of the church, the profanation of its sanctuaries becameless frequent, and once See also:robbery or seizure of ecclesiastical possessions or violation of its privileges tended to absorb the attention of synods and popes. See also:Gratian's Decretum mirrors two tendencies, the church legislation with its growingly less extended application, and the wide meaning as in Justinian's Code, owing to the revival of Roman law in the r ith century. It thus was once more declared to include all violations of the divine law. A somewhat distorted, but well-substantiated use of the word sacrilegium in See also:medieval Latin was its application to the See also:fine paid by one guilty of sacrilege to the See also:bishop. The penalties in the See also:canon law included, in addition to restitution, penance, fines and See also:excommunication; and right of See also:asylum was denied to the culprit. The See also:jurisdiction was something jointly shared with the temporal See also:power in See also:case See also:corporal punish, ment were involved. The numerous enactments of See also:councils to ensure the proper care of church property, prohibiting the use of churches for See also:secular purposes, for the storing of See also:grain or valuables, for dances and merry-making, do not technically come under the See also:head of legislation against sacrilege. The worst sacrilege of all, defiling the See also:Host, is mentioned frequently, and generally brought the See also:death penalty accompanied by the cruellest and most ignominious tortures. The See also:period of the See also:Reformation naturally increased the commonness of the crime. Under the emperor See also:Charles V. the penalty for stealing the Host was the stake; that for other crimes was graded accordingly.

In See also:

France, in 1561, under Charles IX. it was forbidden under penalty of death to demolish crosses and images and to commit other acts of See also:scandal and impious See also:sedition. In the See also:declaration of 1682, See also:Louis XIV. decreed the same penalty for sacrilege joined to superstition and impiety, and in the somewhat belated religious persecution of the See also:duke of See also:Bourbon in 1724 those convicted of See also:larceny in churches, together with their accomplices, were condemned, the men to the galleys for See also:life or for a term of years, the See also:women to be branded with the See also:letter V and imprisoned for life, or for a term. When one takes into See also:account that the next See also:article of the declaration decreed death for domestic theft, the legislation is not relatively cruel. Yet even in the enlightened 18th century popular fanaticism made of sacrilege the most heinous offence. The trial of La See also:Barre in 1766 at See also:Abbeville (see See also:VOLTAIRE) is the most famous in See also:modern times. Convicted of wearing his See also:hat while a religious procession was passing—as well as of See also:blasphemy—he was accused as well of having mutilated a crucifix standing on the See also:town See also:bridge. Declared guilty, after See also:torture, he was sentenced to have his See also:tongue cut out, to be beheaded and the See also:body to be burned, a sentence which was confirmed by the See also:parlement of See also:Paris and the bigoted See also:king Louis XV. In the midst of the See also:French Revolution respect for civic festivals was sternly enacted, but sacrilege was an almost daily See also:matter of See also:state policy. In the penal code the penalty for interfering with and molesting worshippers is slight, a fine of from 16 to 300 francs and See also:prison from six days to three months, while damage or insult to the objects of See also:worship brought only 16 francs to 500 francs fine, and prison from fifteen days to six months. In 1825 the reactionary parlement once more brought back the middle ages, by decreeing the death penalty for public profanation, the See also:execution to be preceded by the amende honorable before the church doors. " Theft sacrilege " was treated in a separate See also:series of equally See also:savage clauses. This was a crime not recognized in the penal code, which was therefore to be modified by this law.

No attenuating circumstances were to be recognized, as in the general See also:

scheme of the penal code. This ferocious legislation was expressly and summarily abrogated in x83o. (J. T. S.*) English Law.—In English law, sacrilege is the breaking into a place of worship and stealing therefrom. At See also:common law benefit of clergy was denied to robbers of churches. A See also:statute of 1553 made the breaking or defacing of an See also:altar, crucifix or See also:cross in any church, See also:chapel or See also:churchyard punishable with three months' imprisonment on conviction before two justices, the imprisonment to be continued unless the offender entered into See also:surety for See also:good behaviour at See also:quarter sessions. The tendency of the later law has been to put the offence of sacrilege in the same position as if the offence had not been committed in a sacred See also:building Thus breaking into a place of worship at night, says See also:Coke, is See also:burglary, for the church is the See also:mansion See also:house of Almighty See also:God. The Larceny See also:Act of 1861 punishes the breaking into, or out of, a See also:lace of divine worship in the same way as burglary, and the theft of things sacred in the same way as larceny. Now by the Malicious Damage Act 1861 the unlawful and malicious destroying or damaging any picture, statue, See also:monument or other memorial of the dead, painted See also:glass or other monument or See also:work of See also:art, in any church, chapel, See also:meeting-place or other place of divine worship is a See also:misdemeanour punishable by imprisonment for six months, and in the case of a male under the See also:age of sixteen years with See also:whipping. (T. A.

End of Article: SACRILEGE

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