Morals of the Church
Library › Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology › Volume I › Book II. On the Exercise of the Christian Life, or on the Cultivation of the Virtues › Treatise II. On the Cultivation of the Moral Virtues › Dissertation I. On the Precepts of the Decalogue › Part I. On the First Precept of the Decalogue › Section II. On Opposed Vices › Chapter II. On Irreligiosity › Article II. On Sacrilege

Section — Wouters, Manual of Moral Theology

§ I. On Sacrilege in General

610.

I. Notion. Sacrilege is the violation of a sacred thing insofar as it is sacred. It is said:

  1. Violation; in what ways this can have place will be said immediately.

  2. Of a sacred thing; but the word thing is taken broadly for anyone or anything that is sacred.

  3. Insofar as it is sacred. Namely, not every violation or irreverent treatment of a thing which is sacred is sacrilege, but only when a sacred thing is violated in that in which it is sacred, or when "one acts directly against its holiness" (St. Thomas, II-II, q. 99, a. 3, ad 3). For this reason it must be carefully noted to what a thing has been sanctified, and whether action is taken against that. Thus, for example, a religious through a solemn vow of chastity has been sanctified for cleanness of the flesh, and therefore he will be sacrilegious if he fornicates; otherwise if he detracts, lies, perjures himself, etc., because he has not been sanctified for these things1 (St. Alphonsus, III, 33).

1 Cf. Cajetan, in II-II, q. 99, a. 3.

Sacrilege

611.

II. Division. Sacrilege is distinguished as threefold: "personal, by which a person is violated; local, by which a place is violated; and real, by which other things are violated" (St. Alphonsus, III, 33).

Sacrilege

612.

III. Morality. The malice of sacrilege consists in this, that irreverence toward a sacred thing redounds upon God himself (St. Thomas, II-II, q. 99, a. 1). But it is a special sin distinct from other sins opposed to religion. For "wherever a special account of deformity is found, there it is necessary that there be a special sin, because the species of anything is chiefly considered according to its formal account...; but in sacrilege there is found a special account of deformity, namely that a sacred thing is violated by some irreverence; and therefore it is a special sin" (St. Thomas, II-II, q. 99, a. 2). Moreover:

  1. Sacrileges for the most part are gravely evil; nevertheless some admit smallness of matter, as for example sacrilegious theft.

  2. The sacrileges enumerated above, according to authors, differ in species, because they violate holiness formally diverse. Namely, formal holiness inheres in persons; but holiness in a qualified sense inheres in places and things; in places, indeed, insofar as they contain holy things; in things, insofar as they are referred to the sanctification of man. Moreover, these things are explained otherwise by others (St. Alphonsus, III, 33; cf. St. Thomas, II-II, q. 99, a. 3), and especially if there is speech about places and things, they are truly difficult to understand. Who, for example, will have clearly perceived the specific difference of sacrilege in the violation of a sacred place, in the taking away of an ecclesiastical good, in the act of perverting the words of Sacred Scripture, etc., etc.? Yet I hesitate to depart from the opinion which seems common.

  3. The species enumerated above seem to be the lowest, so that each does not have diverse species under itself. The reason is that the diverse modes by which a person, place, or thing is violated violate one and the same holiness of the person, place, or thing, and therefore agree according to the formal account of sacrilege (St. Thomas, II-II, q. 99, a. 3, ad 3; St. Alphonsus, III, 34). Hence one who, for example, violently treats a cleric commits a sacrilege of the same species as one who lies with a person bound by a public vow of chastity.

  4. With respect to the greater or lesser malice of individual sacrileges, I note:

a) Personal sacrilege of itself is graver than local sacrilege, because the holiness of a place is ordered to the holiness of the person who shows worship to God in a sacred place; concerning real sacrilege, the same cannot generally be said.

b) In the individual species there are diverse grades according to the diversity of persons, places, and sacred things. But among sacred things are contained the sacraments, sacred vessels, images, relics, ornaments, and ecclesiastical goods (St. Thomas, II-II, q. 99, a. 3).

1 Cf. Antonelli, Medicina pastoralis, II, c. 2; Coconnier, L'hypnotisme franc; Gutberlet, Der Kampf um die Seele, eighth lecture; Schutz, Der Hypnotismus; N. K. Stemmen, 1906, p. 218.

2 Cf. Holy Office, August 4, 1856 (Collectanea, n. 1128); July 26, 1899 (Collectanea, n. 2061).

3 Cf. Antonelli, Medicina pastoralis, I, n. 227 sq.; Schneider, Der neuere Geisterglaube; Surbled in Ami du Clerge, 1901, p. 470; Ned. Kath. Stemmen, 1906, p. 337; 1916, p. 343 sq.; 1917, p. 143 sq.; Roure, Le merveilleux spirite.

Sacrilege