The punishments denounced against this crime have been severe under every code. According to the canon law, sacrilege committed against the veuerahilt itself was visited with the anathema; against other sacred things, with the ban ; and in case of obstinate contumacy, with the denial of Christian burial (c. 2, x, " De Rapt." V, 17; c. 22, X, '• De Sent. Excomm." v, 39). The Ro- man law punished robbery of churches, unless mitigat- ing circimistances intervened, with death {Inst. § 9, " De Pub). Jud." iv, 18). The criminal code of Charles V decreed the punishment of death by tire against the theft of a momtraiice or a ciborium (q. v.) containing the host, and death in a milder form against the theft of other sacred objects belonging to the altar and used in worship. Plundering an alms-chest might be pun- ished by either corporal inflictions or death, and the abstraction of unconsecrated objects from churches and sacristies (unless accompanied with violence or com- mitted at night) by the infliction of penalties denounced upon ordinary burglaries (CC. C. of 1532, art. 172-175). The more recent administration of criminal law in (ier- raany likewise invariably imposes severe penalties upon crimes committed against tiie Church. Licentiousness on the i)art of clergymen belonging to the higher or- ders is punisiied by suspension and penances; if com- mitted by monks, by conlinement and severe penances. The violator of a nun, if a clergyman, is deposed [see Deposition]; if a layman, is excommunicated; and the nun herself is subjected to close confinement and mortifications of the body (c. 6, 21; c. xxvii, qn. i). Under the Roman law the violator of a consecrated fe- male was beheaded (lib. 2, cod. " De Episc. et Cler." i, 3, Nov. 12.J. c. 43), and this penalty was retained under the code of tiie German empire. — Wetzer u. Welte, Kirclii u-l,i:r. s. v.
Saciing - bell {cumpanella, timbele) was rung at the elevation inside the church, in England, by the Constitutions of Cantelupe in 1240, as a warning of de- votion. Hecon says while the elements were blessed the serving-boy or parish clerk rang the little sacring- bell, at which the people knelt down while the host was elevated. The second sacring was the crossing of the chalice with the host. The custom has been at- tributed to cardinal (;rey when legate in Germany, cir. 1203; it was confirmed by (iregory IX in 1259! At the l)egiiniing of the 13tli century! at Paris, the bells were rinig at tliis time. The Armenians use a cym- bal, with little hells, called the qiifrl,„i„-z. A sacring- bell was found in the wall of DeiUhiigton church, aiui that of Hawstead still hangs above the roodscreen. The use of ttiis bell has been traced back to the 11th
century ; and before 1 1 14, Ivo, bishop of Chartres, thanked queen Maud of England for the bells which she had given to Chartres, and says they were rimg at the elevation. The custom is confined to Western Christendom, and is unknown at Rome. In Spain they use a melodious peal of bells, which chime a sil- very music, instead of the ordinary tinkling of a single bell, at the moment of consecration, when the divine words of institution are recited by the celebrant; and, at the elevation of the host, Aubrey mentions that at Brokenborough, Wilts, there were eighteen little bells rung by jjidling one wheel. Such wheels, it is believed, are still jjreserved at Yaxley and Long Stratton. In the Roman Church it is rung thrice at the Sundiis. once before and three times at the elevation of the host, three times at the elevation of the chalice, and at the Domine non sum di</»us, and once before the Pate?- (the latter dating from the 16th century), and also at benediction with the sacrament. — Walcott, Sa- cred A rchceol. s. v.
Sacris soleniuiis juncta sint gaudia is the beginning of a festival h^'ran composed bj' Thomas Aquinas, of which the first stanza runs thus: " Sacfis solemniis junctii sint gaudia, Et ex pisecordiis soneiit praeconia ; Keeednut Vetera, nova sint omnia, Coida, voces, et opera."
There is an English translation by Chambers in the Lyi-a Eucharistica, p. 70 :
" Let this our solemn feast With holy joys be crowned," etc. ;
and another by Caswall in Hymns and Poems, Origimd and Translated, )). 54 :
" Let old things pass away, Let all be fresh and bright," etc.
There is also a German translation of this hymn in Biiss- ler's A uswahl altchristlicher Lieder (Berlin, 1858), p. 110, and a second one in Ram bach, Antholoffie ch-istlicher Gesdnge,\,M\. (B. P.)
Sacristan. (1.) The monastic treasurer and church- warden. He provided all the necessaries for divine service; was keeper of the church keys, relics, fabric, plate, furniture, and ornaments; secretary, and chancel- lor. He arranged the way of processions for the prsecen- tor, superintended the bell-ringers, and received the rents, oblations, and burial-fees. At Canterbury he delivered the crosier to the new archbishop. At Ely he received the candle-corn (one sheaf of corn in every acre), to supply the lights, and, as the bishop's vicar, exercised archidiaconal jurisdiction over the city chaplains. At Peterborough his fee were the horses of a knight buried in the minster, if under four marks in value, other- wise they accrued to the abbot ; and at Worcester, the abbots of Gloucester, Tewkesbury, Pershore, and Eves- ham gave him a cope of profession at their benediction. (2.) Vice-custos, the vicar of the treasurer, or sub-treas- urer at York in 1230. He opened the doors of the sac- risty in the morning, admitted the rectors of choir and sick members who desired to say the Hours privately. He warned canons of chapter, kept the doors shut dur- ing its session, rang the bells, and led the procession. Bishop Storey mentions the use of the word sacrist in an inferior sense as recent in the 15th century. Where there was no permanent sacristan in a cathedral, a canon was appointed, called prefect of sacristy. In tlie Decretals of Gregory IX and at Lyons (12G9) the sacrist was the inferior of the sacristan. In the new foundations he furnished the sacred elements, admin- istered sacraments, officiated at marriages and burials, was the curate of the cha|)t<r, like the foreign jiarochus, and had charge of the bells, church goods, furniture, and lights. At Girgenti there are four sacrists; at Mayence he was a vicar, and at Angers a cidjicular, or chamberlain, who administered the sacraments to sick canons and the choir clergy. (3.) Tlie sacristan at mass has charge of the vessels, and attends in a sur- plice at the credence - table, which is placed on the