A “sacrilege” is considered to be any act or speech in which respect or contempt, in one way or another, is given to an object, entity or person that is considered sacred. Elements that derive from sacrileges are desecration, in which a sacred symbol or object is used in a disrespectful or inappropriate way, and blasphemy, which, beyond its definition concerning lies, is also responsible for all those words that have an offensive effect on sacred entities. The word can also refer to the theatrical representation Sacrilegio, a work written in 1927 by Ramón María del Valle-Inclán and which was included in the Altarpiece of avarice, lust and death.
Sacrileges are divided into several categories, according to the target of the obscenity, being as follows: personal sacrilege (insults directed at a person of religious office, such as a nun or a priest, and the functions he performs within the church), the local sacrilege (profane acts committed within a religious enclosure) and royal sacrilege (where certain sacred objects are disrespected).
These practices have been observed since time immemorial; during the time of the Roman Empire, when Roman law was practiced, sacrilege was reduced to the theft of goods that were considered sacred. When the Middle Ages finally began, with the fall of the remnants of the Empire, the definition broadened. However, it is necessary to take into account the cultural wealth with which the planet is provided; therefore, the meanings of holy and profane have varied greatly over time, which does not allow an objective evaluation of those circumstances in which a sacrilege is being committed.
