sacrarium

American  

[suh-krair-ee-uhm] / səˈkrɛər i əm /

noun

plural

sacraria

1. Roman Catholic Church. a piscina.

2. Ecclesiastical. the sanctuary or chancel.

3. Roman History. a shrine or sanctuary.

---

sacrarium British  

/ sæˈkrɛərɪəm /

noun

1. the sanctuary of a church

2. RC Church a place near the altar of a church, similar in function to the piscina, where materials used in the sacred rites are deposited or poured away

---

Other Word Forms

• sacrarial adjective

Etymology

Origin of sacrarium

1700–10; < Latin, equivalent to sacr-, stem of sacer holy + -ārium -ary

Example Sentences

From her seat on the sacrarium, the Queen time & again interrupted her seldom-failing smile to dart anxious glances at her daughter.

From Time Magazine Archive

It spans the whole of the choir, and is continued along the sides of the sacrarium, forming sedilia of four seats on either side.

From Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Durham A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief History of the Espiscopal See by Bygate, Joseph E.

Some persons go further, and cut out that part of the linen, which they burn, putting the ashes in the altar or down the sacrarium.

From Summa Theologica, Part III (Tertia Pars) From the Complete American Edition by Thomas, Aquinas, Saint

Eventually, the Pope resolved that it should be a sacrarium, or cabinet for holy things, and that this should stand above the middle entrance door to the church.

From The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti by Symonds, John Addington

The chancel contains the only extant specimen in Somerset of a frid stool, a rough seat let into the sill of the N. window of the sacrarium for the accommodation of any one claiming sanctuary.

From Somerset by Wade, G. W.