SACRED. – From the ancient Latin *sakros*, later *sacer*, derived from *sancire* (to sanction, either by religion or by law), it is that which is deemed inviolable and therefore forbidden for profane use. This prohibition may arise from an unwritten sacred principle, transmitted by tradition within the social group, which cannot violate it without suffering harm.
The sacred is ambivalent, for it may harm those who approach it without the necessary purificatory precautions that must be observed whenever the sacred and the profane come into contact; yet it is a source of well-being for those who present themselves to it in a state of holiness, whether because they are themselves invested with it (as a king or priest) or because they have prepared themselves through prescribed purifications. The Bible recounts the episode of Uzzah (2 Sam. 6:6–8), who fell lifeless for having steadied the holy Ark with his hand when the oxen pulling it stumbled. Catechetical teaching likewise makes clear that whoever approaches to receive a sacrament of the living without being in a state of grace incurs spiritual death rather than an increase of life.
By contrast, *holy* (santo) is that which is recognized as such through a sanction imposed by the community or its representatives. In ancient Rome, the plebeian tribune enjoyed a sacrosanct authority, because the sacredness—or inviolability—of his person was guaranteed by a collective oath sworn by the plebs on his behalf, and holiness was the consequence of an official recognition that, even if reluctantly, the State had to accord him. That this recognition took on a religious form is evident from Livy (3.55), who, after narrating the end of the decemvirate, affirms that the new tribunes were confirmed through religious ceremonies *quum religione inviolata* and thus also *tum lege etiam fecerunt*.