SACRIFICE
309
SACRIFICE
houses, while several other houses had also been
founded abroad.
In 1817 it was formally approved by Pius VII, in 1825 by Leo XII, and in 1840 by Gregory XVI, under the name of Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and of the Perpetual Adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Its special aim is to honour and imitate the four ages of our Lord: His infancy by the instruction of children, and by the formation of youths for the priesthood; His hidden life by the exercise of the Adoration; His pubhc life, by preaching and by missionary work; His crucified life by the works of Christian mortification. At the present day the missions confided to the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts comprise three Apostolic Vicar- iates: the Tahiti Islands, Marquesa Islands, and the Hawaiian Islands, where Father Damien fell a victim to his humble and generous devotion for the poor lepers of Molokai. The Congregation of the Sacred Hearts, which depends directly upon the Propaganda, is governed by a Superior General, who is elected for life. The members make p(>rp(>tual but simple vows after a probation of eighteen montlis' novitiate. In 1898 the Congregation was divided into tliree provinces. The Belgian province, under which England and the United States of America are ('(jinpriscd, has a novi- tiate and a house of studies at Courtray. The pro- vincial has his residence in the monastery of the Sacred Hearts in Louvain, Mount St. Antoine, Belgium. The superior in England is in the Damien house of Eccleshall in Staffordshire; in the United States in the monastery of the Sacred Hearts at Fair- haven in Massachusetts.
Heimbuchkr, Die Orden u. Kongregationen (2nd ed., Pader- born, 1908), 471.
William De Broeck.
Sacrifice (Lat. sacrificium; Ital. sacrificio; French sacrifice). — This term is identical with the English offering (Latin offerre) and the German Opfer; the latter is derived, not from offerre, but from operari (Old High German opfdron; Middle High German opperu, opparon), and thus means "to do zealously, to serve God, to offer sacrifice" (cf. Kluge "Etymolo- gisches Worterbuch der deutschen Sprache", Strass- burg, 1899, p. 288). By sacrifice in the real sense is universally understood the offering of a sense-per- ceptible gift to the Deity as an outward manifestation of our veneration for Him and with the object of at- taining communion with Him. Strictly speaking, however, this offering does not become a sacrifice until a real change has been effected in the visible gift (e. g. by slaying it, shedding its blood, burning it, or pouring it out). As the meaning and importance of Bacrifice cannot be established by a priori methods, every admissible theory of sacrifice must shape itself in accordance with the sacrificial systems of the pagan nations, and especially with those of the revealed re- ligions, Judaism and Christianity. Pure Buddhism, Mohammedanism, and Protestantism here call for no attention, as they have no real sacrifice; apart from these there is and has been no developed religion which has not accepted sacrifice as an essential por- tion of its cult. We shall consider successively: I. Pagan Sacrifice; II. Jewish Sacrifice; III. Christian Sacrifice; IV. Theory of Sacrifice.
I. Pagan Sacrifice. — (1) Among the Indians. — The Vedism of the ancient Indies was, to an extent never elsewhere attained, a sacrificial religion con- nected with the deities Agni and Soma. A Vedic proverb runs: "Sacrifice is the navel of the world". Originally regarded as a feast for the gods, before whom food-offerings (cakes, milk, butter, meat, and the soma drink) were set on the holy grass before the altar, sacrifice gradually became a magical agency for influencing the gods, such as might be expressed in the formula, " Do ut des", or in the Vedic proverb: "Here is the butter; where are thy gifts? " The Ve-
dic sacrificial prayers express no spirit of humility or
submission; even the word "thank" is unknown in
the Vedic language. The gods thus sank to the level
of mere seVvants of man, while the high-priests or
Brahmins entrusted with the complicated rites gradu-
ally acquii-ed an almost divine dignity. In their
hands the sacrificial ceremonial, developed to the e.x-
tremest detail, became an irresistible power over the
gods. A proverb says: "The sacrificer hunts Indra
like game, and holds him fast as the fowler does the
bird; the god is a wheel which the singer understands
how to turn." The gods derive their whole might
and power from the sacrifice as the condition of their
existence, so that the Brahmins are indispensable for
their continued existence.
However, that the feods w ere not entirely indifferent to man, but gave him their assistance, is proved among other things by the serious expiatory char- acter which was not quite eliminated from the Vedic sacrifices. The actual offering of the sacrifices, which was never effected without fire, took place either in the houses or in the open air; temples were unknown. Among the various sacrifices two were conspicuous: the snnm offering and the sacrifice of the horse. The offering of t he ^oma (Agnistotna) — a nectar obtained by the pressing of some plants — took place in the spring; the sacrifice lasted an entire day, and was a universal holiday for the people. The triple pressing of the soma, performed at certain intervals during the day, alternated with the offering of sacrificial cakes, liba- tions of milk, and the sacrifice of eleven he-goats to various gods. The gods (especially Indra) were eager for the intoxicating soma drink: "As the ox bellows after the rain, so does Indra desire the soma." The sacrifice of the horse {agvamedha), executed at the command of the king and participated in by the whole people, required a whole year's prepara- tion.
It was the acme, "the king of the sacrifices", the solemnities lasting three days and being accompanied by all kinds of public amusements. The idea of this sacrifice was to provide the gods of light with another steed for their heavenly yoke. At first, instead of the sacrifice of the horse, human sacrifice seems to have been in vogue, so that here also the idea of substitu- tion found expression. For the later Indians had a saying: "At first the gods indeed accepted men as sacrificial victims. Then the sacrificial efficacy passed from them to the horse. The horse thus became effi- cacious. They accepted the horse, but the sacrificial efficacy went to the steer, sheep, goat, and finally to rice and barley: Thus for the instructed a sacrificial cake made of rice and barley is of the same value as these [five] animals" (cf. Hardy, "Die vedisch-brah- manische Periode der Religion des alten Indiens", Munster, 1892, p. 150). Modern Hinduism with its numberless sects honours Vishnu and Shiva as chief deities. As a cult it is distinguished from ancient Vedism mainly by its temple service. The Hindu temples are usually artistic and magnificent edifices with numerous courts, chapels, and halls, in which repres(>ntations of gods and idols are exposed. The smaller i)agodas serve the same purpose. Although the Hindu religion centres in its idolatry, sacrifice has not been completely evicted from its old place. The symbol of Shiva is the phallus {linga); linga stones are indeed met throughout India (especially in the holy places) in extraordinary numbers. The darker shades of this superstition, degenerated into fetichism, are somewhat relieved by the piety and elevation of many Hindu hymns or songs of praise {stolras), which surpass even the old Vedic hymns in religious feeling.
(2) Among the Iranians. — The kindred religion of the ancient Iranians centres, especially after its reform by Zoroaster, in the service of the true god Ormuzd (Ahura Mazda), whose will is the right and
