sacrario

Sacrario is a term used in Spanish and some other Romance languages to denote a shrine, reliquary, or a dedicated space for sacred objects. It can refer to a small chapel or niche within a church, a reliquary that houses relics of saints, or a display area for images and other items used in worship. In many churches a sacrario serves as a focal point for devotion and veneration.

The word comes from Latin sacrarium, meaning a sacred place. In Catholic practice its sense often overlaps with related terms such as santuario or sagrario. Regional usage varies: in some contexts sacrario is used primarily for reliquaries or for architectural elements that contain sacred objects, while tabernacle is more commonly associated with the reserved Eucharist.

In liturgical usage, the Latin term sacrarium also refers to a specific bowl or sink in the sacristy or sanctuary. This sacrarium is connected directly to the earth or to a dedicated drainage system to ensure reverent disposal of sacred substances, avoiding contact with ordinary sewer systems. It is an entirely separate concept from the shrine sense of sacrario, though both terms share the idea of reverence for what is sacred.

See also: santuario, reliquario, sagrario, tabernáculo.