Catholic Dictionary

Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

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VIOLATION

Desecration of something holy. A church is violated by the crime of homicide, a criminal shedding of blood, impious and sordid conduct, and (in the Code of 1918) the burial of an infidel or a notorious, excommunicated person. Corpses and graves are violated by stealing from them or putting them to some evil purpose. (Etym. Latin violare, from vis, force.)