(Spanish; " sacramental act " )
Spanish dramatic genre of short plays on sacred or biblical subjects.
Performed outdoors as part of Corpus Christi feast-day celebrations, they were verse allegories dealing with some aspect of the mystery of the Holy Eucharist . The form first appeared in the 16th century and reached its height in plays by Pedro Calderón de la Barca , who covered a wide range of nonsacramental subjects. Their performance was prohibited by royal decree in 1765 on the ground of irreverence.