appendix — Gury-Ballerini, Compendium of Moral Theology (8th ed., 1884)
Appendix. On Adjuration
- Definition. Adjuration is an authoritative and deprecative petition, with the Name of God, or of the Saints, or of a sacred thing interposed, so that another may be induced to do or omit something.
Therefore it differs from an oath in this, that it does not introduce God as witness, but only interposes His Name for obtaining the desired thing more efficaciously because of the reverence due to the Divinity or to sacred things.
Division. Adjuration is distinguished:
- Into solemn or private, according as it is done by the ministers of the Church, and in the mode determined by her, or is destitute of solemnities and can be done by all.
- Into deprecative or imperative, according as it is done through prayers or through command. This latter belongs only to superiors toward subjects, and to exorcists toward demons. - St. Alphonsus, Appendix On Adjuration, n. 1 (after n. 193).
- Principles. I. Solemn adjuration is lawful only to ministers of the Church to whom it is expressly permitted by the Bishop; but to others, in the present discipline of the Church, it is prohibited under grave obligation; indeed in many places clerics incur the penalty of suspension if they presume to perform exorcisms without due faculty of the Church. - St. Alphonsus, ibid., n. 4.
II. Private adjuration is lawful or unlawful in all those circumstances in which an oath is lawful or prohibited; hence the things which have been said about an oath are also to be applied to adjuration.
III. Only intellectual creatures, namely men and demons, can be directly adjured; irrational creatures also can be adjured indirectly, such as the sun, water, clouds, locusts, etc., namely by adjuring demons lest they harm us through them, or by beseeching God or the Saints that they assist those who will use things of this sort. - St. Alphonsus, ibid., n. 3.
But adjuration against demons must be done only in the imperative mode, and for removing harms and the vexation of the possessed person, not for vanity or curiosity. - St. Alphonsus, n. 5.
- Questions. Q. 1. Whether it is lawful to use exorcisms when possession is doubtful?
Resp. It is affirmed, if the Bishop, with the matter clearly known, approves it; but scandal and contempt of the Church must be carefully avoided.
Q. 2. Concerning what matters can a demon be interrogated?
Resp. In general, concerning all things which conduce to his expulsion, for example concerning the time and cause of the possession, concerning the sign of departure, etc. - St. Alphonsus, ibid.
Q. 3. How does he sin who curiously interrogates a demon about those things which do not pertain to the matter?
Resp. Per se he sins gravely if he has many useless conversations with the besieging demon; a fortiori, if he jokes with him. It is otherwise if he interposes only one or another curious question in an imperative mode. - St. Alphonsus, ibid.
Q. 4. What are the signs of true possession?
Resp. The chief signs are: 1. to speak in a language entirely unknown before the time of possession; 2. to manifest hidden and distant things which naturally cannot be known by man; 3. to obey a merely internal command of the priest, etc.; 4. a greater vexation of the demon, or greater peace, to appear from a wholly unknown contact with sacred things, etc. - See Cases, n. 303.
In general, it is not to be easily believed that someone is possessed by a demon; because true possessions in our times are rare, and most of those which are reported are found false.