Adjuration

Adjuration.—Adjuration is the invocation of the name of God used in a request or command to another person in order to move that person to do or omit something.

(a) It is an invocation, and in this respect it is like an oath, for both an oath and an adjuration call upon the name of God.

(b) It calls upon the name of God either explicitly (e.g., “I command you in the name of God”) or implicitly (e.g., “I beseech you for the sake of the passion of Christ”). If command or request is made in the name of a creature and without reference to God’s attributes reflected in them, there is not, properly speaking, an adjuration, as when one implores a favor from another person in the name of a Patron Saint, or of one’s country, parents, friendship, etc.

(c) It is used in a command or a request, and thus it differs from prayer, which cannot be made in the form of a command. But adjuration may be used in prayers to God Himself or to the Saints, as is done in obsecrations.

(d) Its purpose is to move another to an act or omission, and thus it is different from an oath. The end of an oath is to confirm one’s words by the testimony of God; the end of an adjuration is to influence another to a certain course through an appeal to his respect, fear or love of God.

The Species of Adjuration.—(a) Adjuration is solemn or simple (private). The solemn adjuration is made in the name of the Church by her ministers and in the ritual form prescribed by her, as in the exorcisms of Baptism. The simple adjuration is made by private persons and without ritual ceremony.

(b) Adjuration is imperative or deprecative. The imperative is given in the form of a command to inferiors or demons, as when St. Paul writes to the Thessalonians: “I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read” (I Thess., v. 27). The deprecative is given in the form of a request made to God or to any creature not damned, as when St. Paul writes to the Romans: “I beseech you, brethren, by the love of God that you present your bodies a living sacrifice” (Rom., xii. 1).

Qualities of Lawful Adjuration.—Adjuration is lawful and an act of the virtue of religion, since it professes reverence for the divine attributes in using them as the most efficacious motives of appeal. But, like an oath, adjuration must be accompanied by qualities that make it lawful.

(a) Thus, there must be judgment, and hence those persons are guilty of sin who employ adjuration without necessity (e.g., those who constantly urge the love of God and other religious motives when asking for any favor), or without devotion (e.g., those who in anger are wont to command “for God’s sake,” etc.). The sin committed does not seem grave, since there is no great disrespect and the malice consists in taking God’s name in vain, not in insult.

(b) There must be truth, and hence an adjuration is sinful when used for a lying cause, as when a well-to-do person pretends to be indigent and begs that alms be given him for the love of God. The sin committed does not seem grave, since the act to which the other person is invited is good, and the act of adjuration itself does not ask God to testify to the lie, but only uses His name without reason. If the deception is mortally sinful, however, some authorities think that the adjuration added to it is a grave sin against religion.

(c) There must be justice, and therefore an adjuration is sinful when used to obtain something unlawful, as when one demands in the name of God that another person tell a lie or commit murder. The adjuration is gravely irreverent to God if the thing sought (e.g., murder) is a mortal sin; it is lightly irreverent, according to the common opinion, if the thing sought (e.g., a harmless lie) is only a venial sin.

Persons Who May Be Adjured.—God may be adjured, but only in a deprecative manner, as is done in the obsecrations, “through Jesus Christ,” “through Thy Passion and Death,” etc. The purpose of adjurations addressed to God is not to change the divine decrees, but to obtain through His goodness what He intended from eternity that we should obtain by prayer. But the same form of adjuration cannot be used for all creatures.

(a) Thus, deprecative adjuration may be used in reference to those who are in some way one’s superiors. Hence, we may pray the Angels and Saints to grant a prayer for the love of God, and a beggar may ask in Our Lord’s name that a wealthy man give him an alms.

(b) Imperative adjuration may be used in addressing subjects or inferiors. Adjuration of demons must not be made in friendly words, nor with a view to obtaining services or knowledge from them, but in words of reproach and only as a means to end their nefarious activities.

(e) No kind of adjuration may be used in regard to irrational creatures, since they are without knowledge sufficient for receiving a command or a request. The adjurations of animals, the elements, inanimate objects, etc., that are contained in the Ritual, must be understood as deprecative adjurations addressed to God, or imperative adjurations addressed to evil spirits, that the creatures prayed over may be to our benefit and not to our hurt. Examples are the exorcisms of water, salt, mice, locusts, houses, or storms.

The Use of Exorcisms.—(a) As to their effect, exorcisms are of two kinds, exorcisms in the strict sense (i.e., the expulsion of demons from possessed persons) and exorcisms in the wide sense (i.e., the diminution of demonic influence). Examples of the former are found in the Gospels, where Our Lord drives out many evil spirits from afflicted persons; examples of the latter are found in the exorcisms administered in Baptism and in the exorcisms of salt, water and other inanimate or irrational creatures.

(b) As to their manner, exorcisms are also of two kinds, the solemn and the private. The former are made in the name of the Church in the manner prescribed by the Ritual, and their administration is reserved to clerics who have a special and express permission from the Ordinary (Canon 1151, Sec. 1). The latter kind may be made even by members of the laity, and we read that certain Saints, like St. Anthony and St. Catherine of Siena, had great power over evil spirits. It is recommended that priests frequently use private exorcisms, at least secretly, for persons who are vexed by temptations or scruples, and for which they may use the form: “In the name of Jesus Christ, unholy spirit, I command you to depart from this creature of God.”

The Effects of Adjurations.—(a) Adjurations addressed to one’s fellow-men upon earth impose no obligation of religion upon the persons addressed. Hence, if a rich man turns a deaf ear to an appeal for charity made in the name of God, he violates charity but not religion; if a child disregards a command urged upon him for the love of God, he violates obedience but not religion.

(b) Adjurations addressed to demons are not of infallible efficacy, at least as to the entire effect intended, for power over the spirits of darkness is given only in such measure as is needed for the propagation of the Gospel. But we believe that an exorcism pronounced lawfully by one who has the Order of Exorcist acts ex opere operato, at least to restrain the wickedness of the demons: “In My name they shall cast out demons” (Mark, xvi. 17).