Adjuration and Exorcism

257. Notion. Adjuration is an action by which someone is induced to doing or omitting a thing by invocation of God or of a sacred thing.

a. Adjuration differs from oath: for in an oath God is invoked for confirming truth; but in adjuration, for rendering a command more efficacious or for confirming a petition. It differs from prayer, because by praying we ask something from God; in adjuration we command or urgently demand something through God.

b. Adjuration is an act of the virtue of religion: for by adjuration we profess that the authority or goodness of God is so great that anyone, scarcely having heard the name of God, is immediately induced to furnishing what is exacted from him through the name of God, which yields to the honor of God.

c. There can be adjured: alpha. God or Christ; beta. the Blessed Virgin Mary, angels, saints; gamma. wayfaring men, as if a subject adjures a superior, a friend a friend, a poor man a rich man, that he furnish something for the love of God; delta. demons.

258. Adjuration is divided. 1. Into solemn and private, according as it is made in the name of the Church, by ministers of the Church and by a rite instituted by the Church, or without solemnities of this kind.

2. Into imperative and deprecatory, according as it is made by command or by prayers.

alpha. Imperative adjuration is that by which the chief priest adjured Christ: I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us if thou art the Christ;¹ deprecatory is that by which St. Paul sometimes adjures those to whom he writes: I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercy of God.²

b. God can be adjured only deprecatorily, because He is not capable of command; a demon can be adjured only imperatively, because he is capable only of command, not of deprecation; he who is capable both of command and of deprecation, such as a subject man, can be adjured imperatively and deprecatorily.

c. God is adjured deprecatorily if, from the use of the Church, salt, water, mice, locusts, storms are exorcized, and indeed either through Himself (His mercy, goodness, etc.) or through the merits of Christ or through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the saints. This mode of supplicating is called obsecration.

¹ Matt. 26:63.

² Rom. 12:1.

259. Principles. 1. Adjuration does not induce an obligation of furnishing that which is asked (from the adjured man), whether the adjuration is deprecatory or imperative: for adjuration has not been instituted for inducing obligation, but for exciting in the adjured person fear or love of the divine name, by which he is moved to furnishing what is asked from him.

Therefore if a superior adjures a subject by imperative adjuration to furnish the thing asked, the subject is indeed held to obey, yet not by force of the adjuration, but by force of the precept joined with the adjuration. Hence if the subject does not furnish the thing commanded, he does not sin against religion, but only against obedience.

2. In order that adjuration be licit, the same three conditions are required as in an oath: truth, justice, and judgment.

a. The truth of adjuration requires that the one adjuring truly intend to obtain what he asks by adjuring, and that the cause on account of which he asks be true.

Defect of truth in adjuration does not exceed venial sin, because divine authority is not introduced for confirming a lie, but only for moving another to furnishing something, as if a fictitious poor man should ask alms through God.

b. Justice requires that the one adjuring ask for a licit thing.

Defect of justice in adjuration is a grave sin if the thing asked or commanded is gravely evil; and it is a light sin if the thing asked or commanded is lightly evil: for to induce another to an evil thing with divine authority interposed certainly contains irreverence toward God, and indeed greater or less according as the thing is more or less evil.

c. Judgment requires that adjuration be made from a just cause of necessity or usefulness, and with due reverence of the divine name.

Defect of this condition is only a venial sin.

III. Acts of Religion. The acts of religion are distinguished into internal and external acts. The internal acts are devotion and prayer. External acts are those by which we worship God either through one's own body, and this is adoration; or by offering to God some external thing, and these are sacrifice, oblation, and vow; or by assuming something pertaining to God, namely either the Sacraments or the name of God, which can be assumed either by invocation, or by oath, or by adjuration (St. Thomas, II-II, q. 84, Preface). Concerning each of these, discussion will be had in Book II.

(St. Thomas, II-II, q. 90; St. Alphonsus, Theologia Moralis, bk. III, n. 193, appendix; Homo Apostolicus, tr. 5, n. 20.)

I. Notion. Adjuration is the invocation of God in order to bring someone to do or omit something (St. Alphonsus, III, 193, appendix, n. 1).

II. Division. Adjuration is divided:

1. Into explicit and implicit, according as God is invoked directly, or indirectly through creatures in which His attributes specially shine forth (n. 683).

2. Into solemn and private. Solemn is that which is done by ministers of the Church as such, and therefore in the name of the Church, with the form established by the Church observed; private is not done in the name of the Church.

3. Into deprecative and imperative, according as it is done in an imploring or preceptive manner (St. Alphonsus, cited place).

III. Morality. Adjuration is an act of latria;¹ since by adjuring we profess that the excellence of God is apt by which someone may be brought to something.

¹ The invocation of some Saint - while stopping at him - in order to bring someone to something is an act of hyperdulia or dulia, according as the Blessed Virgin Mary or another Saint is invoked.

IV. Entities to be adjured. To be adjured, that is, to be brought to something through the invocation of God, are capable:

1. Directly, all and only rational beings, because they alone can be moved through the invocation of God. Therefore God Himself, Angels, Saints, wayfaring men, and demons can be adjured.

2. Indirectly, irrational creatures can be adjured, namely either by adjuring God or the Saints not to allow them to harm, or by adjuring the demon not to harm through them (St. Alphonsus, cited place, n. III).

V. Requisites for liceity are truth, judgment, justice (as was said about an oath), and due manner.

1. Truth is placed in this: "that the one adjuring truly intends to attain what he asks, and that the cause on account of which he asks is true" (St. Alphonsus, cited place, n. II). Truth would be lacking, for example, if someone, pretending to be poor, were to adjure a rich man to give him alms. "But the lack of this truth will rarely be more than venial" (St. Alphonsus, cited place).

2. Judgment is understood in this: that adjuration be made from a reasonable cause, "the lack of which certainly is only venial" (St. Alphonsus, cited place).

3. Justice is understood in this: that the one adjuring try to bring another to an honorable matter. The defect of this is to be judged as defect of justice in an oath (n. 685).

4. Due manner. Moreover, God, Angels, and Saints are to be adjured deprecatively; demons imperatively; men subject to the one adjuring can be adjured both imperatively and deprecatively; but those who are not subject to the one adjuring are to be adjured deprecatively.

VI. Adjuration of a demon, or exorcism. 1. Exorcism - as adjuration taken generally - is distinguished into solemn and private, according as it is done or not done in the name of the Church. Solemn exorcism again is twofold, namely: 1. exorcism over the possessed; 2. exorcisms which occur in baptism and in consecrations or blessings.

2. Solemn exorcism can be exercised only by those who enjoy power of Order, namely the Exorcistate. Besides: 1. as to exorcism over the possessed, a special and express permission of the Ordinary is required (can. 1151, § 1);¹ 2. as to exorcisms which occur in baptism and in consecrations or blessings, it is required that someone be the legitimate minister of those sacred rites (can. 1153).

3. Private exorcism can be instituted by all; but the manner of instituting it, presented by the Roman Ritual, title XI, chapter 3, "can be used by Bishops, and also by priests who have authority for this from their Ordinaries."

4. Exorcisms can be performed by legitimate ministers not only over the faithful and catechumens, but also over non-Catholics or excommunicated persons (can. 1152).

Note 1. Exorcism over the possessed is found in the Roman Ritual, title XI, chapter 2.

Note 2. Exorcism over the possessed does not infallibly expel the demon, as experience has taught; nevertheless exorcisms always "obtain some effect, not completely, at least imperfectly by weakening the powers of demons" (St. Alphonsus, cited place, n. VII).

¹ This permission is to be granted by the Ordinary only to a priest endowed with piety, prudence, and integrity of life; he should not proceed to exorcisms unless, after diligent and prudent investigation, he has discovered that the one to be exorcised is truly possessed by a demon (can. 1151, § 2).

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).

What is adjuration? - Adjuration is: an appeal made through God, the Saints, or a sacred thing, to induce an intellectual nature to do or omit something. An appeal, that is, an invocation of the name of God, etc. Through God, etc., indicates the motive, for love, reverence, or fear of which the one adjuring intends to induce another to do or omit something. Made to induce: superiors indeed by entreating, inferiors by commanding. Yet no obligation is induced by force of the adjuration, but the obligation is only by force of command, which receives greater force from adjuration. An intellectual nature, namely God, Angels, men, demons. "Yet we use adjuration in one way toward man and in another way toward God. For by adjuring man we intend to change his will through reverence for the sacred thing; which indeed we do not intend concerning God, whose will is immutable. But that we obtain something from God through his eternal will is not from our merits, but from his goodness." S. Th. 2. 2, q. 90, a. 1. And thus God can be adjured through himself and through his attributes. Therefore irrational creatures are not properly and directly adjured, but only indirectly, namely by adjuring God or the Saints that their use may help us, or demons that through them they may cease to harm. 1 Thess. 5:27; L. 1, 2, 3; Bouquillon, de Virt. relig., l. 2, p. 4.

Of how many kinds is adjuration? - One adjuration is solemn or private, according as it is made by ministers of the Church and in the manner determined by her, or is destitute of solemnities; another is deprecative or imperative, according as it is made through prayers or through command. L. 1, 3; Struggl 37 seqq.

What things are required for the liceity of adjuration? - That adjuration be licit, three things are required, as in an oath, namely: 1. Truth, that is, that the one adjuring truly intend to attain what he asks, and that the cause for which he asks be true. But lack of this truth will rarely be more than venial, since God is not in reality invoked as witness of the false. Hence a beggar who pretends that he is poor and asks through Jesus Christ sins against religion; nevertheless his sin is venial. 2. Justice, from the lack of which one asking for a gravely evil thing certainly sins gravely. But if someone asks for a lightly evil thing, some hold that it is mortal, others venial. Yet if someone deliberately adjured God himself or the Saints to furnish him help for a thing even lightly illicit, he would sin mortally, because such adjuration would be directly against the holiness of God. 3. Judgment, that is, due discretion; and therefore both that a sufficient cause of adjuring be present, and that due submission and resignation to the divine will be present. Lack of this judgment certainly is only venial. L. 2.

Is adjuration against demons licit? - Private adjuration against demons is indeed licit to all. But solemn adjuration through exorcisms belongs only to ministers duly ordained in the Church, namely exorcists; for it is an act of order. But in the present discipline of the Church, at least from introduced custom, it cannot be done except with the express license of the Bishop, without which it is prohibited under grave obligation. Cf. C. Benedict XIV, Magno cum animi, 2 Jun. 1751, § 34; and the Exorcisms published by order of Leo XIII, to which indulgences are attached even for private recitation. S. C. de Pr. F., 18 May 1890.

Adjuration against demons must not be made in a deprecative mode, but only in an imperative mode. For the former mode of adjuring seems to pertain to a certain benevolence or friendship, which it is not licit to use with demons. The latter mode is licit, because although the acts of demons are not subject to our disposition, nevertheless they are subject to the divine disposition and to that of the holy angels. Therefore by adjuring demons through the power of the divine name we can command them and compel them not to harm us spiritually or corporally. Such adjuration of a demon can in no way be made so that he furnish help, because this would pertain to having some fellowship with them, unless perhaps from a special impulse or divine revelation adjuration were made to obtain something through them. But it must be made only to remove harms and the vexation of one possessed. The reason is that power has not been given to us by God for invoking demons, but only for putting them to flight, as the most hostile enemies of God and of souls. Luke 9:1; 10:19; Mark 16:17; Roman Ritual, de Exorc. obsess. Exorcisms always obtain some effect, at least by weakening the powers of demons for harming, although they do not always have the infallible effect of expelling them, as is clear from experience and is plain from Matt. 17:18, 19. Struggl 42, 43; L. 4, 5; S. Th. 2. 2, q. 90, a. 2.

Does he sin who mixes conversations with a demon? - The doctors commonly say that he who had many useless conversations with a possessing demon cannot be excused from grave sin. Pallavicini affirms that to ask from a demon one or another curious thing is mortal; but St. Alphonsus more probably says that it is venial, if the adjuration is truly made in an imperative mode. At least it is venial, because this would pertain to vanity and curiosity. But it is licit for exorcists to interrogate a demon about all things which conduce to his expulsion, for example, about the number and names of those who dwell in the possessed person, so that the adjuration may be directed to them, from what time and for what cause, so that it may be removed, about the sign of departure, etc. L. 5.

Is it licit to ask imperatively from a demon the manifestation of some truth? - R. Negatively, because ministers do not seem to have any power except only of interrogating about those things which contribute to expelling him. And this besides seems to pertain to a certain fellowship with the demon. S. Th. 2. 2, q. 90, a. 2 ad 3. But it would be licit if this conduced to divine glory. S. Th. 2. 2, q. 95, a. 4 ad 1; L. 5.

You will resolve: It is licit on a feast day not only to write, but also to transcribe, even if this is done for wages, and whether someone writes with a pen or with the American machine commonly in use. It is probably also licit on a feast day for printers to arrange type, because the work seems to pertain to the mind in the same way as the preceding writing, although it is done with greater bodily fatigue. But if it is exercised in a public workshop by many, by reason of the base apparatus and common estimation, it is held as servile work. Moreover, scandal can easily also be present. But the printing of books is altogether illicit, as being a work altogether servile. L. 278, 279, 292; Struggl 8; Laymann 3.

It is sufficiently probable that it is licit on a feast day to paint, and much more to draw, yet excluding great apparatus and labor, for example, mixing colors, planing boards, etc. For if the action is not liberal, it certainly is a middle action, and common to servants and free persons, while we often commonly observe noble men not blushing to learn and exercise this art of painting. Hence girls are also excused who with a needle reproduce images on cloth; and likewise those exercising the photographic art, unless it is done with base apparatus. But to sculpt, says St. Alphonsus, is commonly, at least in the estimation of men, numbered among the mechanical arts. "Yet Sporer excepts when goldsmiths sculpt very delicate things in moderate matter, in which almost no labor of the body, but the whole labor of mind and skill, intervenes." Struggl 8; L. 280, 283; S. Th. 2. 2, q. 212, a. 4 ad 3. "It is licit on a feast day to hunt, to catch birds, and to fish, without great apparatus and for the sake of recreation. The reason is that similar things, with greater apparatus and labor set aside, are not servile works, but common to masters and servants. Indeed similar things, if they are done without great apparatus, are also licit from custom, even if they are done for the sake of gain. But if they are done with great apparatus and labor, they are servile and illicit." Struggl 8; L. 283.

It is licit on a feast day to make a journey on foot, by bicycle, horse, carriage, automobile, ship, litter, railway, airplane, dirigible, etc. The reason for this is that making a journey is not a servile work, but natural and common to all men. Thus the doctors commonly; and besides, universal custom so has it. Moreover, by this very fact that it is licit to make a journey on a feast day in the aforesaid ways, it is also licit to perform the works which are necessary and conducive to this, as for example, to prepare horses, to join a carriage, to carry a litter, and to draw oars in water. The reason is that the accessory follows the nature of its principal. Struggl 8; L. 275.

Sanchez grants that it is licit to grind on feasts "if it is a mill which is driven by water or wind; but not if it is driven by beasts, and in which great labor and occupation is required. From which doctrine Tamburini, n. 14, and La-Croix, n. 578, sufficiently probably infer that when the cooperation and application of man is moderate, it is not illicit, at least gravely, even to grind with beasts." L. 277. Likewise distillation is licit if, without base apparatus and not in a public workshop, it is done for physical experiment, or without fatigue of the body. L. 328.

316. 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:

1. 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.

2. 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).

317. 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.

318. 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.

958. 1. Notion and species. (A) Adjuration, which is akin to oath, is called the interposition of the divine name or of a sacred thing, by which someone is induced to do or omit something. Accordingly it differs from an oath, because God is not invoked as witness or guarantor, for confirming truth, but as a motive for obtaining something more efficaciously.

(B) It is deprecatory when it is made through prayers, for example: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercy of God..."¹; thus also God Himself is sometimes prayed by way of adjuration, for example, through the mystery of Thy holy Incarnation, through Thy Passion, etc. - It is preceptive, or imperative, when it is made by command or mandate; for example, when the high priest said to Christ:² "I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us if thou be the Christ." - God can be adjured only deprecatorily, because no one can command Him; the devil only imperatively, because he is not capable of deprecation; man both imperatively and deprecatorily, because he is capable both of command and of deprecation.

¹ Rom. 12:1.

² Matt. 26:63.

Adjuration is called solemn when it is made in the name of the Church, by ministers specially deputed, as in exorcisms; but private if it is employed in a private name.

959. 2. Principles. (A) Adjuration does not induce an obligation of religion in the person adjured: for it is not used for this, but for exciting in him fear or love of the divine name, by which he may be moved more easily and efficaciously to perform what is asked. If a subject is already bound to obey a superior, he ought indeed to comply with him, not by force of the adjuration, but by force of the precept joined with the adjuration.

960. (B) But on the part of the one adjuring, certain conditions are required so that he may act licitly; for on his part, adjuration is an act of religion, which ought to be adorned with the same qualities as an oath: (a) truth, insofar as the one adjuring ought to set forth only a true cause: from this head a fictitious poor man sins who, by God or by the Virgin, asks alms without cause; (b) justice, insofar as only a licit thing can be asked; (c) judgment, that is, for a reasonable motive, but not from vanity alone, or curiosity. The defect of these conditions is grave or light sin, according as the matter is grave or light. Thus a fictitious poor man who squeezes out a great sum of money, or who asks for a gravely illicit thing, sins mortally; but venially, if he solicits a modest alms, or induces to a light sin.

What it is. Adjuration is an imperative or deprecative demand, made by interposing the name of God, of the saints, or of a sacred thing (2, 2, q. 90). Toward superiors or equals it is made only deprecatively; toward inferiors it is made also imperatively; indeed, toward the demon it cannot be made except imperatively, and that he may not harm, not however that he may teach or that we may obtain a good from him. - The adjuration of an irrational creature is directed to him by whom they are moved: deprecatively to God, imperatively to the demon.

What sort is licit. Private adjuration can be made by anyone, and it is licitly made as an argument of an honorable petition. A false pauper who asks alms in the name of God does not sin on this head except venially.

Solemn adjuration is had chiefly in exorcism properly so called. It, without the special and express license of the Ordinary, is forbidden to be made ¹; and the license is to be committed only to a most approved priest. Exorcisms, however, can be made upon non-Catholics themselves or excommunicates. Concerning true possession by the demon, it must prudently be established (cf. cc. 1151-1153). The Roman Ritual must be observed. An exorcist sins only venially who during the exorcism asks a few things out of curiosity but imperatively.

Nevertheless the use of the exorcism of Leo XIII is permitted to all (cf. Rituale, appendix).

¹ At least publicly, says Prummer, Manuale, q. 352, nota.

I. Oath. 1. An oath "is the invocation of the divine Name as witness of truth" (c. 1316). That is, the one swearing, so far as is in him, invites God that, before His infinite knowledge and veracity, He may will to confirm his statements. But because a religious man is not judged to will to derogate from divine reverence, nor a prudent man to expose himself to divine punishments, therefore he himself confirms his statements before men by oath.

The invocation of God can be explicit or tacit. No one swears before men unless he manifests by suitable signs the intention (which suffices for you to swear before God). And usage can make unsuitable a formula sufficient of itself. He does not swear who is judged merely, with great force, for example by the species of imprecation against himself, or by using comparative words, to affirm certain things.

2. It is distinguished, from the exterior form, as verbal, real, mixed; - from the force of the formula, as invocatory or contestatory, and execratory or imprecatory; - from the object, as assertory and promissory, which can be absolute or conditioned, and to which the comminatory oath is referred; - from the rite, as simple and solemn. Thus it is essential in the canonical rite that one swear personally (c. 1316, § 2).

3. Of defined faith is the honesty of an oath clothed with due conditions; and it is demonstrated by the fact that it encloses in itself a religious profession of divine truth and Providence. The conditions, however, are: a) truth, that the one swearing be truthful, and therefore that the things which he affirms be established for him by such certitude as, for the circumstances, is reasonably expected: in an oath, insofar as it is assertory, this condition is always required under grave sin; b) judgment, that a discreet use be made of an oath, and therefore that one swear only because of sufficient utility, which every serious cause supplies. This condition is of itself demanded under venial sin; c) justice, which, properly pertaining to a promissory oath, forbids promising those things which are forbidden to be done: and this must be avoided at least in a grave matter under mortal sin. In an assertory oath, this condition is judged to have been lacking if someone narrated what he is prohibited from reporting, at least under oath: this of itself is venial.

4. A promissory oath affirms a present intention of fulfilling the things promised; and thus it is assertory; and further it supplies a certain security of that execution, because of reverence toward God, so that it introduces a peculiar obligation of religion of fulfilling what has been promised. It almost always accedes to a promise, either to increase the obligation, in which case it does not oblige except as much and insofar as the promise obliges; or to remove the nullity of the act or promise, and then, unless that confirmation itself is illicit or, from positive law, impossible, there arises an obligation which, of itself, is of religion alone; by accident, because of harmful circumstances or positive law, it can also be of justice. An obligation of religion alone can, unless an acquired right stands in the way, be removed by dispensation. A dispensation requires a just cause in order to be valid. A just cause is had if the oath has been extorted by force or fear. But if the obligation of religion confirms a right acquired by another from an accepted promise, then dispensation from the oath is said to injure that right, insofar as it removes a certain security. In the same way in which a promise not sworn is to be explained, a promissory oath is to be explained; and therefore strictly, according to law and the intention of the one swearing.

If the one swearing acted fraudulently, c. 1321 wills, at least in the external forum, that the oath be explained according to the intention of him to whom it is sworn.

To swear feignedly will then only be licit when it is done without a lie, and with grave cause.

Neither a feigned nor an invalid oath obliges as such. The obligation ceases by remission, by substantial change of the thing, by failure of the final cause or condition, by irritation, dispensation, commutation; but by whatever power you can use over vows, by the same you can use over oaths, from c. 1320.

5. Adjuration, or an imperative or deprecative demand, which is made by interposing the name of God, of the Saints, or of a sacred thing, can be made privately by anyone; public adjuration is permitted only according to the norms of the law which was passed chiefly concerning exorcism. Toward Superiors or equals it is made only by deprecation; toward inferiors it is made also imperatively; toward the demon it cannot be made except imperatively. The exorcism published by Leo XIII can be used by every priest, from the appendix of the Ritual itself.

618. DEFINITION. Adjuration is an entreaty under invocation of God, or of sacred things, or of the Saints, for inducing someone, by asking or by commanding, to do or omit something (III, 193, App., n. 1).

It differs a) from prayer, which is petition to God, while here something is asked from another through God; b) from oath, because God is invoked not as witness, but because he is to be revered and feared.

DIVISION. Adjuration is distinguished: 1. By reason of authority, it is solemn or private, according as it is done either by the ministers and modes instituted by the Church, or

without solemnities of this sort. 2. By reason of manner, it is deprecative or imperative, according as it is done by prayers or by command. Sometimes it is deprecative and imperative at the same time.

619. PRINCIPLES. I. For licit adjuration three things are required: truth, justice, and judgment. 1. TRUTH, that is, that the one adjuring truly intend to attain what he asks, and that the cause on account of which he asks be true. But the lack of this truth will rarely be more than venial fault, as if a feigned poor man asks alms by God. 2. JUSTICE, from the lack of which he certainly sins gravely who asks a gravely evil thing; indeed, according to the more probable opinion, he sins gravely who asks a thing only lightly evil, because it seems a sufficiently grave irreverence to induce another to an evil thing by the help of divine authority. 3. JUDGMENT, that is, due discretion, the lack of which certainly is only venial (III, 193, 2).

620. II. The direct object of adjuration is every intellectual being; the indirect object is also an irrational creature. 1. God is adjured only deprecatively, either by himself, by his goodness, mercy, etc.; or by the merits of Christ; or by the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Saints, whose merits we exhibit to him. 2. The Blessed Virgin Mary, the angels, and the Saints of God are also adjured deprecatively when we beseech them to help us on account of God. 3. Men who are wayfarers are adjured, whether deprecatively, for instance if a subject adjures a Superior, a friend adjures a friend, that by the love of God, or of the Blessed Virgin Mary, or of some Saint, they furnish something, thus St. Paul, II Cor., 10, 1; or imperatively, when the one adjuring has some power over the one adjured.

We can likewise adjure demons, but only imperatively, namely by repelling and restraining them through the power of the divine name, lest they harm us spiritually or corporally. This adjuration comes under the name of EXORCISM (Muller, l. II, § 62).

We adjure irrational creatures indirectly, by adjuring either God, that their use may help us, or demons, that through them they cease to harm. In these ways water, salt, a new house, locusts, clouds, tempest, etc., are commonly exorcised (III, 193, 3).

621. III. Adjuration does not induce an obligation of furnishing what is asked. The reason is that it has not been instituted except for exciting in the one adjured fear or love of the divine name, by which he may be moved to furnish what is asked (Noldin, n. 239).

622. I. SOLEMN adjuration against a demon can be done by the ministers of the Church alone, and not without the permission of the Bishop. The Bishop can permit it even in doubt concerning diabolical possession, provided a grave cause is present, all scandal is guarded against, and the matter does not redound to contempt of the Church. Concerning the mode of proceeding, see the Roman Ritual, and St. Alph., l. III, 193, App. See also the formula issued by command of the Supreme Pontiff Leo XIII on Jan. 17, 1902 (App. Rit. Rom.).

We note only two things here: 1. Exorcism is to be employed only for removing harms and the vexation of the possessed person. The demon can be questioned only about those things which conduce to his expulsion, for example about the time and cause of possession. Hence he would sin gravely who should have many useless conversations with the possessing demon; but venially, if he should ask one or another curious question in an imperative mode. 2. Exorcisms obtain an infallible effect, and as if from the work worked. But if they do not always obtain the perfect effect, they obtain at least an imperfect effect, namely by weakening the powers of demons (III, 193, end).

II. PRIVATE adjuration of a demon is licit to all, and especially to ministers of the Church; nor is the special permission of the Bishop required for it. - As regards the FORMULA of exorcism, behold what kind St. Alphonsus advises to be recited (Prax. Conf., n. 113) over those whom the demon harasses with extraordinary temptations: I, as a minister of God, command thee, or you, unclean spirits, that ye depart from this creature of God. - The venerable Servant of God Vincent Pallotti used even private exorcism when he noticed that penitents were not sorry for sins, or were concealing some sin; and he also commended its use to confessors, adding that exorcism is to be employed with great confidence and humility (Muller, § 62, n. 5).

As regards the SIGNS of true possession, cf. Rit. Rom., tit. X. They are: to speak an unknown tongue in many words, or to understand one speaking; to disclose distant and hidden things; to show strength above the nature of age or condition; and other things of that kind, which, when very many concur, are greater indications.

460. Definition. Adjuration is the interposition of the divine name or of a sacred thing, by reverence, fear, or love of which the person adjured is induced to do or omit something.⁶¹¹

Adjuration therefore differs from other invocations of the name of God: first, from an oath, in which God is invoked as witness or guarantor for confirming some truth; but in adjuration the divine name is invoked to obtain something from another. Adjuration likewise differs from prayer, in which God is invoked to obtain something directly from Him; but in adjuration the one adjuring endeavors to obtain something from another on account of God. Adjuration is an act of religion, since through it we profess that the divine name is so venerable that, when it is heard, others are induced to do or omit something. Adjuration is an act of latria when it is made by the direct interposition of the name of God, or at least of some thing in which the divine majesty especially shines forth, e.g., by the Passion, death, or blood of Christ. Adjuration is an act of hyperdulia or dulia insofar as it is made by the Blessed Virgin or the saints considered in themselves. But if it is made by the death, life, or love of a father or mother, etc., it is not properly a religious adjuration.

All who have some knowledge of God can be adjured, namely, God Himself, Christ, the Blessed Virgin, the saints, wayfaring men, and finally demons; to the latter, however, only a compulsive adjuration can be directed, as will be said below.

⁶¹¹ Cf. S. theol. 2, 2, q. 90, a. 1. Adjuration, in German: Beschwörung.

461. Divisions. Adjuration is divided:

1. Into solemn and simple (or private).

A solemn adjuration is one made in the name of the Church by ministers of the Church according to prescribed ceremonies, e.g., the exorcism employed in baptism. A simple or private adjuration lacks solemnities of this kind and can be made by anyone.

2. Into deprecatory and imperative (or compulsive).

A deprecatory adjuration exists when by prayers we strive to obtain something, with the name of God interposed. Thus St. Paul adjured the faithful Romans, saying: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercy of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing unto God."⁶¹² Adjuration of this kind also occurs frequently in the Litanies, e.g., "By the mystery of Thy Incarnation, by Thy Passion, deliver us, O Lord." But then they are called rather obsecrations.⁶¹³ A deprecatory adjuration can be directed to any person, whether superior, inferior, or equal, with the demon alone excepted.

An imperative adjuration exists when, with the name of God interposed, something is commanded only to subjects. Thus St. Paul adjured the Thessalonians, saying: "I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read to all the holy brethren."⁶¹⁴ Thus the prince of the priests adjured Christ Himself, considering Him as his subject: "I adjure Thee by the living God that Thou tell us if Thou be the Christ."⁶¹⁵ Thus demons especially are adjured in an exorcism.

⁶¹² Rom. 12:1.

⁶¹³ Cf. above, n. 337.

⁶¹⁴ 1 Thess. 5:27.

⁶¹⁵ Matt. 26:63.

462. Principle. Adjuration clothed with the due conditions is an act of the virtue of religion and therefore is licit and lawful.

That a right adjuration is an act of the virtue of religion is easily understood, because through it we venerate God by interposing His authority as most efficacious for obtaining the things requested. But if adjuration is an act of religion, it is also clear that it is in itself licit and lawful. The same is clear from the perpetual use and doctrine of the Church.

The conditions required for the lawfulness of an adjuration are the same as for a lawful oath, namely, truth, justice, judgment.

a) Truth in adjuration requires that the one adjuring have a sincere will to obtain the thing requested and that he present a true and not feigned cause for his request; or briefly: that the one adjuring not deceive the person adjured. The absence of this condition rarely exceeds venial guilt. Hence a man who pretends to be poor and adjures a rich man by the divine mercy in order to obtain alms ordinarily sins only venially. For although he abuses divine authority to render his unjust petitions efficacious, nevertheless this abuse does not yet seem of itself to be a grave sin, because divine authority is employed not to confirm a lie but to move another to perform a good work. If, however, the pretense itself concerns grave matter and is consequently a grave sin, then, according to certain authors, even the adjuration employed to put such a pretense into execution is a grave sin.

b) Justice demands that the one adjuring intend to obtain a lawful thing. A defect of justice in adjuration is more probably a grave or light sin according as the action requested is gravely or lightly evil. Hence he commits two mortal sins who adjures a simple and ignorant girl by the love of God to commit fornication; but he who adjures another by the love of God to tell a jocose lie commits two venial sins. St. Alphonsus⁶¹⁶ thinks that even in this last case there is a grave sin because of the abuse of adjuration, since it seems to be a sufficiently grave irreverence to induce another to an evil thing by the aid of divine authority.

c) Judgment requires that adjuration be made for a just cause and with due reverence, and not, as it were, from a disorderly habit. A defect of this condition is of itself only a venial sin, because not so great an irreverence is thereby inflicted upon God, and because such an adjuration seems to be nothing other than a vain assumption of the name of God. Beggars who always add adjurations to their petitions often sin venially through a defect of this condition.

⁶¹⁶ Theol. mor. l. 3, n. 193.

463. Scholion 1. On exorcisms. An exorcism properly so called is the expulsion of the devil from an obsessed man; broadly so called, it is the annulment of diabolical influence in some other creature. That the devil can, God permitting, truly besiege a man and dwell in him is of faith, since Christ Himself often cast the devil out of men thus obsessed. Hence there also exists in the Church a special order of exorcists for casting out demons. When a solemn exorcism is employed publicly, all those things which the Roman Ritual⁶¹⁷ prescribes concerning this matter are to be observed. Before all things, however, the express and special permission of the Ordinary is required,⁶¹⁸ whose office it is to judge whether a diabolical obsession is truly present and whether it is expedient to perform a public exorcism. For great scandal can arise from a public exorcism imprudently employed. But privately and secretly, not only clerics who by force of the order of exorcist possess special power over demons, but also laymen, can pronounce an exorcism. For this is nowhere prohibited to laymen, nor does any inconvenience arise from it. Hence we read in history that certain lay saints, such as St. Catherine of Siena and St. Anthony the Hermit, cast out demons.

An exorcism duly pronounced, even by a priest or by a bishop, does not have an infallible effect, at least a complete one, i.e., the complete expulsion of the devil from an obsessed man. Therefore the words of Sacred Scripture, "These signs shall follow them that believe: In My name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues,"⁶¹⁹ do not signify that all believers can always and immediately cast out demons, but that they can do so when the progress of the Gospel shall demand it; just as all believers cannot always speak with new tongues either. Nevertheless, with St. Alphonsus⁶²⁰ and several other authors, it must be admitted that an exorcism pronounced by a cleric marked with the order of exorcist produces ex opere operato at least an attenuation of the powers of the obsessing demon.

An exorcism broadly so called is employed in baptism; indeed, irrational creatures are sometimes thus exorcised, e.g., salt, water, clouds, so that diabolical influence may be averted from them. For the Church deservedly supposes that the devil sometimes, God permitting, greatly harms man both immediately by himself and through the mediation of irrational creatures. Therefore Noldin⁶²¹ rightly says: "It is greatly to be recommended to ministers of the Church that they perform a simple exorcism more frequently, mindful of the word of the Lord: 'In My name they shall cast out devils'; but especially over those who are troubled by a vehement temptation, and over penitents whom they notice to experience difficulties in eliciting sorrow and a purpose concerning their sins or in sincerely manifesting their sins. They can use this or a similar formula: 'In the name of Jesus I command thee, unclean spirit, to depart from this creature of God.'" Experience proves that an exorcism is sometimes employed with good fruit in the confessional, provided that it is done in an entirely secret manner, so that not even the penitent notices it.

⁶¹⁷ Tit. II, c. 1.

⁶¹⁸ Cf. decree of Leo XIII, 18 May 1890 (Collect. de Prop. Fide, n. 2303); Code of Canon Law, c. 1151, § 1.

⁶¹⁹ Mark 16:17.

⁶²⁰ Theol. mor. l. 3, n. 193.

⁶²¹ De sacr. n. 53, note 3.

464. Scholion 2. On the invocation of the divine name through praise. The Angelic Doctor⁶²² treats of this matter immediately after adjuration. Let the following be said briefly: God is to be praised not only with the heart but also with the mouth, because a) this pertains to the external worship of religion, and b) thereby we ourselves and others hearing are induced to greater reverence for God. This praise is very fittingly expressed by beautiful and becoming song. The contrary doctrine of the Waldenses and Wycliffites, who compared clerics singing with the prophets of Baal, has been rejected by the ecclesiastical practice of all centuries. And indeed, singing performed worthily and devoutly in church serves greatly for increasing devotion. Hence St. Augustine⁶²³ says concerning himself: "I wept in hymns and canticles, deeply moved by the voices of Thy Church sweetly sounding." Cajetan⁶²⁴ rightly admonishes that two things are to be guarded against in ecclesiastical singing: namely, that it not be sung as though the song itself according to itself were more pleasing to God; and that it not be sung for the sake of our own or another's delight in ecclesiastical Offices.

The use of organs and other musical instruments had not yet been introduced into ecclesiastical Offices in ancient times.⁶²⁵ When organs were first introduced is not so certain. Some say that this was done in the time of Charlemagne; but, as appears sufficiently clearly from S. theol. 2, 2, q. 91, a. 2 ad 4, in the times of St. Thomas the use of organs was not yet universal in all churches. Pius X issued excellent statutes concerning ecclesiastical singing in the motu proprio of 22 Nov. 1903.

⁶²² S. theol. 2, 2, q. 91.

⁶²³ Confess. 9, 6 (Migne, Patr. lat. 32, 769).

⁶²⁴ Commentary on 2, 2, q. 91.

⁶²⁵ Cf. Wetzer and Welte, Kirchenlexikon, s.v. "Orgel" [Organ].

375. Definition. - Adjuration is an authoritative and deprecatory demand, with the name of God, or of the Saints, or of a sacred thing interposed, that another be induced to do or omit something.

Therefore it differs from an oath in this, that it does not bring God in as witness, but only interposes His name for obtaining the thing desired more efficaciously because of the reverence due to Divinity or to sacred things.

Division. Adjuration is distinguished:

1° Solemn or private, according as it is done by ministers of the Church, and in the manner determined by her, or is destitute of solemnities; and this latter can be done by all.

2° Deprecatory 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.²

376. Principles. - I. Solemn adjuration is licit only for ministers of the Church, to whom it is expressly permitted by the Bishop; but to the rest it is prohibited under grave sin, not by common law, but generally by Bishops.¹

II. Private adjuration is licit or illicit in all those circumstances in which an oath is licit or prohibited; hence those things which have been said concerning an oath are also to be applied to adjuration.

III. Only intellectual creatures, namely men and demons, can be adjured directly; irrational creatures also indirectly, as salt, water, clouds, locusts, etc., namely by adjuring demons not to harm us through them, or by beseeching God or the Saints that they assist those who will use things of this kind.²

But adjuration against demons ought to be done only in an imperative manner, and for removing the harms and vexation of the possessed, but not for vanity or curiosity.³

377. Questions. - Quaer. 1° Is it licit to use exorcisms in doubt about possession?

Resp. Affirmatively, if the Bishop, with the matter plainly known, approves it; but scandal and contempt of the Church must be diligently guarded against.

Quaer. 2° About what things can a demon be questioned?

Resp. Generally about all things which conduce to his expulsion, for example concerning the time and cause of possession, concerning the sign of departure, etc.⁴

Quaer. 3° How does he sin who curiously questions the demon about those things which do not pertain to the matter?

Resp. Of itself he sins gravely, if he has many useless conversations with the possessing demon; a fortiori, if he jests with him. But otherwise, if he interposes only one or another curious question in an imperative manner.⁵

Quaer. 4° What are the signs of true possession?

Resp. The principal ones are: 1° to speak in a language wholly 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 a priest, etc.; 4° a greater vexation of the demon, or greater peace, to appear from contact with sacred things wholly unknown, etc.

Generally someone is not readily to be believed to be possessed by a demon; because true possessions in our times are rare, and most of those things which are reported are found to be false.

S. Th. II-II, q. 90.

759. Adjuration (bezwering), in ecclesiastical speech, is an obtestation or interposition of the divine name by which, by entreating or commanding, we induce someone to do or omit something. It is called:

1. an interposition of the divine name, that is, an invocation or mention of divine authority; whence adjuration taken strictly as an act of religion is made through God, whether immediately, or mediately through the saints or sacred things, insofar as in them God Himself is regarded.

But he who adjures by the saints considered in themselves makes an act of dulia; if by the death, life, love of father or mother, it will not be a religious adjuration of which we now speak.

2. by which we induce someone to do something; whence adjuration is an act of reason, not of will.

For just as a man by a promissory oath orders himself immovably to doing something because of reverence for the divine name which is invoked, so he can order others to doing something, by entreating superiors and commanding inferiors, and confirm this by the name and authority of God, so that because of reverence for Him they may do it.

3. by entreating or commanding, whence oath and adjuration are distinguished.

a) Namely, divine authority is interposed in the former for confirming an assertion or promise; in the latter for confirming a petition or command. b) In the former God is brought forward as witness; in the latter as one requesting or commanding with us. c) In the former God is invoked as infinitely true; in the latter as the object of love or fear, by which the one adjured may be moved to acting.

760. Adjuration is twofold: deprecative and imperative.

1. Deprecative is made by way of benevolent inducement, on account of reverence for some sacred thing: we use this toward God, angels, saints, superiors, and equals. It is often called obsecration (Rom. XII, 1), which the demon himself used (Mk. V, 7). Thus the Church asks all things through Our Lord Jesus Christ.

2. Imperative is made by way of compulsion, which superiors can use toward subjects (Mt. XXVI, 63; Mk. I, 25).

It is not licit to adjure demons deprecatively, nor imperatively for learning something from them or for obtaining something through them, because there can be no benevolence, friendship, submission, or society toward them (I Cor. X, 20); but it is licit imperatively and by rebuke through divine virtue, lest they harm us spiritually or corporally (Mk. XVI, 17; Lk. IX, 1; X, 19). This adjuration is called exorcism (duivelsbezwering); in it it is not licit to do or ask anything except those things which conduce to the expulsion, disgrace, contempt of the demon, or to the glory of God; yet if someone from levity, not employing faith, were to ask one thing or another, not deprecatively but imperatively, it would probably be only venial, because it is not perfect society with the demon: for it is not a perfectly social act, although it is a perfectly human act.

We can adjure irrational creatures (the sun, clouds, locusts, a new house, a bedchamber, hail, storms, water), not directly considered according to themselves, for this would be vain; but insofar as they are moved by some intelligent being, namely, indirectly by adjuring either God that their use may help us (thus miracles), or the demon that he cease to harm us through them.

761. Adjuration is an act of religion, because it is apt for expressing both the submission of the one adjuring to God, whose authority is interposed, and God's excellence: for it belongs to excellence that someone be worthy of love or fear, and that the love or fear owed to him be able to move another. Namely, we profess the name of God to be so venerable that, when it is heard, others are induced to do or omit something.

It is licit, as is clear from its notion and from the use of Scripture and the Liturgy; but only under the due conditions of justice and judgment.

1. Justice requires that both the thing to be obtained through command or petition, and the command and petition itself, be honest. Defect of justice is a grave or light sin, in the same way as in a vow and in a promissory oath.

2. Judgment of discretion requires a sufficient cause; the lack of which of itself is only venial.

Besides these conditions, for adjuration that is not private but solemn, which is made in the name of the Church by ministers and in modes constituted by the Church, legitimate deputation or permission is required (can. 1151).

762. Observation. - Quite commonly authors require a third condition: truth; but it does not seem to be posited as a distinct condition, since adjuration differs precisely from an oath in this, that God is not invoked as witness of truth. They say it is required that the adjuration be made through the true God, that the one adjuring truly intend to obtain the thing, and that the cause on account of which he asks be true, not deceitful, lest he deceive the one adjured. But the first is not a condition of liceity, but is contained in the very essence of adjuration; the second and third can be reduced to the other conditions: if he does not truly intend, the adjuration will be fictitious and vain and judgment is lacking; if the cause is not true, it will be dishonest, as joined to a deceitful and deceptive petition, and thus justice already fails.

763. The effect of adjuration is twofold: a) of moving the one adjured to furnish that which is commanded or asked; b) of moving God, through whom another is adjured, so that He may compel or induce him to the intended effect.

There is a special efficacy in exorcisms performed in the name of the Church, which have force chiefly from the impetration of the Church and the will of Christ communicating His power over demons to the Church.

WHEN we acknowledge our insufficiency to induce others to do or produce something grave, we are accustomed to mix something Divine into our prayers or precepts, whose reverence may move men's minds more readily, since obedience toward things above is naturally implanted in them and comes easily; hence arose the usage of adjuring, of which you have not a few examples in the sacred letters, as will appear from what is to be said.

TO ADJURE is to impel someone to say or do something by the cause of the Divine name and honor. Whence, Adjuration is an act of the virtue of Religion.

Adjuration is made in TWO ways: First, by commanding. Second, by entreating: moreover, an oath can also be exacted.

All these adjurations are found in Scripture. And first, by commanding and at the same time exacting an oath, Abraham adjured his servant, that he seek a wife for his son Isaac only from his own people, Genes. 24. Put your hand under my thigh, that I may adjure you by the Lord God of heaven, and earth, that you take not a wife for my son Isaac of the daughters of Chanaan; as Gregory of Valencia observes disput. 6. quaest. 8. puncto 1. and D. Bonavent. in 4. dist. 29. quaest. 3. indicates. In the same way Jacob adjured his son Joseph, to bury him in the sepulchre of his fathers, as is plain from cap. 47. and 50. Genes. for it was the custom of the ancients to place the hand on the thigh of one of the Patriarchs touching the Messias, and so to swear by the Messias, who was to be born of their seed, as S. Jerome expounds lib. 1. in Iovin. cap. 5.

But by entreating and exacting an oath, Rahab adjured the spies, as is plain from these words of theirs: We shall be innocent of this oath, with which you adjured us. Iosue 2.

But by commanding, not exacting an oath, the Prince of the priests adjured the Lord Jesus Christ, Matth. 26. and Exorcists adjure demons, Marci ultimo.

But merely by beseeching, Paul seems to have adjured those to whom he wrote, as Rom. 12. I beseech you by the mercy of God.

So also the poor seem to adjure those from whom they beg alms.

I assert first, that it is licit to adjure God, only by entreating through some sacred thing, for instance through the Passion of Christ. So D. Thom. art. 1. in corpore, et ad 3. D. Bonavent. in expositione Missae, cap. 2. and Tannerus observes disp. 5. quaest. 5. dub. 1. But we pray to, and adjure, God through the merits of Christ, not that his unchangeable will be changed, but as a medium assumed, as is believed, by the divine will, as Tannerus notes num. 40. after D. Bonavent. in 1. dist. 48. quaest. ultima. For it is an act of religion.

I assert second, that men also can be adjured. Superiors indeed by deprecation; but inferiors also by command, through the invocation of a sacred thing, or of the Divine name; and as to inferiors it is plain in Abraham, adjuring his servant, as I said in the first question.

It is PERVERSE, however, to adjure one who is not a subject. Thus Caiphas sinned by adjuring Christ, wishing to force him to say whether he was the Christ, as S. Bonaventure notes in meditationibus Passionis Christi, cap. 75. and with him Tanner. num. 41.

I assert third, that demons can be compelled by adjurations to render service to God. Thus Marci ultimo, it is said: In my name they shall cast out devils. So D. Thom. art. 2. And Lucae 10. Behold I have given you all power over all the might of the enemy. Which the S. Doctor accommodates to this passage of Luke, where he discourses on the purposes for which demons are to be adjured.

Yet it is not licit to adjure demons in order to learn or obtain something from them, or to contract society with them, as the Apostle warns, prima Corinth. 10. Do not become partakers of devils, and D. Thom. notes art. 2. and S. Bonaventure discourses serm. 2. in decem praecepta.

Nor are demons to be assisted by prayer, or invoked by any petition, as D. Bonavent. notes in 4. dist. 34. art. 2. quaest. 2. ad argumenta. For the exorcism is instituted to compel demons to depart, and to leave men free from their infestations, as the S. Doctor notes in Compendio Theologiae, lib. 6. cap. 10. And it is an act of Religion. So Valentia disput. 6. quaest. 8. puncto 2. Suarez tract. 2. lib. 4. cap. 3. Bassaeus num. 1.

I assert fourth, that irrational creatures can also be adjured, not indeed by an adjuration directed simply to them, for that would be vain: but either to God invoked, or for driving out from them the demons, who use irrational things to harm us; and in this way Exorcists make use of them, as D. Bonavent. notes supra, and with him Tannerus num. 44. and D. Thom. quaest. 90. art. 3. Sylvius there, Sanchez lib. 2. moral. cap. 42. num. 37. Lessius lib. 2. cap. 42. dub. 13. num. 72. Reginaldus lib. 18. cap. 9. num. 112. Nauar. lib. 5. consil. de excom. cons. 5. Tabiena, and Sylvester V. Adiuratio, Layman lib. 5. tract. 9. cap. 14. Petrus Ledesm. tract. 11. cap. 6. Viguer. cap. 5. §. 5. Bassaeus, and many others.