''Of Exorcisms and Certain Supplications'' (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

: ) is an 84-page document of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

containing the current version of the

Rite Rite may refer to: * Ritual, an established ceremonious act * Rite of passage, a ceremonious act associated with social transition Religion * Rite (Christianity), a sacred ritual or liturgical tradition in various Christian denominations * Catho ...

Exorcism Exorcism () is the religious or spiritual practice of evicting demons, jinns, or other malevolent spiritual entities from a person, or an area, that is believed to be possessed. Depending on the spiritual beliefs of the exorcist, this may be ...

authorised for use in the

Latin Church , native_name_lang = la , image = San Giovanni in Laterano - Rome.jpg , imagewidth = 250px , alt = Façade of the Archbasilica of St. John in Lateran , caption = Archbasilica of Saint Joh ...

Overview

The ritual book was published on 26 January 1999, making it the last

liturgical book A liturgical book, or service book, is a book published by the authority of a church body that contains the text and directions for the liturgy of its official religious services. Christianity Roman Rite In the Roman Rite of the Catholic ...

to be revised following the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions) ...

of 1962–1965.Speech of Cardinal Medina Estévez.
Official website of the Vatican, accessed 21 May 2014. The preceding revision of the document was in 1614.
by John L. Allen, Jr., ''

National Catholic Reporter The ''National Catholic Reporter'' (''NCR'') is a progressive national newspaper in the United States that reports on issues related to the Catholic Church. Based in Kansas City, Missouri, ''NCR'' was founded by Robert Hoyt in 1964. Hoyt want ...

'', 1 September 2000 A slightly amended edition was issued in 2004. The document was originally issued only in

, but some versions in the vernacular are extant, including an English translation entitled ''Exorcisms and Related Supplications'', which was confirmed by the Vatican in December of 2016. Following the trends in Catholic approaches to alleged cases of possession since the pontificate of

Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-old ...

in the 19th century, the new revision includes a warning not to confuse

mental illness A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

with

demonic possession Spirit possession is an unusual or altered state of consciousness and associated behaviors purportedly caused by the control of a human body by spirits, ghosts, demons, or gods. The concept of spirit possession exists in many cultures and reli ...

. It also removes several descriptions of

Satan Satan,, ; grc, ὁ σατανᾶς or , ; ar, شيطانالخَنَّاس , also known as Devil in Christianity, the Devil, and sometimes also called Lucifer in Christianity, is an non-physical entity, entity in the Abrahamic religions ...

, which sat uncomfortably with the Church's doctrine, and states that the devil is "a spirit without body, without colour and without odour." The 2004 edition contains two chapters and two appendices.

Chapter One

Title: The Rite of Major

. This text is used for the formal ceremony of solemn exorcisms, which are always performed with the express permission of a

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

. It is for use only by mandated priest-exorcists.

Chapter Two

Title: Various texts which may be used ''ad lib'' as part of the rite. This Chapter is subdivided into three sections: a collection of nine

psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

with concluding prayers; a collection of five

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

readings; two pairs of deprecative and imperative formulae of exorcism.

Appendix One

Title: Prayers and exorcism for use in particular circumstances of the church. An introductory rubric states: The Devil and other demons can not only afflict persons (by temptation and vexation), but also places and objects, and can cause various forms of opposition and persecution of the Church. If the diocesan Bishop, in the particular circumstances, judges it opportune to announce meetings for the faithful to pray, under the guidance and direction of the priest, selected prayers and directives can be taken from the following pages. Appendix One contains the following liturgy: * A liturgical greeting. * An optional

liturgy of the Word Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. ''Liturgy'' can also be used to refer specifically to public worship by Christians. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and partic ...

– reading(s) and homily. * A collect addressed to the

Holy Spirit In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is the divine force, quality, and influence of God over the Universe or over his creatures. In Nicene Christianity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is the third person of the Trinity. In Islam, the Holy Spirit acts as ...

. * Optionally,

general intercessions The General Intercessions or Universal Prayer or Prayer of the Faithful are a series of prayers which form part of the liturgy in the Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist and other Western Liturgical Churches. History The Christian custom of off ...

concluding with the

Lord’s Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...

. * A statement of purpose. * An extract from

Psalm 68 Psalm 68 is the 68th psalm of the Book of Psalms, or Psalm 67 in Septuagint and Vulgate numbering. In the English of the King James Version it begins "Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered". In the Latin Vulgate version it begins "Exsurgat ...

Note that this is indicated as Psalm 67 according to the Greek numbering customarily used in Catholic liturgical books. with congregational response. * The act of exorcism, first as an deprecative formula, then imperative. * The Sub tuum prayer and a slightly revised version of an exorcism prayer to St Michael. * A sprinkling with

holy water Holy water is water that has been blessed by a member of the clergy or a religious figure, or derived from a well or spring considered holy. The use for cleansing prior to a baptism and spiritual cleansing is common in several religions, from ...

, blessing and dismissal.

Appendix Two

Title: Prayers which may be used privately by the faithful in the struggle against the powers of darkness. Appendix Two contains the following (all in Latin): * Five

collect The collect ( ) is a short general prayer of a particular structure used in Christian liturgy. Collects appear in the liturgies of Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican, Methodist, Lutheran, and Presbyterian churches, among oth ...

-style prayers to God. * A short

litany Litany, in Christian worship and some forms of Judaic worship, is a form of prayer used in services and processions, and consisting of a number of petitions. The word comes through Latin ''litania'' from Ancient Greek λιτανεία (''litan ...

of invocations of the

Holy Trinity The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...

. * A long litany of invocations of

Jesus Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

. * Short invocations to the Lord with the

sign of the Cross Making the sign of the cross ( la, signum crucis), or blessing oneself or crossing oneself, is a ritual blessing made by members of some branches of Christianity. This blessing is made by the tracing of an upright cross or + across the body with ...

. * Invocations of the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...

, including the Sub tuum and

Memorare Memorare ("Remember, O Most Gracious Virgin Mary") is a Catholic prayer seeking the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It first appears as part of a longer 15th-century prayer, "Ad sanctitatis tuae pedes, dulcissima Virgo Maria." Memorare ...

. * The well-known shorter Prayer to St Michael. * A short

litany of saints The Litany of the Saints (Latin: ''Litaniae Sanctorum'') is a formal prayer of the Roman Catholic Church as well as the Old Catholic Church, Anglo-Catholic communities, and Western Rite Orthodox communities. It is a prayer to the Triune God, which ...

References

External links

The second part of the Roman Ritual, containing the exorcism ritual in its entirety
{{dead link, date=September 2022 Note that this is an unofficial English translation of the Latin text in force prior to the 1999 revision. Exorcism in the Catholic Church 1614 works 1999 documents 17th-century Christian texts 20th-century Christian texts