Formuły egzorcystyczne w potrydenckiej liturgii błogosławieństw

Abstract

Latin pontificals and agendas from the Middle Ages testify to a plurality of blessing texts as well as the creativity of this liturgical form. At the same time they are witness to the hope of the faithful, connected with the blessing of people and objects. However, it was not always the case that these formulas were part of the baptismal exorcism liturgy or the exorcisms of the possessed. They were also to be found in rituals for the blessing of people and objects which confirm the medieval division of the world into sacred and profane. The profane needed purification and its absolution from sins was often related to anti-demoniacal thinking. This kind of thinking informs the liturgical books published after the Council of Trent. This article presents the origin of these convictions which the famous liturgist A. M. Triacca defines as the “enlargement and extension” (di ingrandimento et di estensione) of exorcism’s “subject-object” (soggetto-oggetto). In ancient Christian times, this process involved passing from exorcising people, who are catechumens and possessed by the evil spirit, to exorcising objects, for example water, oil, salt (Tertullian, Origen, St Hippolytus, St Augustine). This process pervades medieval liturgical texts up to modern times and reaches its high point in the post-Trent period when the conciliar reforms were implemented. Thus, certain texts confirmed the link between the blessing of objects and exorcist formulas. Not only catechumenate oil, holy anointing oil, holy water, Gregorian water or water are used to bless cattle, but also incense, bread, Easter palms, oat, radish, rue, ash, medallions and animals such as bees. The last part of this article touches upon the exorcism which, in the post-Trent period, accompanied the blessing of the sick and which found its way into liturgical books after the second Vatican Council along with the exorcism of objects.