EXORCISM (from exorkizo, to conjure), i.e., conjuration in the name of the gods, the term used by the fathers of the church to denote the act of conjuring evil spirits, in the name of God or Christ, to depart out of the person possessed. The first Christians adjured evil spirits in the name of Jesus Christ, who had conquered the devils; but as the opinion was at the same time entertained, that all idolaters belonged to the kingdom of Satan—who suffered himself to be worshiped under the form of idols—it was customary to exorcise heathens previous to their receiving Christian baptism. After Augustine's theory of original sin had found acceptance in the 5th c., and all infants were regarded as belonging to Satan's kingdom, E. became general at the baptism even of Christian children. Following the practice of the Roman Catholic church, Luther retained E., but it was laid aside by the Reformed church. Although abandoned by illustrious and orthodox Protestant theologians, such as Chemnitz and Gerhard, or deemed unessential, and in modern times done away with by the "Protestant" church, the practice has been recently revived by the Old LUtheran or High-church party.
In the Catholic church, the function of E. belongs peculiarly to one of the so called "minor orders." See ORDERS. Our Lord having not only himself in person (Matt. ix. 32, Mark i. 25, Luke iv. 35, viii. 29) cast out devils, but having also given the
same power to his disciples, it is believed to be permanent in the church. Of its exer cise in the early church, both in relation to " energumens," or persons possessed, and in the administration of baptism, there are numerous examples. Tertullian and Origen speak of it as of ordinary occurrence, and the council of Carthage, in 235, alludes to its use in baptism. The rite of E. is used by the modern church in three different cases: in the case of actual or supposed demoniacal possession, in the administration of baptism, and in the blessing of the chrism or holy oil, and of holy water. Its use in cases of possession is now extremely rare, and in many diseases is prohibited, unless with the special permission of the bishop. In baptism it precedes the cere mony of applying the water and the baptismal form. It is used equally in infant and in adult baptism, and Catholic writers appeal to the earliest examples of the administration of the sacrament as evidence of the use of E. in both alike. The rite of baptismal E. in the Roman Catholic church follows closely the scriptural model in Mark viii. 33. The exorcisms in the blessing of the oil and water resemble very closely the baptismal form, but are more diffuse.