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Anonymous: Exorcismus

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This anonymous prayer of exorcism is printed by Migne in volume 17 of the Patrologia Latina among works transmitted under the name of Ambrose. It opens with an invocation of Christ, the Word of the Father and Lord of all creation, who gave his apostles power to tread on serpents and scorpions, commanded them to cast out demons, and saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. The exorcist humbly asks for pardon of his own sins and for the confidence and power to attack the cruel dragon protected by Christ’s arm. He then adjures every unclean spirit, phantom and assault of Satan, in the name of Christ who conquered the devil in the desert, to cease attacking the human being whom God formed from the earth.

The later part is a fierce denunciation of the devil as the prince of murder, the author of incest, the head of sacrilege, the master of evil arts, the teacher of heretics and the inventor of all obscenity, ending with repeated commands to depart. Formulas of this kind were used in the rites of the early and medieval Church for the possessed and in the preparation of candidates for baptism. The text shows the vivid rhetoric of Christian exorcism and its grounding in Gospel narratives. Its author and date are unknown, and the attribution to Ambrose is not accepted.

About this edition. The Latin text comes from Corpus Corporum, the Latin text repository of the University of Zurich (edition: Jacques-Paul Migne, Patrologia Latina, vol. 17, Parisiis 1845), reused with attribution for non-commercial purposes (CC BY-NC-SA). Every word has been analyzed with LatinCy, a neural language model for Latin — click or tap any word for its dictionary form, part of speech, and complete morphology, together with the full entry from Lewis & Short’s A Latin Dictionary.

Latin · Early Christian Writings
Exorcismus
Anonymous · every word parsed
1
613 Omnipotens Domine, Uerbum Dei Patris, Christe Iesu, Deus et Dominus uniuersae creaturae, qui sanctis apostolis tuis potestatem dedisti calcandi supra serpentes et scorpiones: qui inter caetera mirabilium tuorum praecepta dignatus es dicere; Daemones effugate ; cuius uirtute uictus tamquam fulgur de coelo Satanas cecidit: tuum nomen cum timore et tremore supplex precor, ut indignissimo mihi, data uenia omnium delictorum, confidentiam, et possibilitatem donare dignetur; ut hunc crudelem draconem brachii tui munitus potentia, fideliter et securus aggrediar. Adiuro te ergo, omnis immundissime spiritus, omne phantasma, omnis incursio Satanae, in uirtute nominis Christi, qui post lauacrum Iordanis in desertum ductus est, et in tuis te sedibus uicit; ut quem ille de limo terrae ad honorem gloriae suae formauit, tu desinas impugnare, et in homine miserabili non humanam fragilitatem, sed omnipotentis Dei imaginem contremiscas. Cede ergo Deo, qui te in humiliato famulo suo Iob in seruitutem redegit: cede Deo, qui te et militiam tuam in Pharaone, et in eius exercitu per Moysen seruum suum demersit in abyssum: cede Deo, qui te per Danielem puerum suum in Beel perdidit, et in dracone prostrauit: cede Deo qui te per fidelissimum suum Dauid de Saule rege spiritalibus canticis pulsum fugauit: cede Deo, qui te in Iuda traditore damnauit. Ille enim te nunc diuinis uerberibus agit, in cuius conspectu cum tuis legionibus tremens clamabas: Quid nobis et tibi, Iesu fili Dauid? uenisti ante tempus torquere nos . Ille te flammis perpetuis urget, qui in fine temporum dicturus est impiis: Ite maledicti in ignem aeternum, quem praeparauit 614 Pater meus diabolo et angelis eius . Tibi enim impie et angelis suis uermis, qui numquam moritur: tibi et angelis tuis inexstinguibile praeparatur incendium; quia tu es, maledicte, homicidii princeps, tu auctor incesti, tu sacrilegorum caput, tu artium pessimarum magister, tu haereticorum doctor, tu totius obscenitatis inuentor. Exi ergo, impie, exi, scelerate, exi cum omni fallacia tua; quia hominem templum suum uoluit esse Deus. Sed quid diutius moraris? Da honorem Deo Patri omnipotenti, cui omne flectitur genu: da locum Christo Iesu, qui pro homine suum sanguinem fudit: da locum Spiritui sancto, qui te per beatum apostolum suum Petrum manifestauit in Simone, qui fallaciam tuam in Anania et Saphira condemnauit, qui te in Herode rege honorem Deo non dante percussit, qui te in pessimo mago per apostolum suum Paulum caecitatis caligine perfudit, et per eumdem de pythonissa uerbo imperans exire praecepit. Discede ergo nunc, discede seductor; tibi enim eremus sedes est, tibi habitatio serpens est. Humiliare, prosternere: non est iam differendi tempus. Ecce enim dominator Dominus proximat, cito ignis ante ipsum ardebit, et inflammabit in circuitu inimicos suos. Si enim hominem fallis, Dominum non potes irridere. Ille te eiicit, cuius oculis nihil occultum est: ille te expellit, cuius uirtuti uniuersa subiecta sunt: ille te excludit, qui tibi et angelis tuis aeternam praeparauit gehennam, de cuius ore exiet gladius bis acutus, qui uenturus est in Spiritu sancto iudicare saeculum per ignem, amen.
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Text: Perseus Digital Library, licensed CC BY-SA. Dictionary: Lewis & Short (Perseus, CC BY-SA). Morphology: LatinCy — machine parsing, corrected against the AGDT & PROIEL treebanks and Morpheus.
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