Exorcist

In some religions, an exorcist is a person who is believed to be able to cast out the devil or other demons. A priest, a nun, a monk, a healer, a shaman or other specially prepared or instructed person can be an exorcist. An exorcist is a person who performs the ridding of demons or other supernatural beings who are alleged to have possessed a person, or (sometimes) a building or even an object.

In a Roman Catholic context, exorcist may refer to a cleric who has been ordained into the minor order of exorcist, or a priest who has been mandated to perform the rite of solemn exorcism.

Since at least the third century, the Latin Church has formally ordained men to the minor order of exorcist. Text previously attributed to a fourth Council of Carthage in 398, now identified as a collection called Statuta Ecclesiæ Antiqua, prescribes in its seventh canon the rite of ordination of such an exorcist: the bishop is to give him the book containing the formulae of exorcism, saying, "Receive, and commit to memory, and possess the power of imposing hands on , whether baptized or catechumens".

These exorcists routinely performed ceremonies over adults and infants preparing to be baptised. Authors such as Eusebius (3rd Century) and Augustine (4th Century) provide details of these minor exorcisms: Eusebius mentions the imposition of hands and prayer. Augustine noted that rites of exorcism by exsufflation (breathing upon the candidate) were also performed for the baptism of infants.

The office of Exorcist was not a part of the sacrament of Holy Orders but as a sacramental was instead first conferred on those who had the special charism to perform its duties and later to those studying for the priesthood. By the twentieth century, the order had become purely ceremonial. As a minor order, exorcists wore the surplice.

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