ACCLAMATION (Lat. *ad-clamatio*, Gr. ἐπι-ζώνησις). — It is the outcry that arises from a stirred multitude (shouting and singing is proper to a soul in a state of emotion, which needs to give vent to its inner feeling) as a sign of veneration, praise, good wishes, consent, or exhortation.
1. IN NON-CHRISTIAN RELIGIONS
For this reason, a. is found in all religions, inasmuch as it is an approval of divine action and also an invitation to it so that its protective work may continue.A. is amply documented in texts and inscriptions from the Hellenistic period and was derived by the classical world, especially from Egypt. It was directed toward emperors (and remained in Byzantine ceremonial) with a sacromagical meaning of good omen; cf. for Nero, Suetonius, *Nero* 20.3; for Alexander Severus, *Hist. Aug.*, *Vita Alex. Sev.* 56; for Commodus, Dio Cassius, LXXII, 20; and for various emperors, the mention in the surviving Acts of the Arval Brethren. This a. could also be execratory, as that of the Senate at the death of Domitian (Suetonius, *Dom.* 23) and of Commodus (*Hist. Aug.*, *Vita Comm.* 18).
Its aspect can be a mortal sin or a venial sin, according as through it the precept of an action gravely or lightly obligatory is violated; under the latter aspect, if it is voluntary, it is always a mortal sin.