SACRED FORMULA. - In non-Christian religions the s. f. is bound to the sacred-magical value attributed to the word; this is not regarded as a mere flatus vocis, but as something active that produces what it expresses. This explains, in primitive or uncultured minds, the concern to avoid the name of dangerous things or persons, or at least to designate them with euphemistic words so that the evocation may not make them present.
The efficacy of the word increases in value when it is bound to a formula that more precisely defines its imperative meaning. But for the efficacy to be full, the s. f. must be pronounced integrally (carta verba) and with the intended modulation of voice (carmen), and sometimes with threefold repetition.
For the powerful word to become a s. f. of prayer, however, it is necessary that the one who uses it acknowledge above himself a conscious will that must be rendered propitious, by setting before it the purpose of the sacred action directed to it. Thus there are s. f. that interpret the value of a rite and are pronounced at the culminating moment of the ceremony; for example, among the Romans, in the dedication of a temple, the dedicator, placing his hand on the doorpost, pronounces the f. declaring the conditions and obligations of the offering: «ollis legibus dabo dedicabque quas hic hodie palam dixero»; there are s. f. of prayer, laudatory or imperative, proposed by the one who directs the ceremony and repeated or confirmed by those present with a phrase of assent; s. f. of doctrinal content in which the teaching of a given religion is summarized or its mystical aspiration expressed; for example, «There is no other God but Allāh and Mohammed is the prophet of Allāh» of the Muslims; or «O jewel in the lotus! amen» of the Buddhists: a formula that, literally, refers to the depiction of the Buddha seated upon a lotus flower, and mystically means: Glory to the religion (Buddha) on earth (lotus); this formula has for Buddhists the value of salvation.
For the s. f. of the Christian ritual see under the individual Sacraments; for doctrinal s. f. see SUBROLO.
Bibliography2 works
Nicola Turchi