**GIACULATORIE** — From the Latin *iaculari* (to hurl). They consist of frequent outpourings of the heart toward God, Jesus Christ, the Virgin, the saints, sometimes purely internal, other times expressed in words.
The term may derive from a passage by St. Augustine, who, speaking of the solitaries of Thebaid, says they used frequent prayers «brevissimas et raptim quodammodo iaculatas» (Epist., 129, 20: PL 33, 501).
**GIACOSA, Giuseppe** — Portrait.
Ascetical writers, saints, and the Church agree in recommending the use of *giaculatorie* as one of the easiest practices, since it requires no time and can be interspersed among all our occupations, even the most intense, while being particularly effective in maintaining and strengthening union with God, in imploring the aid of grace in difficulties, and in recalling the soul in moments of discouragement and dejection. In periods of aridity, when other forms of prayer become difficult, *giaculatorie* help the soul to maintain contact with God and preserve it from tepidity.
St. Francis de Sales rightly says that in this exercise lies the great work of devotion. Some saints made frequent use of them, even pledging to say no fewer than a certain number each day. In such pacts, however, it is more important to attend to the spirit that animates them than to the mere quantity.
As for formulas, none is prescribed. The best for the individual are those that arise spontaneously at any moment and in response to particular needs of the soul. They can be very brief, and sometimes a single word is far more effective than a long phrase. Such are, for example, the holy names of Jesus and Mary. Of the expression *Deo gratias*, St. Augustine says: «Nihil est, quod magis animum ad Deum erigat, nihil quod magis laetificet auditu, nihil quod sublimius intelligatur, nihil quod fructuosius agatur» (Epist., 41, 1: PL 33, 158). Objectively, however, there are formulas that are more commendable, namely those drawn from Holy Scripture, especially the Psalms, which abound in them. Cassian, for example, devotes the entire tenth chapter of the tenth collation to the verse: «Deus in adiutorium meum intende; Domine, ad adiuvandum me festina» (Ps. 69, 1), to show how this single invocation suits all circumstances of life and is a practical form of perpetual prayer (cf. PL 49, 831 ff.).
Also to be recommended are *giaculatorie* granted indulgences by the Church, for which even mental recitation suffices to gain the indulgence (Apostolic Penitentiary, 7 Dec. 1933, in *AAS*, 26 [1933], p. 35). A list of these indulged *giaculatorie* is found in the *Enchiridion indulgentiarum. Praeces et Pia Opera* (Rome 1950).
Among the various collections of *giaculatorie*, mention should be made of those by Cardinal G. Bona: *Opuscula ascetica selecta* (Fribourg in Br. 1911, pp. 281-278); by D. A. Baker, *Devout exercices of immediate acts and affections of the will* (in H. Bremond, *Hist. Litt. du sentiment religieux en France*, X, Paris 1932, p. 340 ff.); and by O. Marchetti, *Meditazioni sulle giaculatorie del S. Cuore di Gesù* (1st series [2nd ed.], Rome 1927; 2nd series, ibid. 1928; 3rd series, ibid. 1930).