IMPRECAZIONE. – A wish for some material or spiritual evil, directed against oneself or against others.
In pagan antiquity there was widespread abuse of imprecations, especially inviting the infernal divinities to inflict misfortunes upon designated persons. One may recall the imprecatory prayers of Tieste against Atreo, of Ateio against Crasso, and of Druso against Tiberio.
Imprecations were also used to replace legal sanctions or, in conjunction with them, to impose certain obligations more strictly, such as respect for tombs, treaties, and wills.
A particular written form of imprecation was the defixio, which takes its name from the analogy with the fastening of a point to which the misfortune was compared. It is found among almost all ancient peoples and consisted in a magical attempt to inflict harm and torments upon enemies by writing, generally on a small lead tablet, words (dirae) such as the following: “may Persephone never find him favorable.” The formulas of imprecation were often affixed to the house of those whom one wished to harm, or enclosed in tombs, or engraved on the funerary slab.
Christians also used the latter, placing such expressions upon them to prevent violations: «male iaceat, insepultus iaceat, cum Iuda partem habeat si quis sepulchrum hunc (sic) violaverit» (Armellini, V. BIBLICA.). The sole example of a Christian defixio is the one discovered at Trai in Dalmatia, dating from the sixth century: it has no magical or harmful significance, however, but an anti-magical and almost exorcistic one, directed against the unclean spirit called «spirete tartaruce». A separate category is formed by those imprecations that may be classified among the figures of speech.
Expressions that at first sight appear imprecatory are also found in the Bible, especially in the Psalms (e.g., 128:6), in the Prophets, and also in the Gospel (e.g., Lk 6:24). St. Thomas holds that such expressions have an indicative sense and are more prophetic threats than words of hatred and vengeance, while in other cases the Angelic Doctor judges that the desire expressed is directed not toward evil but toward the fulfilment of God’s justice and the cessation of sin (Sum. Theol., 2ᵃ-2ᵃᵉ, q. 25, a. 6, ad 3). In this he expresses the common conviction of the Fathers (cf., e.g., s. Ilario «Cognitionis fuit sermo non voti»: In Ps., 12, 8 13; PL 9, 717, and s. Agostino «Haec eis futura praedixit non quasi ut evenirent optavit»: In Ps., 34, 1, 9; PL 36, 328).
Moral judgment: an imprecation that has no blasphemous character is a sin contrary to love of neighbor, or at least a sin of anger; and it is grave if the following conditions are present: 1) the evil wished for is truly desired; 2) it is grave or is considered such; 3) it is wished for with full deliberation.
An imprecation of a determinate evil assumes the moral species of the evil desired (Sum. Theol., 2ᵃ-2ᵃᵉ, 6, 76, a. 5, ad 2). Often, however, imprecations uttered in a fit of anger are not deliberately approved; for this reason, in general, the imprecation remains not gravely imputable. Imprecation assumes particular gravity and malice when it is directed against persons entitled to special respect, or against persons toward whom particular duties exist, such as relatives or superiors: «Qui maledixerit patri suo et matri, morte moriatur» (Lev. 20:9).
graphie latine, Paris 1914, p. 374 ff.; M. Vigouroux, Imprécation, in DB, III, cols. 853–55; H. Leclercq, Imprécation, in DACL, VII, cols. 463–68; A. Thouvenin, Imprécation, in DThC, VII, cols. 1425–26. Costante Scarpellini