INIUNCTIS DE IURE INIUNGENDIS. – A clause usually appended to rescripts by which dispensations and absolutions are granted. Evidently, its content varies according to the case in question, the extent of the dispensation or absolution requested. For example, in rescripts granting absolution from a censure, the formula *iniunctis de iure iniungendis* means that the censured party must repair any damages and scandal, if such existed, and accept a salutary penance in addition to sacramental penance. Cf. cann. 2252, 2254, and 2290.
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INITIATION. – From Lat. *in-eo* (whence *initium, initiare*), “to enter into,” here in the sacred sense of being admitted among the participants of a given religious group. Initiation is a rite that effects and consecrates the passage of an individual (or a group) from one condition of life to another, specifically from the profane to the sacred.
In primitive human groups, rites that introduce the young into the society of adults hold great significance. For this topic, see below.
I. IN RELIGIONS OF CULTURE. – Initiatory rites, which introduce religiously to a new condition of life, comprise three moments: separation of the initiate from the world to which he has hitherto belonged, during which he is instructed in the principles and duties proper to the association; trial, in which the initiate is subjected to tests, often painful, that must demonstrate his capacity for endurance in conformity with the obligations and conditions of the new life to which he aspires; and aggregation, which, through a ceremonial—often complex—confers upon the initiate the investiture of membership in the new society and the right to bear its distinctive badge.
In primitive groups, initiation is uniform for all men of the clan, but when this expands into a tribe through the acquisition of territories and the aggregation of foreign elements, initiatory rites become the privilege of the elders, who use them to exercise directive action over the men of the group.
Thus arise secret societies, which multiply according to the specific objectives they pursue and the mystical-magical capacities they claim to possess. These secret societies have as their patron a divine or spiritual power, to which the initiates assimilate through a ceremony signifying the death of the old man and his resurrection, thanks to the acquisition of a new soul that unites him to the other members of the society and makes him a participant in their mystical-magical powers of dominion over things and men.
For initiation into the mysteries, see **MISTERI**. For Christian initiation, see **BATTESIMO**.
Nicolas Turchi
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II. INITIATION OF YOUTH AMONG PRIMITIVE PEOPLES. – In several populations that still belong to original cultures, around the period of puberty, boys and girls, before entering fully into the affective life of society, must undergo initiation, the purpose of which is merely to inculcate observance of the moral precepts that constitute the ideal of education in these populations. The observance of these precepts is also a religious duty: some populations (e.g., the Yamana of Tierra del Fuego, South America) expressly teach their initiates that “Wataunewa” (the Supreme Being), who sees all things clearly, desires the observance of these laws and strikes the transgressor or his kin with premature death. Other populations, about which we are less informed, are not so explicit, yet the moral and religious character of their initiations is evident from the complex of ceremonies. Another characteristic of these initiations is that the initiates are subjected to mortifications and penances, such as fasts, silence, and little rest, but not to painful practices.
Among the Andamanese youth, between the ages of eleven and thirteen, they must abstain from particularly favored foods such as honey, turtle meat, and wild boar, and this prohibition lasts until they have passed through the initiation rites, which are neither secret nor reserved to one part of the tribe: women participate in the initiations of the boys, and men in those of the girls. During these ceremonies, a food from which the candidate must abstain is presented to him. He merely looks at it; the chief pours some drops of pork fat over him and anoints him with butter. The initiates must also remain silent for several days. Finally, relatives and friends adorn the youths and invite them to dance until they are exhausted. On these occasions, the girls receive the name of a flower that has just bloomed, and they bear this name until they become mothers. The ceremony as a whole lasts several days, after which the first food prohibition ceases. The following year, the festival is repeated, and at its conclusion another prohibition is lifted.
Yamana boys and girls, upon reaching puberty, undergo initiations “which are a systematic course of education” (Koppers). Respected elders impart to the young the essential duties, which may be summarized as follows: “Respect and help the elderly, do not repeat slanders you hear, distribute the spoils of the hunt not only to friends but also to strangers, do not kill, do not steal, and do no harm, respect the wives of others, help all, and be industrious. If you find a lost child, return him to his family even if he were the son of your enemy, for the child is not guilty of your enmity.”
The precepts for girls are substantially the same. They are especially reminded to rise early and to be serviceable to the elderly. The elders also recommend modesty in walking to the girls (see the complete list of precepts in Koppers, Gusinde, and Boccassino).
The initiations of the Australian populations, including those that still belong to the most archaic cultural stratum, are far more complex, and women may participate only in part of the ceremonies. This exclusion and several rites clearly show the influence of totemism, a cultural cycle in which the social position of women is greatly weakened compared to that in original cultures.
At the end of the ceremonies, the chief of the Kurnai (New South Wales, Australia) solemnly recounts the ancient history of the tribe, in which mythology and religion are intertwined. Then he sets forth the moral laws the young must observe: “Obey your parents, share what you have with friends and live in peace with them, do not have relations with girls or married women, abstain from certain foods until the elders give you permission to eat them.” All the circumstances that precede and accompany the enunciation of these precepts—exhausting ceremonies and dances lasting several days, the silence of the night, the solitude of the forest, the starry sky, the call of the Supreme Being—are arranged to leave the deepest impression on the young (W. Schmidt).
Even more complex are the initiations of the Yuin (New South Wales, Australia), who belong to the boomerang culture (v. ETNOLOGIA, VII, 4). In these ceremonies, the extraction of a tooth with a wooden chisel, which the initiate must endure without complaint or risk lifelong ridicule, is already present. The initiate takes pride in this extraction because it is a proof of courage, but perhaps even more because it marks him out from the uninitiated and makes him a man in the full sense of the word, with all the rights of tribal leadership. In the Yuin initiations, the division of the tribe into two categories—initiated (men) and uninitiated (children, youths, women)—is already evident. This division is a characteristic of totemism. Yet despite these non-original elements, in the Yuin initiations the authority of the Supreme Being remains strong: the initiates are expressly warned that “the one in the sky sees everything and punishes transgressors.”
In the initiations of the Kamilaroi (New South Wales, Australia), elders teach the young that in the division of spoils the old, the sick, and large families should be given preference.
The initiations demonstrate that: 1) even primitive peoples have a definite educational ideal which they seek to impress upon the young; 2) for a complete social education, parental authority is not enough; the authority of the social group is also required, and in primitive cultures this is only in its infancy and not in conflict with the family; 3) primitive cultures give equal importance to the education of boys and girls; 4) the mortifications (fasting, silence, scant rest) practiced during these ceremonies prove the importance these natives attach to self-mastery; 5) by yielding their preferred foods to the elders, the young demonstrate their conviction of the necessity of altruism and assistance extended to all members of the tribe (v. the examples of altruism cited by W. Schmidt and W. Koppers in Völker und Kulturen, Regensburg 1924, pp. 185 ff); 6) morality has a religious foundation, as shown by references to the Supreme Being who demands observance of his commandments and punishes transgressors. The sanction is sometimes limited to this life and consists in the death of the guilty party or his kin or in illness, sometimes it extends also to the next life. The good effect of the initiations does not fade throughout life, as attested by scholars who have observed these peoples on the spot.
In more recent cultures, initiations are no longer common to both boys and girls and largely lose their original, essentially educational purpose; indeed, they are often associated with obscene sexual motives. In matriarchal societies, only girls receive from their mothers some kind of initiation when they reach the age of first menstruation.
In totemism, only boys are initiated and subjected to painful practices such as tooth extraction, circumcision performed with a sharp stone flake or one retouched at the edges, and subincision with a sharp stone knife. — See pl. CXXIV.
The study of primitive initiations has clarified several archaic aspects of the Greek mysteries.