Insufflation

INSUFFLATION. - Like exsufflation, insufflation is an ancient ecclesiastical ceremony still used today in the solemn administration of Baptism, in the blessing of the sacred chrism and of the oil of catechumens, and in the consecration of the baptismal font. It has a double meaning: negative, exorcistic, as the expulsion of the evil spirit (exsufflation with cold breath) and positive, sanctifying, as the infusion of the Holy Spirit (insufflation with warm breath, breathing upon); in the formulas the two purposes are sometimes combined, as in the present-day Ordo Baptismi parvulorum.

The rite of breathing upon the catechumen, before admission to Baptism, derives from the ancient practice of driving out demons from the possessed and the sick by breathing. In this way the catechumens, considered to have fallen into the slavery of the devil, are exorcised by breathing; this practice is found in Jerusalem (St. Cyril, Procatech., 9 [of 347]), in Africa (Tertullian, Apol., 23: PL 1, 415;

St. Augustine, Contra Jul., I, 50, 60, 4: PL 45, 1073, 1081, 649), among the Donatists (St. Augustine, Contra Cresc., II, 5, 7), in Rome between the 5th and 6th centuries (John the Deacon, Epist. ad Senarium: PL 59, 401-402). This practice is not found, however, in the Roman Sacramentaries nor even in the Ordo Rom. VII; it is found instead in the Ordo Romanus antiquus of the 10th century, sometimes followed or preceded by the sign of the Cross, a rite already found in the so-called Missal of Bobbio, of Gallican origin (8th century): «Post hec [signa Crucis] insufflabis in os eius ter et dices: III. accipe spiritum sanctum in corde retenias» (ed. E. A. Lowe, London 1920, n. 233). In the Pontificale Romanae Curiae of the 13th century it is prescribed: «Hic ad modum crucis alet in faciem cathechizandi et dicat ei: Iohannes, accipe Spiritum Sanctum per istam insufflationem et Dei benedictionem. Pax tibi!» (M. Andrieu, Le Pontifical romain, II, Vatican City 1940, p. 514).

The oils of chrism and of catechumens in the blessing of Holy Thursday are also exorcised with breathing, a rite described in the Ordo of St. Amand: «Exolat in eam pontifex tribus vicibus» (L. Duchesne, Origines du culte chrétien, 5th ed., Paris 1925, p. 487); in the Ordo Romanus I, n. 31: «Pontifex... halat ter in ampullam chrismatis... insufflat ter... et similiter halat in ipsam, sed tacite...» (PL 78, 952). The other bishops present also take part in the rite according to the Ordo Romanus X, nn. 10, 11: «Halet ter in illam; halent etiam in ipsam omnes episcopi qui assistunt ibi» (ibid., 1012).

The breathings over the baptismal water have the same purpose as the insufflation of the catechumens: exorcism and sanctification. This rite is of Gallican origin; the Missale Gothicum bears witness to it (ed. C. Mohlberg, Augsburg 1920, n. 259: «Deinde insufflas acqua[m] per tres vices») and the Gelasian Sacramentary of the 8th century (Gellone, Sangallo). In Rome (it is missing, for example, in the Gregorian Sacramentaries, in Amalarius and in the Ordo Romanus antiquus), it is found in the Ordo Romanus X (n. 21: PL 78, 1016); however, it would not become of general use until the Roman Missal of Pius V.

Pietro Siffrin