Curse

CURSE. - The curse is a daughter of wrath and consists in invoking evil upon others.

Being formally a sentence, the curse can also be conditional, and thus the concluding ritual formulas of covenants in antiquity are explained, examples of which are also found in the Bible (Lev. 26:14-45; Deut. 11:26-29). A curse directed at beings insofar as they are the work of God falls within the framework of blasphemy; according to St. Alphonsus this hardly ever occurs: if instead the curse is directed at creatures considered in themselves, it presents itself as an unreasonable act because it is vain and therefore unlawful (Sum. Theol., 2a-2ae, q. 76, aa. 2-6); its psychological explanation is found in the general one of the predominance of passion (anger, hatred...), which prevents the dominion of the higher faculties. To curse beings instead under the specific aspect of their harmfulness (occasion of sin or of another great misfortune) does not involve moral disorder, because it is not unreasonable to oppose even affectively that which is evil, or the cause or occasion of it. From this standpoint certain exorcisms that the Church uses in her Ritual are to be considered (v. e.g., tit. II, ch. 2 for the rite of Baptism).

A special form of curse, which had great historical importance in the life of the Jewish people, is the Hebrew herem (v.), which derives from the root lpm and designates what is cursed by God and condemned to extermination, whether it be person or thing, in honor of God.

Costante Scarpellini