Adjuration

To “adjure” a person is to put him underoath, that is, to require an oath from him. Thus the high priest required our Lord to swear that He is the Christ (Matt. 26:63):“I adjure thee by the living God that thou tell us whether thou art the Christ, the Son of God.” Since it is lawful, on due conditions, to swear, it cannot be unlawful, when occasion warrants and jurisdiction exists, to demand an oath of another. Ina court of law, for example, a witness is lawfully adjured, thatis, he is required to swear before God that he will give full and true testimony.

It is a kind of adjuring to induce or command anyone to do a thing in the name of God. In this sense, evil spirits are adjured in exorcisms.

Sometimes irrational creatures are adjured, but only inso far as they are instruments of rational creatures.