From sacramental efficiency to liturgical performativity: The rite as a place of transformation
Keywords:
Liturgy, sacraments, efficacy, performativity, rite, liminality, sacred, liturgical desire, participationAbstract
How to account for the effectiveness of the liturgy without reducing it neither to sacramental causality nor to the psychological or pastoral effectiveness of the celebration? Based on doctoral research dedicated to the transition from sacramental efficiency to the performativity of rites, extended by works on the sacred, liminality and liturgical desire, this article proposes to consider the liturgy as a symbolic action in which the anthropological and the theologal are inseparably linked. The category of performativity, enlightened in particular by Austin, Rappaport, Indemnah and Peirce, makes it possible to go beyond a solely cognitive or didactic conception of the rite. The notion of liminality then leads to understand how ritual action establishes a space of transformation and configures an experience of the sacred. Finally, the recent reflection on liturgical desire allows us to consider liturgical formation as an apprenticeship for entry into the actio Christi et Ecclesiae.
References
Austin, J. (1991). Quand dire, c’est faire. Seuil.
Bonaccordo, G. (1997). La liturgia: tra funzione pedagogico-cognitiva e dimensione performative. Liturgia e incarnazione, (14), 317-339.
Bonaccordo, G. (2021). Il rito e l’altro. La liturgia come tempo, linguaggio e azione. Libreria Editrice Vaticana.
Chauvet, L. (1987). Symbole et sacrement. Une relecture sacramentelle de l’existence chrétienne. Cerf.
Chenu, M. (2020). Pour une anthropologie sacramentelle. La Maison-Dieu, (300), 175-189.
Casel, O. (1983). Le Mystère du culte dans le christianisme. Cerf.
Catecismo de la Iglesia Católica. https://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism_sp/index_sp.html
Concilio de Trento. 7e session, 3 mars 1547, Décret sur les sacrements, can. 8, DzH 1608.
Concilio Vaticano II. Sacrosanctum Concilium.
Dal Maso, A. (1999). L’efficacia dei sacramenti e la performance rituale : ripensare l’ex opere operato a partire dall’antropologia culturale. Messaggero.
Francisco. (2022). Carta apostólica Desiderio desideravi.
Hombert, P. (1992). La formule “ex opere operato” chez saint Thomas. Mélanges de Science Religieuse, 49(3-4), 127-141.
Peirce, C. (1978). Écrits sur le signe. Seuil.
Tambiah, S. (1985). Culture, Thought, and Social Action. An Anthropological Perspective. Harvard University Press.
Thuillier, P. (2023). De l’efficience sacramentaire à la performativité des rites. Recherche sur l’efficacité de la liturgie. Institut catholique de Paris.
Thuillier, P. (2026). Habiter le seuil du désir : cathédrales et sanctuaires comme lieux liminaires de l’expérience liturgique.
Thuillier, P. (2025). Les apports de la catégorie de “performativité” à la notion de “sacré” en liturgie. La Maison-Dieu, (319), 53-78.
Turner, V. (1967). The Forest of Symbols. Aspects of Ndembu Ritual. Cornell University Press. Turner, V. (1990). Le phénomène rituel. Structure et contre-structure. PUF.
Van G, A. (1909). Les rites de passage. Picard.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
