Allocution
Bill Long 10/25/04
The Right that only the Pope shares with a Murderer
Now that I have caught your attention, I think I will start by introducing some similar terms. We all know of elocution, which may briefly be described as the art of effective public speaking. Fewer of us know of illocutionary, which may be defined as "relating to or being the communicative effect (as commanding or requesting) of an utterance." Ah, I need a sentence or two to illustrate this. "'There's a snake under you'--may have the effect of an illocutionary warning." Or, if you were at a restaurant and asked the waiter impatiently, "How's that salad coming along?," you really are not inquiring about the process of salad construction; you are demanding that it be brought to you. The illocutionary force of your utterance is a demand or, alternatively, by saying "How's that salad coming?" you are giving an illocutionary demand. The words are effect you are trying to produce. Linguists, as you might well believe, have buried themselves in the technical distinctions between performatives and constantatives, and between illocutionary and perlocutionary utterances, but I am really on my way to allocution so these others are just going to have to wait.
Getting to Allocution
The word allocution is derived from two Latin words, "ad" meaning "to" and "loquor" meaning "to speak," and it referred in classical times to a special address given by a military commander to his troops before or during a great battle in order to encourage them. It has nothing to do with allocation, a word that suggests the dividing or distributing of something according to a principle. As far as I can determine, allocution has only two specialized uses in English now (see below), but I would propose that we try to recapture a broader meaning of the term as "solemn speech on major occasion." I think that the idea of solemn and serious communication is at the heart of what so many of us feel we do or would like to do, that to have the word allocution in our linguistic quiver to use when the time is right enriches not simply our speech but also our categories of thought.
Allocution Today
But I am getting ahead of myself, so let's look at the two ways that the word allocution can be used in English today. The primary way that those who have heard of the term know it is through theology. It is "a solemn form of address or speech from the [papal] throne employed by the Pope on certain occasions." It is not just any old ex cathedra utterance, however. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, it "takes the place of a manifesto when a struggle between the Holy See and the secular powers has reached an acute stage."
In fact it is a secret address to a very select group, the College of Cardinals or even a subset of those Cardinals, to discuss matters of immense significance concerning the well-being of the Church. In such secret consistories, the cardinals have a consultative vote. When the Pope and the Cardinals have consulted and the Pope reaches a decision, "he makes his mind known to the cardinals by means of a direct address, or allocution. Such allocutions, though delivered in secret, are usually published for the purpose of making clear th attitude of the Holy See on a given question."
An example of a such an allocution was that by Pius VII before the signing of the French Concordat of 1802. The French Concordat was the result of negotiations between the Papal See and Napolean. Pius VI had been taken captive and died unceremoniously in the wake of the French Revolution. Many observers thought that the temporal, and perhaps even the spiritual power of the Papacy would forever be at an end. Napolean's troops were advancing on the Papal States in Italy, and the Church was in dire straits. But in 1800 his troops suffered unexpected reversals in Italy, and a new Pope was selected fewer than 200 days after Pius VI died. Taking advantage of the temporary weakness of Napolean, Pius VII then vigorously sought an agreement or Concordat between the Papacy and Napolean that would recognize the historic Catholic faith of France but, at the same time, remove some of the more objectionable practices of the First Estate that led to the French Revolution of 1789. While the Concordat was being discussed, Pius VII "rallied the troops" so to speak through an allocution.
Conclusion
Allocution therefore is not something that is done at the drop of a hat. But the solemnity and immense importance of the occasion which forms the backdrop to allocution encourages me to try to revive the term today. We may only have two or three occasions in life where we allocute; and we may not even recognize them when they occur, but our life is poorer if we don't have those occasions and if we don't know what to call them.
I see that I have run out of room here, so let's go to the next mini-essay to see the other meaning of allocution.
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