Exorcist: The Beginning

Factual error: In the very beginning of the film, the priest is walking through a battlefield that contains the bodies of Roman soldiers (they are wearing distinctive Roman uniforms and armor), which dates the battle no later than 6th century AD. He is holding a rosary in his hand, but the rosary wasn't introduced into the Catholic Church until the 13th century.

Factual error: Father Gionetti gives Father Merrin a copy of the Rituale Romanum (Roman Ritual). (The administration of exorcism is in Title X of the Rituale Romanum.) The title of the book embossed on its leather cover is "Roman Ritual", in English. Later in the film, Father Merrin asks Joseph to help him by reading passages of the book, and we are shown a couple of printed pages, the text of which is also in English. The Rituale Romanum would have been printed in Latin in 1949, when the film is set, because non-Latin translations of liturgical texts were not authorized until the promulgation of the Sacrosanctum Concilium (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy) by Pope Paul VI on December 4, 1963, as part of the Second Vatican Council.

Onesimos

Continuity mistake: As the priest descends down the rope ladder into the church for the first time he is handed a lantern by his friend. In the next shot the camera is looking down and you can see that the friend is holding the lantern. Then the next person goes down the same rope ladder and the friend is not holding the lantern, where did the lantern go?

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Trivia: This film is actually the second version of "Exorcist: The Beginning" to be filmed and completed. But upon seeing the first version, the studio protested the film was based too much on the characters and wasn't the gore-fest they wanted, so they hired a new director and reshot the entire movie with a different script. The original version of the movie was recently released on video as "Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist."

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Question: Is there anyone who knows the English translation for the latin that Merrin speaks to Sara right after she dies in the end?

Answer: I do. It's just the Latin form of the Ritual Absolution in the Initial Rites from the Mass, applied to the second singular person (it is said with "us", instead of "you"), though it should not be used there with Sarah. In those situations, the proper absolution is the one that belongs to the Sacrament of Reconciliation or, instead, a simple blessing. The translation is: May Almighty God have mercy on you, forgive your sins and lead you to eternal life.

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