It is clear that all the efforts to find, in the specifically linguistic logic of different forms of argumentation, rhetoric and style, the source of their symbolic efficacy are destined to fail as long as they do not establish the relationship between the properties of discourses, the properties of the person who pronounces them and the properties of the institution which authorizes him to pronounce them. The limits (and the interest) of Austin's attempt to define performative utterances lie in the fact that he does not exactly do what he thinks he is doing, and this prevents him from following it through to the end. Believing that he was contributing to the philosophy of language, he was in fact working out a theory of a particular class of symbolic expressions, of which the discourse of authority is only the paradigmatic form, and whose specific efficacy stems from the fact that they seem to possess in themselves the source of a power which in reality resides in the institutional conditions of their production and reception.
The specificity of the discourse of authority (e.g. a lecture, sermon, etc.) consists in the fact that it is not enough for it to be
' There is no warning, the vicar trots along at any time [3], everything is done all at once, the wafer comes out of a pocket [5/ and off we go! We count ourselves lucky when it isn't some lay person [If who arrives with the holy sacrament in a powder compact [8J or a cheap gilt pill box 18]' (p. 120).
‘He has deliberately adopted the following method of communion: the worshippers stand in a semi-circle behind the altar and the tray containing the holy sacraments is handed around. Then the priest himself offers the chalice (every Sunday - I thought that the Holy Father had made an exception for that). Feeling incapable of helping myself to the sacraments [5] ("God bless those who touch the Saviour's sacred vessels" ... But what about the Saviour himself?. ..), 1 had to negotiate and argue in order to have the eucharist offered up to my lips in the traditional way [5]' (pp. 62-3).
'This winter, recovering from illness and having been deprived of Holy Communion for several weeks, I went to a chapel to celebrate mass. I found myself being refused (5] Holy Communion because I wouldn't help myself to the sacrament [5] and drink from the chalice f5f (p. 91).
‘The grandfather of the girl being confirmed was horrified by the size of the wafers ]8]; each one "could have been a complete snack"' (p. 82).
'I found myself in a church where the priest who was celebrating mass had invited along pop musicians ]l], I don't understand music, I think they were playing very well, but in my humble opinion this kind of music wasn't conducive to prayer' (pp. 58-9).
‘This year our confirmation candidates had neither book nor rosary ]8], but a sheet of paper on which some hymns, which they didn't even know, were written, and which were sung by a group of amateurs {!]' (p. 79).
