Chapter I — On adoration, its division, and its precept

I. Question I. What, and of how many kinds, is adoration? Answer. Taken generally, it is an act by which someone subjects himself to another in testimony of that other's excellence. There are as many adorations as there are kinds of dignity. There are two dignities, uncreated and created. To the uncreated divine Majesty is owed the adoration called Latria. To creatures, on account of the supernatural excellence of grace and sanctity participated from God, is owed an adoration far inferior, which is called Dulia. To the Blessed Virgin, who after God stands eminent above all the Saints, is owed the adoration called Hyperdulia.

II. Adoration is one interior, the other exterior. The former subjects the spirit inwardly to God; the latter breaks forth into exterior acts. Again, one adoration is absolute, and the other respective. The absolute is owed to God alone; the respective, to the Saints: for we worship the Saints for God's sake, or we adore God in his Saints. For the worship which we offer to the Saints is always referred to God, as to the supreme Lord, from whom the Saints receive a share in their dignity and excellence.

III. The adoration which is shown to creatures on account of their natural gifts and dignities is commonly called observance, and can be shown by the same exterior signs by which God is worshipped. For the exterior actions of the body are absolutely indifferent of themselves. By kneeling, by prostration of the body, God is adored. Similarly, by these signs Judith, having seen Holofernes, adored him, prostrating herself upon the earth: chapter 10. By kneeling, and by bending the body, we worship supreme Pontiffs, Princes, and Kings. Exterior adoration, then, that it be made divine, depends upon the intention of the one adoring, unless it be destined, by some peculiar law, rite, custom, or circumstance, for the adoration of God. Wherefore, when private persons perform such actions publicly, it does not suffice that they have a good intention, but the circumstances of time, place, nation, and custom must be regarded.

IV. Question II. Is there a divine precept of adoring God with acts both internal and external? Answer. The affirming opinion is certain, of faith. This commandment is affirmative insofar as it commands the worship of God, and negative insofar as it forbids that the worship owed to God alone be paid always and forever to creatures. This precept, insofar as it is affirmative, obliges of itself at fixed times. God must be worshipped in every place; yet temples have been erected in which sacrifices and the solemn rites of divine worship are celebrated.

V. Question III. Must Christ the Lord be adored as man with the worship of latria? Answer. The worship of latria is owed to the one and triune God alone: The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and him only shalt thou serve: Matthew 4. Each divine Person, then, can and must be adored by us both conjointly and severally. Wherefore that Christ, as the second Person of the Trinity, must be adored by us with the worship of latria is certain. It could only be disputed whether he must be adored with such worship as man. And this too the Theologians affirm, in this sense: that in Christ the Lord there is one hypostasis, and one subject of infinite dignity, to whom the worship of latria is owed. But to the humanity of Christ, as abstracted from the divine Word, only the worship of hyperdulia is owed, because thus it betokens only a finite dignity. During the three days of death, the body of Christ had to be adored with the worship of latria, because it was conjoined with the divine Word. The same must be said of the body of Christ in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, hypostatically conjoined to the divine Person, as the Council of Trent defined against Luther. The consecrated Host must be adored absolutely, no express condition being added. It suffices that a Catholic be so disposed in affection that, if he knew it were not consecrated, he would abstain from adoration.

VI. Question IV. Must the Cross of Christ be adored with the worship of latria? Answer. All Catholics affirm it: since the Cross of Christ is his image. Now the image of Christ is adored with the same worship as Christ himself. But the Cross to which Christ was affixed must be adored with the worship of latria, not only because it is a symbol and image of Christ, but also on account of physical contact, and that precious blood with which it was sprinkled. The other inanimate instruments of Christ's passion too must be adored with the worship of latria, on account of physical contact.

VII. The arguments which the Heretics are wont to object — that we worship wood and metals — are lies and calumnies: for in the recounted figures and symbols we worship Christ himself. The Cross of Christ is worshipped, not as the infamous gibbet chosen by the Jews to punish Christ with a most shameful death, but as the banner of victory, and the instrument which Christ used to free us from the power of the devil. Nor is there anything for them to snarl about, that the hands of the Blessed Virgin, of Joseph, of the Disciples, which touched Christ's body, would have to be adored with the worship of latria: since instruments destitute of soul are not capable of worship, considered in themselves; therefore the whole worship which we show to them is referred to Christ. The Blessed Virgin and the other Saints are adorned with an intimate excellence, and so are worthy of worship, although we refer even the very worship which we render to the Saints unto God, as St. Thomas teaches, III, q. 25, art. 5, ad 3. We adore those Crosses which have been instituted and destined to represent Christ's passion. Other crosses which by chance arise fortuitously in wood, straw, or other things are not to be adored, but must be disregarded like other pieces of wood.