Chapter III — On the worship of the Cross, and whether the other instruments of Christ's most sacred Passion can be worshipped, and with the worship of latria

All Catholics affirm it.

I. Question I. Is the Cross of Christ to be adored? Response: All Catholics affirm this. For the Cross of Christ is an image of Christ. But the image of Christ is worshipped with the same worship as Christ himself. That the Cross is a special sign, or symbol referring to the person of Christ, is clear from that text of Matthew 24: then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man — from which text all the commentators teach that the Cross of Christ is meant. The Angelic Doctor explains this matter excellently. He says: it must be said that no reverence is shown to the image of Christ insofar as it is a mere thing (say, a carved or painted sign); for reverence is owed only to a rational nature. It remains, then, that reverence is shown to it only insofar as it is an image; and thus it follows that the same reverence is shown to the image of Christ as to Christ himself. Since, therefore, Christ is adored with the adoration of latria, it follows that his image is to be adored with the adoration of latria (III Part., q. 25, art. 3).

It should be added that the Cross to which the incarnate Word was affixed must be adored not only because it is an image of Christ himself, but also on account of its physical contact with his members, and on account of that precious blood with which it was sprinkled, as the same Angelic Doctor teaches in the place cited, art. 4. If, then, we speak of that very Cross on which Christ was crucified, it is to be venerated by us in two respects: in one respect insofar as it represents to us the figure of Christ, which is present in it; in another respect from its contact with the members of Christ, and from the fact that it was drenched with his blood. Hence in both respects it is adored with the same adoration as Christ, namely the adoration of latria.

II. Question II. Are the other inanimate instruments of Christ's most sacred Passion — the lance, the cords, the nails, the scourges, the crown, the reed, the sponge, and the like — to be adored with the worship of latria? Response: All Catholics affirm this, on account of their physical contact with the body of Christ. For it is from this contact that they become notable relics, and acquire a special relation to Christ himself, as St. Thomas explains in the place cited, ad 3: the precious wood, as sanctified by contact with the sacred body and blood, is fittingly to be adored; likewise the nails, the garments, the lance, and the like. These, however, do not represent the image of Christ as the Cross does, which is called the sign of the Son of Man that shall appear in heaven. It is, then, contact with the most sacred body of Christ that brings it about that we worship these inanimate instruments with the same worship as Christ, because it is entirely on account of Christ that we adore them; for they are not capable of any intrinsic adoration in themselves, since they possess no intrinsic dignity.

For this reason, animate instruments — such as the hands of those who crucified him, or the lips of those who kissed [Judas' kiss] that same Christ — are not to be adored, on account of the crime perpetrated by such members. For sins defile even the external members through this contact. Wherefore, although they would otherwise be worthy of adoration, on account of the crime committed they are worthy not of adoration but of detestation.

III. Azor adduces the authority of St. Augustine, drawn from Sermon 8 on the Words of the Lord, to argue that Augustine taught that inanimate instruments are to be adored not with the worship of latria but of dulia; and Leander presses the same authority — a man who marks even the smallest faults of other casuists with his censorious pen. But that sermon is in fact spurious, and is placed among the apocryphal works, as may be seen in the Appendix to Tome X [of Augustine's works]. Indeed, the very words that Azor and Leander cite in opposition are not even found in that sermon, as the theologians of Salamanca note (tract. 21, cap. 10, punct. 10).

IV. The arguments customarily raised against us by heterodox writers — namely, that we worship wood and metal — are wretched falsehoods, refuted so many times already. For in these symbols and figures we worship Christ himself, and we venerate these signs on this one ground alone: that they call to our memory the exemplar which they represent. Equally worthless is the other fabrication they blurt out, that no son worships the gallows or the noose by which his father was hanged. To this argument St. Thomas replies that in the Cross of Christ, insofar as it is considered according to the intention or opinion of the unbelievers, one sees the reproach of Christ; but insofar as it is considered according to its effect for our salvation, one sees in it the divine power by which he triumphed over his enemies. The Cross of Christ, therefore, is worshipped not as an infamous punishment chosen by the Jews to put Christ to a most shameful death, but as the standard of the victory which Christ won over the enemy of the human race, and as a triumphal monument of our salvation. Finally, as to the objection that the hands of the Virgin, of her spouse Joseph, and of the disciples, which touched the body of Christ, would likewise have to be adored with the worship of latria — the reply is that the case is not parallel. For instruments devoid of a soul are not, considered in themselves, capable of veneration; hence the whole of the worship we show them is referred entirely to Christ. The Virgin, her spouse, and the disciples, however, are themselves adorned with intimate excellence, and are therefore worthy of worship in themselves — though of the worship we show to the Saints, not of latria — because the Blessed Virgin, according to herself, is capable of veneration; and so the reasoning is not the same (III Part., q. 25, art. 5, ad 3, where he explains this more fully in the body of the article).

V. As to the Cross itself, a distinction must be drawn between that Cross on which Christ hung and other crosses fashioned in its likeness. The former is worshipped on a twofold ground: by reason of the image of the extended Christ which it bears in itself, and by reason of its contact with that same most holy body. Wherefore even if that Cross were broken into pieces and lost the very shape of a cross, it would still be to be adored with the worship of latria, on account of that distinct contact. All other crosses, made to represent that first one, are adored on the single ground of the image; hence, if they should lose the figure representing Christ, they are in no way to be worshipped. Finally, in order for the Cross of Christ to be worshipped, it must have been deliberately made for the purpose of recalling the sacred mystery. For this reason other crosses that happen to arise by chance — from timbers, straws, or other things crossing one another fortuitously — are not to be worshipped; rather, like any other wood, they may be disregarded or put to ordinary use. The names of God are to be venerated insofar as they refer to what they signify, and are honored as representing those persons; for they signify God, Christ, Jesus Christ, and the Blessed Virgin — names that make known persons worthy of holiness and veneration. Therefore, just as images are to be honored, so too such names, due proportion being kept, are to be honored. So the theologians commonly teach.