§ 2. On the Worship of Dulia

536. DEFINITION. The worship of dulia (or veneration) signifies the worship by which we attest our reverence and submission toward holy creatures, on account of the supernatural excellence of grace and glory intrinsic to them (St. Alph., on Trent, Sess. 25, de Invoc. SS.).

Note. To HOLY PERSONS a twofold reverence indeed belongs: 1. of respective latria, on account of their extrinsic excellence, because they represent and contain divine excellence (better than sacred things or places); 2. of absolute dulia, on account of their intrinsic excellence. Yet in practice, on account of danger of error, neither the Saints, nor the Blessed Virgin herself, are adored, at least explicitly, with the respective worship of latria (St. Thom., III, q. 25, a. 5). Nevertheless irreverence toward them, and especially blasphemy, redounds to God himself, whose servants, friends, sons, etc., they are (cf. n. 596). Similarly, veneration exhibited to the Saints implicitly and virtually honors God; and thus it pertains, broadly speaking, to the virtue of religion.

DIVISION. By reason of the degree of participated excellence, dulia is distinguished in two ways. There is simple dulia, which regards created supernatural excellence common as it were to all Saints. There is hyperdulia, which regards excellence created indeed and finite, but singular and very eminent.

537. PRINCIPLES. I. The most blessed Virgin Mary is to be venerated with the absolute worship of hyperdulia. It is the common opinion of Catholics. For the Blessed Virgin Mary has a singular and altogether ineffable eminence of dignity and sanctity, "which, besides God, no one can reach by thinking" (Bull Ineffabilis of Pius IX). Whence the Church beseeches the Blessed Virgin Mary more frequently, more insistently, and with greater solemnity than the Saints and angels. Cf. Muller, l. 2, § 46.

538. II. Saints and angels are to be venerated with the worship of dulia simply so called. For it is defined of faith by the Second Council of Nicaea and by Trent that all the Saints are to be honored with some veneration.

Yet some difference is present in the worship which is attributed to them (cf. n. 531). And indeed:

1. To CANONIZED Saints sacred and public worship is owed; because, through the infallible testimony of the Church, we are now made certain that they reign with Christ in the heavens; and therefore we must honor their souls and bodies as truly and properly sacred.

2. To the BEATIFIED the same sacred and public worship is exhibited, but more limited, namely such as is determined either by custom, if their worship is immemorial, or by Pontifical Indult, if the ordinary way is proceeded by. But if someone, in other churches or places not designated by the Supreme Pontiff, were to celebrate concerning a Blessed, he would sin gravely, because change of place is a transgression of the decree in a grave matter (Bened. XIV, de Beatif., l. I, c. 39, n. 12).

3. To men or women dead with an opinion of sanctity, but not yet beatified, it is licit to exhibit no public worship; yet private religious worship is licitly deferred to them. "Images of the same (authentic Decrees, n. 3835) ... can neither in any way be placed on altars nor outside altars be painted with aureoles, rays, and other signs of sanctity; yet their images or deeds and facts can be exhibited on the walls of a Church, or in colored glass, provided those images bear before themselves neither any indication of worship or sanctity, nor anything profane or alien from the custom of the Church." Besides, from the new decree of Aug. 13, 1913, only after the heroic nature of the virtues has been recognized is a Servant of God to be adorned with the title Venerable. But prayers in honor of a Servant of God always need the approval of the Ordinary (A. A. S., VI, p. 192).

III. Relics, statues, etc., of the Saints are to be honored with the same veneration as the persons whose relics, etc., they are, but with respective worship. It is established from Trent, Sess. 25, where, for the rest, it is added: "Let the Bishops diligently teach ... that great fruit is perceived from all sacred images."

For practice, let the following be noted:

539. I. On Holy Relics. 1. RELICS of the Saints are: a) In the stricter sense, their bodies and parts of the body, even the smallest; likewise oil or another liquid sometimes flowing from them; b) more broadly, all things which the Saints used in life, as garments, books, instruments of punishments and mortifications; c) most broadly, all things which have touched either the body, or the sepulcher, or other relics of a Saint; and likewise oil from a lamp hung before the sepulcher, and dust from the place where they are preserved.

2. Eminent relics of Saints are, besides the whole body, the head, the anterior part or the upper part of the arm; or the heart, tongue, hand, if they are preserved intact from a miracle, the leg (not the bones of the thigh), or that part of the body in which a martyr suffered, provided it is whole and not small (S. R. C., n. 430, 555, 4041).

3. Relics of the Saints are to be venerated not only with religious but also with sacred worship; not, however, public worship unless their authenticity has been approved by the Ordinary of the place where they are to be honored, and this even if they have already been recognized at Rome or by another Bishop.²

4. Relics are to be preserved only in a church, yet never in the tabernacle. If it is a question of small relics enclosed in cases, the use is commonly conceded today even to private persons.

5. Relics can be exposed for the veneration of the faithful. But they are not to be placed: a) above the tabernacle in which the most holy Sacrament is preserved, so that the tabernacle serves as a base for them; b) before the little door of the same tabernacle, or in another way by which simple persons could be led to adore the relics as the most holy Sacrament; c) with the Most Holy when it is exposed on the same altar. If they are exposed, let two lights burn continually on the altar. The one exposing and replacing should be vested in surplice, and also in humeral veil, if he blesses the people with the relics. But the blessing must be made without chant, without a formula of blessing, the relics having been incensed with unblessed incense, with two swings.

6. In processions, relics of canonized Saints can be carried; but: a) not under a canopy; b) with head uncovered (a Bishop, however, with miter); c) not in a procession of the most holy Sacrament, unless by force of indult or custom.

7. Concerning a Saint of whom an eminent relic is certainly possessed, the Office can be made and Mass celebrated, provided he is found in the Roman Martyrology.

540. II. On Holy Images. 1. Among holy images, these can be specially honored: a) blessed images; b) those which are at the same time relics, as an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary which is said to have been painted by St. Luke; c) those which are renowned for miracles, and copies of them.

2. In churches it is not licit to expose images deformed from the sense and decrees of the Church (Bened. XIV, Const. Sollicitudini). Images furnishing to the rude an occasion of dangerous error are opposed to the sense of the Church, such as, however, generally are not images of the Most Holy Trinity; likewise images in which something profane or dishonorable appears.

3. That these laws may be observed more efficaciously, the Council of Trent (Sess. 25) established that no unusual image can be exposed unless it has been approved by the Bishop. And Leo XIII, Const. Officiorum (tit. 1, c. VI, n. 15), declared these things concerning any images whatsoever, even those serving only private devotion: "Images in whatever way printed of Our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Virgin Mary, of the Angels and Saints, or of other Servants of God, deformed from the sense and decrees of the Church, are altogether forbidden. But new images, whether they have prayers annexed or are published without them, are not to be published without license of ecclesiastical power." But if new images are printed without this law having been observed, the publisher indeed sins, but the faithful are not prohibited from their use.

4. Holy Images are honored in the same way as relics, except that with them a blessing is not given; nor concerning them, unless it has been specially conceded, is the Office made or Mass celebrated. In a procession with the most holy Sacrament, outside the case of indult or custom, they are not to be carried (Salmant., tr. 21, c. 10, n. 81).