Article III. On Adoration

382. Etymological notion. The name adoration, like the Greek word προσκύνησις, seems to have been taken from ad os, i.e., to bring to the mouth, or to kiss. For adoration was customarily made in this manner: the one adoring would kiss the feet or the hem of the garments of the person to be adored.²⁸¹ Others derive the name of adoration from ador (spelt, épeautre), which is a kind of grain customarily employed in sacrifices. Finally, others think that this word is taken from the preposition ad and the verb oro,²⁸² because prayer for the most part either accompanies, precedes, or follows adoration.²⁸³

²⁸¹ Cf. Wirthmüller, Die moral. Tugend der Religion, § 49.

²⁸² In the German language: Anbetung.

²⁸³ Cf. Billuart, De relig. diss. 3, a. 1.

383. Real notion. In a general sense, adoration is honor shown to another because of his superior excellence, in protestation of our submission toward him. Therefore adoration extends less widely than honor; for an equal or even an inferior can be honored, but none except a superior is adored. Since, however, threefold excellence can be distinguished, namely, divine, created supernatural, and created natural, hence a threefold adoration is also distinguished: the first, which is of divine excellence and is called latria; the second, which is of created supernatural excellence existing in angels and saints and is called dulia; the third, which is of created natural excellence and is called civil worship.²⁸⁴ In Sacred Scripture the name adoration is not rarely taken in the second and third senses; e.g., Abraham adored the angels and the sons of Heth;²⁸⁵ Bathsheba adored King David;²⁸⁶ "when Peter had entered, Cornelius came to meet him and, falling at his feet, adored."²⁸⁷

Here we speak principally of adoration which is latria. This adoration comprises a twofold act: one internal, namely, of the intellect (acknowledging the divine excellence and our subjection) and of the will (intending this acknowledgment and subjection); the other external, by which this acknowledgment of the divine excellence and of our subjection is truly manifested. The principal act by which God is adored externally is sacrifice. This act indeed is reserved to divine adoration alone; but other external acts customarily employed in adoration, e.g., genuflection, inclination, prostration, a kiss, uncovering the head, etc., can be employed not only in divine adoration but also in dulia and civil worship.

²⁸⁴ Cf. ib.

²⁸⁵ Gen. 23:7.

²⁸⁶ 3 Kings 1:16.

²⁸⁷ Acts 10:25.

384. Divisions. Since adoration is a species of worship, it is useful to set forth certain frequently occurring distinctions of worship. Therefore there is distinguished:

1. Absolute and relative worship. The former is that by which some person is worshiped because of a perfection and excellence intrinsic and proper to him. In this manner God is worshiped with the worship of latria, and the saints with the worship of dulia. The latter worship is that by which some thing is worshiped because of the excellence of the person whom it represents or to whom it is referred. Absolute worship cannot be offered except to persons; relative worship, however, is shown to inanimate things, e.g., the cross, images, relics, etc. In itself, indeed, nothing would prevent relative worship from being shown also to persons, since persons too can have a close relation to God, e.g., the Mother of God; nevertheless, in order to avoid ambiguities and occasions of error, relative religious worship is not to be shown to persons. For someone could falsely think that such worship rested in the person himself.²⁸⁸ Thus, e.g., the cross can be venerated with the relative worship of latria because of its intimate connection with Christ crucified, who is God. But the Blessed Virgin, although as Mother of Christ she has a much closer relation to God than the cross has, is not to be venerated with the relative worship of latria; nor is it to be said that the Blessed Virgin can be adored relatively, as the cross is in fact adored relatively in the ceremonies of Good Friday. When danger of error is absent, nothing prevents relative civil worship from being shown not only to things but also to persons. Thus, e.g., an ambassador of a king is sometimes honored in the same manner as the king himself.

2. Public and private worship. The former is rendered in the name of the Church by persons legitimately deputed for this, through acts to be shown by the institution of the Church,²⁸⁹ e.g., all strictly liturgical devotions. The latter is that which either was not instituted by the Church or is not performed in the name of the Church, e.g., private worship rendered to some servant of God not yet beatified.

3. The worship of latria, hyperdulia, dulia, and civil worship. This distinction was already indicated above. The worship of latria is adoration in the strict sense, which is shown to God alone because of His infinite dominion. Hyperdulia is the worship which is due to the Blessed Virgin alone because of her singular excellence, by which she far surpasses all angels and saints. This altogether singular excellence of the Blessed Virgin consists principally in this, that she is the Mother of God,²⁹⁰ but secondarily both in the fact that she shines with most splendid virtues and in the fact that for us she is in a most special manner the mediatrix and dispenser of benefits. The worship of hyperdulia shown to the Blessed Virgin is indeed neither absolute nor relative latria (as Protestants calumniously object to us), but is very useful. Therefore proposition 26 was deservedly condemned by Alexander VIII: "The praise which is rendered to Mary as Mary is vain."²⁹¹ The worship of dulia is shown to saints and angels because of their excellence supernaturally received through the grace of God. Civil worship is shown to men because of their natural excellence, e.g., to a king, princes, superiors, etc.

²⁸⁸ Cf. S. theol. 3, q. 25, a. 3 ad 3.

²⁸⁹ Code of Canon Law, c. 1256.

²⁹⁰ Cf. S. theol. 3, q. 25, a. 5.

²⁹¹ Denz. n. 1316.

385. Obligation of adoration. Principle 1. We must render to God the internal and external worship of latria.

a) Natural law strictly requires that we acknowledge the infinite excellence of God and subject ourselves most fully to God. But this is an act of latria or of adoration strictly so called, as is abundantly clear from the things explained above.

b) Divine positive law also commands this adoration or latria: "The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and him only shalt thou serve."²⁹²

Adoration to be rendered to God does not of itself require a bodily act; and therefore the angels adore God with the mind alone. But we men, composed of soul and body, ought to adore God by acts both of the mind and of the body. Internal adoration of the mind is more principal, and without it external adoration is pure hypocrisy; and therefore Christ said: "The true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth."²⁹³ Nevertheless, adoration made by external signs is also very useful and necessary, for through these external signs our affection is aroused to subject itself to God. Moreover, internal adoration vividly exercised is necessarily manifested by external signs, just as all vivid internal affections produce some bodily movements; finally, since adoration is the principal act of divine worship, and we ought to worship God also with external and public worship, it follows that man is bound to manifest his internal adoration by external signs.²⁹⁴

The precept of adoring God obliges in the same manner as the precept of worshiping and praying to God; hence recall the things said above in nn. 327 and 340. It has been established by the Church that God be adored on Sundays and feast days by hearing the sacrifice of the Mass, which is the most excellent act of adoration.

²⁹² Matt. 4:10.

²⁹³ John 4:23.

²⁹⁴ Cf. S. theol. 2, 2, q. 84, a. 2.

386. Principle 2. The absolute worship of latria is due to the one and triune God alone and to Christ, God and man; but the relative worship of latria is due to the cross and the other instruments of the Passion or Redemption, and also to images of God and of Christ.

The first part of this thesis suffers no difficulty, since it is the most grave sin of idolatry if someone adores any creature whatsoever with absolute latria. Christ as man (even according to His body) can be adored absolutely, because in Christ there is only one person, namely, the divine Person.²⁹⁵ Hence, e.g., I can adore the most Sacred Heart of Christ. Likewise the consecrated Host is adored with absolute latria, because the substance of bread has been converted into the body of Christ, who is God.

The other part of this thesis is disputed. For whether the cross of Christ, the instruments of the Passion or Redemption, and images of God are to be adored with proper and true latria, although relative, or are only to be venerated with some lesser worship, has been disputed from the times of Blessed Bellarmine, who was the first to assert: "It is not to be said that any images ought to be adored with latria, but on the contrary that they ought not to be so adored."²⁹⁶ But St. Thomas and all the ancient theologians after the Second Council of Nicaea rightly teach with the Council of Trent:²⁹⁷ "The honor which is shown to them [images] is referred to the prototypes which they represent, so that through the images which we kiss and before which we uncover the head and prostrate ourselves, we adore Christ." Hence nothing prevents us from venerating the cross and images of Christ with truly latreutic relative worship.²⁹⁸

Therefore even in the liturgy of Good Friday there is the "Adoration of the Cross," and St. Thomas painted a Cross on the wall of the convent at Anagni and wrote beneath it:

The Cross is my certain salvation; the Cross is what I always adore. The Cross of the Lord is with me; the Cross is my refuge.

As regards the worship to be shown to the true Cross of the Lord, the following things have been established by positive law:

1. Particles of the Holy Cross must be preserved separately and exposed for veneration, but not in those reliquaries in which other relics are preserved at the same time.²⁹⁹

2. Particles of the Holy Cross can be exposed for the veneration of the faithful in the same manner as the Most Holy Eucharist. In such an exposition, one knee is to be bent whenever someone passes before that exposed particle. The incensation, however (with a triple swing), must be made while standing and not while genuflecting.³⁰⁰ Benediction is given in the same manner as benediction with the Most Holy Eucharist.³⁰¹

3. Particles of the Holy Cross must never be exposed above the tabernacle in which the Most Holy Eucharist is preserved enclosed.³⁰²

4. Particles of the Holy Cross are to be preserved becomingly and not openly, in a separate case and in a separate place; but those passing before that place must incline the head, but not genuflect.³⁰³

²⁹⁵ Cf. ib., 3, q. 25, a. 2.

²⁹⁶ De imag. sanct. II, c. 24.

²⁹⁷ Sess. 25, De invoc. sanct. (Denz. n. 986).

²⁹⁸ Cf. S. theol. 3, q. 25, a. 4, and Prümmer in Commer'sches Jahrbuch XXII, 292-305.

²⁹⁹ Sacred Congregation of Rites, 27 May 1826 and 18 Feb. 1843 (Decr. auth. n. 2844, where all decrees issued up to that time concerning the veneration of the Holy Cross are found collected). The Code of Canon Law, c. 1287, § 2, establishes the same.

³⁰⁰ Sacred Congregation of Rites, 15 Sept. 1736 and 16 Dec. 1909 (Decr. auth. nn. 2324 and 4243).

³⁰¹ Sacred Congregation of Rites, 23 May 1835 (l.c., n. 2722).

³⁰² Sacred Congregation of Rites, 12 March 1836 and 25 May 1906, ad 1 (l.c., nn. 2740 and 4186).

³⁰³ Sacred Congregation of Rites, 7 May 1746, ad 7 (l.c., n. 2390 ad 7).

387. Principle 3. The worship of dulia is due to the saints, the angels, and their images. If this worship is shown to the saints or angels themselves, it is absolute; but if it is rendered to their images or relics, it is relative.

Thus the Catholic doctrine, vehemently attacked by Protestants. Enough was already said above in n. 344 concerning the invocation of saints. But from such invocation the veneration of the saints already arises by that very fact, for the excellence of the saints and their intercessory power before God are acknowledged. Dulia, indeed, taken in the strict and absolute sense, is service duly shown to a ruling creature, and in this sense dulia does not pertain to the virtue of religion, because it does not directly include the worship of God.³⁰⁴ But if, in the prerogatives of the saints, veneration is shown to gifts received from God, God is honored indirectly; and therefore the veneration of the saints is customarily considered an act of the virtue of religion. Nevertheless, such worship of the saints is absolute, because the saints and angels possess the dignity of a person to whom proper veneration is due and whose worship is not to be referred totally to some prototype. (Cf. the things which the Council of Trent³⁰⁵ defined concerning the worship of saints as Catholic doctrine.)

The worship to be shown to images and relics of the saints is relative, for it is referred wholly to the prototype. The following can be held as a general rule concerning absolute and relative worship: If the prototype is adored with absolute latria, its image is to be adored with respective latria; but if the prototype is worshiped with absolute hyperdulia or dulia, its image or relics are worshiped with respective hyperdulia or dulia.

Concerning the veneration of images and relics, the Church has established most wise laws, namely:

1. No relic is to be exposed for public worship unless it has first been established as genuine from an authentic document of some Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, or of the Ordinary of the place, or of another ecclesiastical man to whom the faculty of authenticating has been conceded by Apostolic Indult.³⁰⁶

2. Relics of the blessed cannot be carried about in public processions unless there is a special indult, or unless it is in places where their Office and Mass are celebrated by concession of the Apostolic See.³⁰⁷ Nevertheless, from this it does not yet seem to be prohibited that in some procession a reliquary be carried about in which, besides relics of the blessed, relics of saints are also contained.

3. Non-notable relics can everywhere be reverently preserved; but notable relics (such as the body, head, arm, forearm, heart, tongue, hand, leg, or that part of the body in which the martyr suffered, provided it is entire and not small) cannot be preserved in private houses or oratories without the express permission of the Ordinary of the place;³⁰⁸ indeed, without the permission of the Holy See they cannot be transferred permanently to another church.³⁰⁹

4. Images of saints and of the blessed ought not to be printed and published without the approval of the Ordinary of the place.³¹⁰

5. Images of the blessed can indeed be exposed everywhere throughout the world, but nevertheless they cannot be shown for public veneration or placed upon an altar except in those churches where Masses in their honor are also permitted.³¹¹

6. It is never lawful to place any relics or images whatsoever (even an image of the Crucifix) in such a way that the tabernacle in which the Most Holy Eucharist is preserved is their direct base.³¹²

7. Men who have died celebrated by a reputation for sanctity can indeed be worshiped and invoked in a private manner, but cannot be honored with public worship in churches or oratories before they have been enrolled in the catalog of the blessed or of the saints. Likewise, it is not lawful to adorn their images with halos or to light lamps at their tombs; "their images or deeds and acts can, however, be displayed upon the walls of a church or in stained-glass windows, provided those images exhibit neither any indication of worship or sanctity nor anything profane or foreign to the custom of the Church."³¹³

8. In some places there exist miraculous images to which the faithful approach as suppliants with great confidence. No special power indeed inheres in them, but by His ineffable providence God has ordained that He Himself, through the mediation of these images, produce greater and more frequent miracles or benefits. Special devotion of the faithful toward these miraculous images is entirely lawful and conformable to reason. Therefore Pius VI rejected the contrary doctrine of the Synod of Pistoia: "Likewise, the doctrine and prescription generally reproving every species of worship which the faithful are accustomed to render to some image in particular, and to have recourse to that image rather than to another: rash, pernicious, injurious both to the pious custom practiced by the Church and to that order of providence by which God has willed these things to happen, not in all memorials of the saints alike, He who distributes His own gifts to each one as He wills."³¹⁴

³⁰⁴ Cf. S. theol. 2, 2, q. 103, a. 2.

³⁰⁵ Sess. 22, c. 3 and sess. 25.

³⁰⁶ Code of Canon Law, c. 1283, § 1. Cf. Pontifical Commission, 17 July 1933 (Act. Ap. Sed. XXV, 345).

³⁰⁷ Sacred Congregation of Rites, 27 Sept. 1659 (Decr. auth. n. 1130). Code of Canon Law, c. 1287, § 3.

³⁰⁸ Code of Canon Law, c. 1282.

³⁰⁹ Ib., c. 1281, § 1.

³¹⁰ Const. Officiorum et munerum, 26 Jan. 1897. Code of Canon Law, c. 1385, § 2.

³¹¹ Sacred Congregation of Rites, 27 Sept. 1659. Code of Canon Law, c. 1277, § 2.

³¹² Sacred Congregation of Rites, 12 March 1836 (Decr. auth. n. 2740 ad 1).

³¹³ Sacred Congregation of Rites, 14 Aug. 1894 (l.c., n. 3835).

³¹⁴ Prop. 70 (Denz. n. 1570).