Article I. On Superstition

Superstition, according to St. Thomas, is a vice opposed to religion according to excess, not because it exhibits more for divine worship than true religion, but because it exhibits divine worship either to one to whom it is not owed, or in a manner in which it is not owed. Wherefore a twofold superstition must be distinguished: one by reason of mode, and the other by reason of object. Again by reason of mode it is distinguished according as the worship which is furnished to the true God is either false, as it would be to observe ceremonies of the old law which signified Christ to come, or superfluous, as it would be, for example, to hear Mass before sunrise with a certain number, position, or order of candles, or of a priest who has the age of Christ dying. Yet the Doctors attend more to superstition by reason of object, which can be committed in many ways, as will be clear from the following. - Cf. St. Thom. 2-2, q. 92, art. 1. - St. Alphonsus, n. 3.