On Religion in General

851. 1. Notion. The theological virtues, of which we have treated, intimately and directly unite us to God; nevertheless, because we remain distinct from God and dependent upon Him, it is necessary that we acknowledge His infinite excellence by a special worship. Now the supernatural virtue by which the will is inclined to render to God the worship due to Him on account of His infinite excellence is called religion.²

¹ In this treatise we shall set forth the first three precepts of the Decalogue: the first, namely: "I am the Lord thy God... Thou shalt not have strange gods before Me. Thou shalt not make to thyself a graven thing, nor the likeness of anything that is in heaven above or in the earth beneath... Thou shalt not adore them nor serve them"; the second: "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain"; the third: "Remember that thou keep holy the sabbath day" (Exod. 20:2-8).

² Worship in general is an act by which we venerate someone on account of his excellence; it is also called veneration, and is rendered to any person truly excellent. But the worship which is rendered to God, on account of His infinite excellence, is called the worship of latria or adoration, while the worship rendered to the saints retains the name of dulia or veneration. Formerly, however, these words were predicated indiscriminately of God and creatures. Cf. De Incarnatione, n. 255-256.

852. 2. Principal acts. Considered psychologically, religion embraces manifold acts. (a) First, when we consider the divine excellence, we cannot but admire His infinite perfections and supereminent goodness. (b) This admiration, moreover, soon begets love: for the will is drawn affectively toward the infinite goodness which we have perceived with the mind. (c) Yet reverential fear is joined to love: for while we think of the divine majesty and holiness, we clearly behold our own littleness and imperfection, and we appear before God only with fear. (d) Thence arises the religious sense, or veneration and adoration, by which, with love and fear together, we worship God as first principle and supreme Lord, and subject our whole being to Him. Moreover the habitual will of promptly handing over and devoting oneself to divine worship is called devotion.³ (e) But because we know that all the goods which are in us, both natural and supernatural, have been conferred gratuitously by God, we acknowledge Him as a distinguished benefactor, and offer Him acts of thanksgiving. (f) But, since daily we need new benefits and new graces, which we are able to obtain only from God, we have recourse to Him by prayer, that we may obtain them. (g) Sometimes also it happens that, because of our frailty, we commit sin and inflict upon God an offense which ought to be repaired: thence arises a sense of penance, by which we strive to compensate the injury inflicted upon the Supreme Deity. (h) Among the various acts which are able to express the aforesaid dispositions, sacrifice certainly stands forth, or the offering and immolation of a victim publicly made, in the name of the whole community, in order to acknowledge the supreme dominion of God.⁴

³ Devotion, when it is exercised, becomes an act; but generally it is taken as a habitual disposition.

⁴ The acts of religion are enumerated somewhat differently by St. Thomas (Summa Theologiae, II-II, q. 82-91) according to the ontological order: a) interior acts, which are the more principal, namely devotion and prayer; b) exterior acts, by which some exterior things are offered to God, namely sacrifices, offerings, first-fruits, and tithes; or by which something is promised to God, as vows; or by which something divine is assumed, namely an oath and the assumption of the divine name.

These indeed are the principal acts of the virtue of religion. Others are less principal, as oath and vow; others, from positive law, are ordered to the sanctification of certain days, as cessation from servile work and assistance at the sacrifice of the Mass.

853. 3. Place among the virtues. From this it follows that the virtue of religion is a special virtue, not properly theological, but the most excellent among the moral virtues.

(a) The virtue of religion is a special virtue, or one distinct from others. For it pursues a special good, namely the worship due to God, and indeed on account of a special motive, namely His supreme and singular excellence. Now where a particular object and motive are present, there is a distinct virtue.

(b) Theologians unanimously teach that this virtue is not properly theological: for while a theological virtue immediately regards God Himself, religion of itself directly regards the worship due to God. Nevertheless supernatural religion, of which we are here treating, supposes the theological virtues, and cannot be perfect unless in its own sphere it embraces certain acts of these virtues. Thus only by faith do we know the supernatural excellence of God, which we worship by religion; when we pray, we must elicit an act of hope; true devotion, by which we hand ourselves and our goods over to God, involves an act of charity.⁵

⁵ Some spiritual authors, especially of the school of the seventeenth century in France, take the virtue of interior religion as a complex of the theological virtues by which we perfectly worship God through Christ, the perfect adorer of the Father. Thus Olier, Introduction a la vie et aux vertus chretiennes, ch. I, where, among other things, he writes: "Finally Our Lord, in order to expand His holy religion toward God, and to multiply it in our souls, comes into us and leaves Himself on earth in the hands of priests as a host of praise, in order to communicate to us His spirit of a host... He pours Himself out in us, He insinuates Himself into us, He perfumes our soul and fills it with the interior dispositions of His religious spirit."

(c) Wherefore religion far surpasses the other moral virtues. For virtues are more perfect insofar as they are nearer to the last end; and therefore the theological virtues are better than the rest, because they immediately attain God, the last end. But among the moral virtues religion stands forth: for it approaches God more nearly, because it is ordered directly to divine honor and worship, while the other moral virtues tend only indirectly to the honor of God, by prescribing duties toward the neighbor and ourselves.

854. 4. Division of the treatise. Treating of the acts of the virtue of religion, and treating of the vices opposed to the same, we shall speak:

I. Of the more principal acts, adoration and prayer;

II. Of the secondary acts, oath and vow;

III. Of the social act, or the sanctification of Sunday and feasts.

And thus we shall set forth the first three precepts of the Decalogue.