Idolatry

151. Notions. 1. Idolatry is superstition by which divine worship is exhibited to a creature, whether this is an animate or inanimate thing, or finally the demon himself.

Therefore two things are required for true idolatry: first indeed, that the worship which is exhibited to the creature be truly divine worship owed to God alone, or a testification of supreme excellence; then, that this worship be exhibited to the creature seriously and truly, not fictitiously and by simulation or for the sake of jest.

2. A twofold idolatry is distinguished: formal, which is committed with the intention of adoring a creature; and material, which is done only externally without the will of adoring a creature, as when someone from fear of death adores an idol.

3. Formal idolatry again is twofold: perfect, if someone adores a creature which he in fact thinks to be God; and imperfect, if someone, knowing that there is nothing divine in the creature, nevertheless worships it with divine worship from hatred toward God or from desire of obtaining something from the demon.

152. Its moral malice. 1. All idolatry is a grave sin, indeed the gravest after sins which are opposed to the theological virtues, because all idolatry inflicts grave injury upon God, who alone is the principle of all things.

Therefore even material idolatry is a grave sin, although less grave than formal: for although it is not true idolatry, nevertheless it is an external denial of faith and a lie injurious to God against the virtue of religion.

2. Perfect idolatry is a sin against faith and religion; imperfect idolatry indeed is not against faith, yet (insofar as it is idolatry) it is graver than that, since it proceeds from mere malice, not from ignorance, and involves great contempt of God. The former can be without fault, as if someone adores an unconsecrated host which in good faith he believes to be consecrated.

The sin of idolatry is committed not only by gentiles and magicians, but also by those who so worship and invoke saints as if they could furnish natural or supernatural gifts by their own power. In a certain broader sense, they commit idolatry who: a. attribute to false saints or to the damned the worship owed to true saints; b. take care that worship owed to saints be exhibited to themselves by feigned sanctity, false miracles, and false revelations. Today among baptized faithful, those commit the sin of idolatry together with the sin of apostasy who, imbued with the principles of materialism, worship nature as God in the manner of pagans, or who attempt to restore the worship which the ancient Germans exhibited to mythological figures (Wodan).

The sin of superstition is also committed by giving divine honour to false gods. This is done by idolatry, divination, vain observance, and magic.

By material idolatry divine worship is given to a creature through fear or for some other reason merely externally, without any intention of honouring it as God. It is a grave sin, for it is directly against the obligation of making external profession of the faith, and contains the grave malice of a lie in matters of religion.

Formal idolatry is perfect or imperfect. The former consists in honouring a creature as God, falsely thinking it to be God. The latter knowingly honours a creature as God, without any excuse of ignorance, out of hatred towards him, or wishing to obtain something thereby. Both are grievous mortal sins, but the latter is the more grievous on account of the greater knowledge and malice.

I. Notion. Idolatry occurs when divine honor is shown to a creature, for example to a demon. It is the same by what sign the honor is shown, whether by sacrifice or genuflection, etc., provided that the sign placed signifies divine honor either from the intention of the agent or from common estimation (St. Alphonsus, III, 12).

II. Division. Idolatry is twofold, formal and material or simulated, according as it is committed with the intention of adoring, or without that intention, as if someone out of fear adores an idol. Formal idolatry is perfect or imperfect according as one intending adoration holds the creature for God, or does not hold it for God, but for example adores it out of hatred toward God.

III. Morality. 1. Idolatry is a most grave sin, because it bestows divine honor on a creature and thus, "so far as is in itself, makes another God in the world, diminishing the divine sovereignty" (St. Thomas, II-II, q. 94, a. 3).

2. Idolatry differs in species from superstitious observance, insofar as the former involves a sin of infidelity or heresy, or at least is opposed to the profession of faith (St. Alphonsus, III, 13).

Definition of Idolatry.—Idolatry is the supreme worship of latria offered to a creature.

(a) It is supreme worship, and hence the inferior reverence of hyperdulia, dulia, or civil honor, offered respectively to the Blessed Mother, angels, saints, superiors, etc., is not idolatry. The external signs of worship that belong to God alone (such as sacrifice, temples, priesthood, altars, etc.), may never be used in the veneration of creatures; nor the signs that are common to God and creatures (such as genuflexions, prostrations, prayers, etc.), if the intention is to adore.

(b) Idolatry is offered, that is, by it an act of worship is intended or is at least performed in a serious manner. Hence, it would not be idolatry so to enact a pagan ceremony that the onlookers could understand that no religious rite was being performed (e.g., if it were done on the stage, or in a joking manner).

(c) Idolatry is offered to a creature, and hence the relative honor that is shown the images of the Trinity or of Christ on account of the persons represented by them is not idolatry. The creature to whom idolatry is shown is either a person (e.g., an Angel, the soul of a departed person, a living human being), or an irrational creature (e.g., the bull Apis, a sacred plant), or an inanimate substance (e.g., statues or pictures, the elements, the heavenly bodies), or a fictitious being (e.g., Jupiter and the other gods of mythology).

The Kinds of Idolatry.—(a) Idolatry is either internal or external. Internal idolatry has the intention to adore a creature, as when a Satanist offers sacrifice to demons. External idolatry performs an outward rite that signifies adoration of a creature, although there is no will to give adoration, as when a Christian out of fear of death reluctantly burns incense before an idol. (b) Internal idolatry is either perfect or imperfect. Perfect idolatry includes belief in a false god, as when an ignorant pagan prays to the sun and moon. Imperfect idolatry is committed when, without belief in a false god, there is the will to offer it divine worship on account of hatred of God, wish to obtain favors from demons, or the like.

The Sinfulness of Idolatry.—(a) Idolatry is a most grievous crime. It entails rebellion against the majesty of God, attack on the virtue of religion, unbelief or denial of faith, and scandal; and hence it is forbidden in the first commandment: “Thou shalt not have strange gods before Me. Thou shalt not adore them, nor serve them” (Exod., xx. 3 sqq.).

(b) Idolatry in itself and in its highest degree is the most grievous of sins, for it includes both hatred of God (since it would deprive Him of His unique excellence by giving His honors to creatures) and blasphemous unbelief (since the idolater publicly professes that God is not above all). Now, it was said above that unbelief, hatred of God and blasphemy are the most enormous of sins (see 820, 895, 1301, 1302), and so it follows that the worst form of idolatry is graver than other sins.

(c) Idolatry, by reason of the dispositions of the person who commits it, may be less grievous than other sins. Thus, it is worse to hate or deny God internally than to worship an idol externally only; it is worse to blaspheme with great hatred and contempt than to practise idolatry with less malice. Imperfection of the act, as in cases of ignorance or want of consent, makes the sin venial, or no formal sin at all.

Comparison of Different Sins of Idolatry.—(a) Internal idolatry is worse than external idolatry, because the former, though not the latter, includes approval of the superstition committed. (b) Imperfect idolatry is worse than perfect idolatry, if both be considered precisely as idolatry, since the former proceeds from malice, and the latter from greater or less ignorance. (c) External idolatry is aggravated when its motive is more sinful or makes the act more voluntary (e.g., it is worse to pretend sacrifice to an idol if the motive is to ingratiate oneself with the idolaters or to spite the Christians, than if the motive is to escape death at the hands of the pagans).

Idolatry Possible in Christian Worship.—The guilt of idolatry may be incurred even by Christians offering worship to God. (a) Thus, in the adoration of the Eucharist there would be idolatry, at least material, if an unconsecrated host were exposed for veneration or given in communion. (b) In the veneration of the Saints there would be idolatry, if they were honored or invoked as if they possessed divine attributes.

What is idolatry, of how many kinds is it, and what kind of sin is it? - Idolatry is defined: an action by which worship owed to God alone is exhibited to a creature. It is threefold: perfect, imperfect, and simulated. The first renders divine honor to a creature, falsely judging it really to be God. The second indeed renders divine honor to a creature, but either from hatred of the true God, or from desire of obtaining something from a demon or another creature, not being ignorant that the same lacks divinity. Finally the third exhibits that honor to a creature, from fear of death alone, without internal affection, as happened to certain Christians in times of persecutions. Each of these kinds of idolatry is a grave sin. It is proved: "Just as in an earthly republic it seems most grave that someone should bestow royal honor upon another than the true king... so among sins which are committed against God, which nevertheless are the greatest, it seems most grave that someone should bestow divine honor upon a creature; because, as far as in him lies, he makes another God in the world." S. Th. 2. 2, q. 94, aa. 3, 1; L. 12, 13.

263. • Idolatry is an action by which worship due to God alone is attributed to a creature; and this is done not only by sacrifice, but by any sign of honor by which someone intends to submit himself to a creature as to God, for example by genuflection. - St. Lig. n. 12.

A twofold idolatry is distinguished, namely 1º Material or simulated, when someone, without internal affection, from grave fear, exhibits worship to an idol. It would also be called material if it proceeded from invincible error, for example if someone, falsely thinking that a Host was consecrated, adored it. In the 1st case it would be a mortal sin; in the 2nd none, as is clear.

2º Formal and proper, which is done 1º by adoring a creature as God; 2º by exhibiting worship to a demon or to another creature as if to God, or at least with the mind of obtaining something from such a creature which can be asked from God alone ¹. - St. Lig. n. 13.

¹ Others more clearly distinguish perfect and imperfect idolatry. They call that perfect which has infidelity taken strictly, namely an error of the intellect, annexed to it, and therefore exhibits worship to a creature because it attributes divinity to it. But imperfect they call that which, not from error, but either from hatred against God, or from the desire of obtaining something, exhibits external worship to a demon or to another creature, as to God.

But it is outside controversy among all, that any idolatry whatever, whether perfect or imperfect, or even only simulated and external, when, that is, someone exhibits worship to an idol as God not from error or evil will, but merely from fear, for example of a tyrant, is a mortal sin.

What idolatry is. The word idol, eidolon, which in modern use properly signifies an image, statue, or symbol of a false god, has also been said of the false gods themselves. (Cf. Prat, cited by Michel in Dict. Theol. Vacant, under the word idolatrie.) False gods, I say, i.e., one who is not in any way, or at least is not God.

Idolatry, therefore, strictly is latria or the worship reserved to the true God alone, which is rendered to a false god or to his image, statue, or symbol. And a twofold ancient idolatry can in reality be distinguished: one which directly affected with the worship of latria persons who were said to be gods at least by some participation of divinity; the other which immediately terminated in an image, statue, or symbol. Men cultivated in liberal studies honored idols of this sort because of a relation at least representative of persons, while the pagan crowd, perhaps also deceived by certain wondrous phenomena, confused the image, statue, or symbol with the divinity itself. (Cf. Michel, Dict. Vacant, VII, col. 606.) In Sacred Scripture, both of the Old and of the New Testament (St. Paul), idols are sometimes asserted to be nothing, sometimes demons: they are nothing, because they are not gods; they are demons, both because polytheism must be referred to the devil as author (cf. Prat, l. c.), and because by the power of the devil the marvels were done by which idolaters were deceived (cf. 2, 2, q. 95 art. 7).

The very principle of evil has been affected with honors, that it might at least be placated by worship.

Nor is modern idolatry among barbarians to be understood otherwise: in idols (fetiches) some power is judged to be present.

In a more general ratio, however, idolatry signifies every vicious worship of a creature. For the worship due to God, our Lord and Benefactor, demands that we expect all things either immediately from Him, or mediately according to the order pre-established by Him and the powers conferred by Him.

Therefore he who strives to obtain something through a power which God did not will to exist or which He did not at all ordain for our uses, incurs the vice of idolatry: he renders to a creature an honor which cannot be referred to God.

Of how many kinds it is. Moreover idolatry is distinguished as material, which is simulated without internal affection, for example from fear; and formal, which proceeds from the intention of worship. The latter is called perfect, when someone adores the sun, an idol, which from infidelity he estimates to be God; imperfect, when someone, either from hatred of God or from desire of obtaining something from the devil or from another creature, without subordination under the divine will, exhibits to it an undue honor as to God. Therefore idolatry is often joined with infidelity or heresy; formal idolatry is objectively a most grave sin; and perfect idolatry is objectively graver than imperfect. Subjectively, however, because of the more conscious malice of the will, imperfect idolatry can immediately or in itself, though not in its cause, be graver than perfect. Material idolatry is also a grave sin, because it is at least a pernicious lie against religion; and often it is also opposed to external confession of the faith.

Sought effects. Sometimes, through express worship, general protection is sought for obtaining goods, or immunity from evil, as among certain peoples of the Indies; sometimes invocation merely tends to this, that knowledge may be obtained concerning hidden things, especially concerning future contingents. Other effects also can be sought: sciences without labor, health without exterior remedy. The use of malefices is worthy of particular mention; discussion concerning these will return at n. 246.

Invocation of the devil. 1. Express invocation of the devil is had when it is formally asked that the devil, or a false god, teach certain things, either by himself in apparition, that is, by illusions; or through pythons, that is, living men obsessed or possessed; or through the dead who appear, necromancy; or through dreams, oneiromancy; or through figures and signs, geomancy, haruspices.

To express invocation belongs a more general pact with the devil, by which someone in a more universal ratio gives himself over to the devil. This is the sin of idolatry, and besides of sacrilege and hatred of self. A more general pact, I say; for a particular pact is contained in every express invocation of the devil.

Morality. Every express invocation of the devil is to be charged as a grave sin. This sin does not vary in species against religion on account of the variety of effects which are sought; but according to the quality of those effects, one can also sin against charity or justice.

2. Tacit invocation. Since no invisible creature can furnish knowledge while dependence upon God is neglected, except the devil, an invocation of a creature made absolutely necessarily terminates in the devil. But he who asks certain things from the devil enters into illicit commerce with the sworn enemy of God; he distrusts divine Providence, professes a subjection to the devil unworthy and injurious both to God and to Christ, and exposes himself to the danger of harmful deception: this we cannot admit without derogating from charity toward ourselves. If besides this the knowledge proper to God is attributed to the devil, a new ratio of blasphemy is added. Cf. 2, 2, q. 94 art. 3 ad 2.

What is to be judged concerning the worship which not a few barbarians exhibit to deceased ancestors: whether, from omitted honors, they fear evils for themselves, or, because of rendered honors, they expect beneficial action from them? One must proceed cautiously in this matter, lest we sin by excess or by defect.

The persuasion concerning the permanent existence of souls which have put off the body is founded on truth and can be salutary.

To affect the dead with honors, on account of the dignity with which they were increased on earth, or their proximity to us, or on account of the beneficent action which they exercised while living, pertains to praiseworthy piety and gratitude which, in every age, the most cultivated and Christian peoples foster and demonstrate.

But to expect evils from them through fear, or goods from them in the present, is false, unless it is founded on their good merits and conjunction with God; it is objectively superstitious if that power, in its origin or exercise, is conceived as released from divine Providence.

Practically, therefore, this worship which barbarians render to their ancestors without any suspicion of malice, indeed with consciousness of duty, rather than being at once and absolutely blamed, must be purged of errors.

556. DEFINITION. Idolatry is superstition by which honor is attributed to a creature as to God.

But this is done by any sign of honor by which someone intends to submit himself to a creature as to God, for example by genuflection, incense-burning, uncovering of the head before an idol. Thus the idolatry of the Gentiles was the worship of demons, as is said (Ps. 95:5): All the gods of the Gentiles are demons.

DIVISION. Idolatry, by reason of affection, is twofold: one MATERIAL or simulated, as when someone, without internal affection, from fear of death, exhibits worship to an idol; the other FORMAL and proper, and this is either perfect, as when someone adores an idol which from infidelity he thinks to be God; or imperfect, when someone, either from hatred of God, or from affection for obtaining something from a demon or another creature, offers worship to it as if to God.

Hence you will deduce: 1. Idolatry, even material and feigned, is a grave and mortal sin; because it is a pernicious lie, and against religion, and often also against the precept of externally professing the faith (cf. n. 429). 2. Imperfect idolatry, on account of malice of the will, is a graver sin than perfect idolatry (III, 12, 13).

502. Notion. Idolatry is latria, or the adoration of an idol. An idol, as it is taken here, is the image of a false divinity. Thus, for example, we speak of an idol of Jupiter, Mercury, the Sun, or the Moon, and of the diverse modes of fetishism, etc. As is evident of itself, divine worship is not attributed to the image itself, but to the person or thing represented through the image. Hence idolatry is nothing other than the adoration of some creature, whether animate or inanimate.⁷⁴³

Idolatry is sometimes taken in a metaphorical sense for every mortal sin, because in every mortal sin man renders as it were divine worship to a creature, since he prefers it to God, the Best and Greatest. In this sense St. Paul says: "For many walk, of whom I have told you often (and now tell you weeping), that they are enemies of the cross of Christ; ... whose God is their belly."⁷⁴⁴ This metaphorical idolatry is not under discussion here.

⁷⁴³ Cf. S. theol. 2, 2, q. 94, a. 1.

⁷⁴⁴ Phil. 3:18ff.

503. Divisions. 1. Idolatry is either material (simulated, external) or formal (internal).

The former is done only externally, from fear, command, or other motives, without a man inwardly willing to adore the creature; for example, when a Christian, from horror of torture and death, burns incense before a pagan idol, but inwardly despises the idol. The latter is done with the true internal intention of adoring a creature, for example, if someone with full deliberation adores the devil.

2. Formal idolatry is divided into perfect and imperfect.

The former is the adoration of a creature rendered by one who truly thinks that this creature is God. Such idolatry is always joined with infidelity, and even today exists among many pagans. Perfect and formal idolatry is also committed by those who, from hatred of God or from obstinate infidelity, worship the demon through so-called "black or diabolical Masses" or through other wholly wicked modes. Likewise, all who deny the existence of a personal God and nevertheless perform diverse acts of worshiping a fictitious divinity. The latter idolatry, namely, imperfect idolatry, is committed by one who, clearly knowing that no divinity is present in the idol, nevertheless renders divine worship to it from a depraved affection (for example, from hatred of God or from a desire to obtain something from the demon). This imperfect idolatry in one sense is a graver sin than perfect idolatry, since the latter is joined with ignorance that is more or less invincible, whereas imperfect idolatry proceeds from the mere malice of the will.

504. Moral malice. Every idolatry, whether material or formal, whether perfect or imperfect, is a most grave sin.

For a) it is most strictly prohibited in the first precept of the Decalogue: "Thou shalt not have strange gods before me, ... thou shalt not adore them [idols], nor serve them." Therefore it was always punished most gravely both by God among the Jewish people⁷⁴⁵ and by the Church, which was accustomed to impose the severest penance upon those who had fallen into idolatry.⁷⁴⁶ b) Idolatry is open rebellion against God. Concerning the gravity of this sin St. Thomas writes:⁷⁴⁷ "The gravity of a sin can be considered in two ways: in one way, on the part of the sin itself; and thus the sin of idolatry is most grave. For just as in an earthly commonwealth it seems to be most grave that someone should render royal honor to another than the true king, because, so far as lies in him, he disturbs the whole order of the commonwealth; so in sins which are committed against God, and which are indeed the greatest, it seems most grave that someone should render divine honor to a creature, because, so far as lies in him, he makes another God in the world, diminishing the divine sovereignty. In another way the gravity of a sin can be considered on the part of the sinner himself; as the sin of one who sins knowingly is said to be graver than that of one who sins through ignorance. And according to this, nothing prevents heretics, who knowingly corrupt the faith which they received, from sinning more gravely than idolaters who sin through ignorance. And similarly certain other sins can also be greater because of the greater contempt of the sinner."

Material and simulated idolatry also has always been held to be a grave sin; for a) it injures the virtue of religion by externally rendering to a creature an honor which must be judged divine by other men; b) it is the fullest lie in the worship of religion and is often joined with grave scandal of the people; c) it is contrary to the grave precept of professing the faith. Hence it is never lawful externally and by simulation to adore an idol, even in order to avoid death.⁷⁴⁸

Also reduced to material idolatry, and therefore gravely unlawful, is knowingly exposing for veneration or giving for Communion an unconsecrated host. Hence that pastor acted wrongly who had forgotten to consecrate the larger host and, in order to avoid the astonishment of the people, exposed an unconsecrated larger host in the monstrance, to which, however, he secretly joined a small consecrated host.⁷⁴⁹ Likewise another pastor acted wrongly who, while distributing Holy Communion, gave an unconsecrated host to a bridegroom who was not fasting, lest the bride and the others standing nearby suspect something unfavorable on the part of the bridegroom.

⁷⁴⁵ Cf. Ex. 32:8-35.

⁷⁴⁶ Thus, for example, the First Council of Nicaea, can. 12, imposed seven years of the severest penance upon those who had fallen into idolatry (Mansi, Ampliss. coll. Conc. II, 703).

⁷⁴⁷ S. theol., l.c., a. 3.

⁷⁴⁸ Hence also the so-called Libellatici were gravely punished in the ancient Church.

⁷⁴⁹ Cf. Casus conscientiae of Prosper Lambertini, afterward Benedict XIV, I, 380 (Liège ed., 1853).

505. Scholion. On penalties against idolaters. Under present ecclesiastical law there is no latae sententiae penalty against idolatry. Since, however, it is almost always joined with heresy, at least in those who have been validly baptized, the penalties enacted against heretics are to be applied. Moreover, the sins and penalties of Freemasons and of other similar societies are often joined with the vice of idolatry.

S. Th. II-II, q. 94.

774. Idolatry (afgoderij) etymologically is divine worship exhibited to an idol or image of a false god, whether the image itself is worshiped as god, or he whom it represents. Whence that word has been received to designate the supreme worship of divine reverence exhibited to any creature whatsoever.

One kind is merely internal, by which merely internal worship is attributed to a creature; another is merely external or simulated, by which someone, without internal affection, seriously and advertently exhibits external adoration to a creature, for example, from fear of death, as certain Christians did in persecution; another is internal and external at the same time, or true, by which external worship is attributed to a creature from the soul. This again is twofold: perfect or imperfect, according as worship is attributed to a creature with persuasion of its divinity, and this proceeds from culpable ignorance of the intellect; or without persuasion, and this proceeds from malice of the will, as from hatred of God or excessive affection toward a creature, for example, from affection for knowing from a demon (a. 1).

775. Idolatry is a mortal sin from its whole genus. - For even the least idolatry exhibits to a creature the supreme reverence owed to God alone, compares it to God, and thus does the greatest injury to God; but if it is simulated, it is a most pernicious lie, very injurious to God, and for the faithful it is against the precept of faith to be confessed externally (a. 2). Indeed, on the part of the object it is the gravest sin. For although sins directly opposed to the theological virtues are the greatest of all, and therefore idolatry considered abstractly and formally, insofar as it is only the worship of a false god and is opposed only to religion, is less grave; nevertheless, if it is considered in the concrete, it supposes and includes at least the external malice of infidelity and hatred of God, because it is a protestation of both, and adds something (the worship of a false god) to them, and thus is graver than they are,¹ so that the greatest idolatry viewed objectively is graver than the greatest infidelity and the greatest hatred of God. For just as in a republic it seems most grave that someone pay royal honor to another than to the true king, so in sins against God it seems most grave that someone pay divine honor to a creature, because, so far as in him lies, he makes another God in the world.

¹ "One worshiping idols, so far as in him lies, takes away from God His singular excellence, by which God alone is God; but this is His deity, which pertains to hatred of God. And he denies this singularity, which pertains to infidelity; and through this it is a graver sin than those according to itself: if idolatry is merely external, it does not lose the fact that it is a protestation of interior infidelity." Cajetan on this place.

Yet on the part of the sinner other sins, such as heresy, are often graver, because they are done with greater knowledge or contempt. In this way imperfect idolatry is graver than perfect idolatry (a. 3).

776. The cause of idolatry is twofold: 1. One dispositive cause on the part of men, who were disposed to it in three ways: a) from an inordination of affection toward parents, children, kings, ancestors, etc., they exhibited reverence and divine honor to them; b) from the delight which they naturally perceived from representation, the unlearned worshiped expressive images as gods; c) from ignorance of the true God, they exhibited divine worship to creatures on account of singular virtue or beauty.

2. The consummative cause is on the part of demons, who exhibited themselves to men as to be worshiped, by giving answers in idols and doing certain marvels (a. 4).

Idolatry is an action by which worship due to God alone is given to a creature; but this is done not only by sacrifice, but also by any sign of honor by which someone intends to submit himself to a creature as to God, for example, by genuflection. - Cf. St. Alphonsus, n. 12.

A twofold idolatry is distinguished: one is material and the other formal. The first is inculpable, and has place when from ignorance of every kind divine honor is rendered to some creature, for example, if a priest from invincible error should exhibit for adoration a host not consecrated. The other is 1st, perfect, when someone, reckoning in his mind that an idol is the true God, adores it; 2nd, imperfect, when someone, knowing certainly that the idol does not deserve worship, nevertheless renders this to it from hatred toward God or from some other evil end; 3rd, simulated, when from fear of some harm someone exhibits only external worship. Although each of these three is a most grave sin, nevertheless the worst of all is imperfect idolatry, which is so called not by reason of malice, which certainly is greatest, so that by some it is called simply malicious, but because it honors the idol only by will, not by intellect. - Cf. Scavini, lib. 2, tract. 5, n. 138. - Baller., note (a), p. 231.

IV. The second species of superstition, arising on the side of the object worshipped, occurs, says St. Thomas (II-II, q. 92, art. 2), when worship is rendered "to one to whom it should not be rendered — namely, to any creature whatsoever: this is another kind of superstition, which is divided into many species according to the different ends of divine worship." If a worship instituted for divine reverence is offered to a creature, it is called idolatry. In another way, divine worship is instituted so that man may be instructed by the God he worships; and if, spurning God, he consults demons instead, having entered into some tacit or explicit pact with them, this constitutes a second species of superstition regarding the object worshipped, which is called divination. A third species of the same superstition, again regarding the object worshipped, occurs when the divine worship that is meant to guide human acts according to the ordinances of the God who is worshipped is instead offered to a demon, from whom aid is sought — and this is called vain observance. These three, says the Angelic Doctor, are touched upon by Augustine (Bk. II, On Christian Doctrine), where he says that superstitious is whatever has been instituted by men pertaining to the making and worshipping of idols — which pertains to the first; and afterward he adds: "or to consultations and pacts concerning meaning agreed upon and struck with demons" — which pertains to the second; and a little further on he adds: "To this class belong all amulets and remedies of this kind" — which pertains to the third.

I. St. Paul charges all sinners with idolatry — above all the sensual, whose god is their belly, and the greedy, who serve the idol of money. This idolatry, however, taken in this general sense — one that runs through every mortal sin, inasmuch as anyone who sins mortally sets a creature up as his ultimate end — is not a distinct, particular sin in itself, separate from the sin actually committed. Idolatry, as a distinct species of superstition, is described by St. Thomas (II-II, q. 94, art. 1) as occurring "when divine worship is exhibited to a creature." For the crime of idolatry properly to be committed, the worship shown a creature must be a truly divine worship; for if a lesser honor — one not owed to God alone — is offered a creature, it will not be idolatry, but merely a superstition. By the term "creature" is meant a creature considered absolutely as such. But if a creature is taken as an image of the Creator, and worshipped as such, there is no superstition at all in showing it divine worship — since God is worshipped in his image, as has already been said elsewhere.

II. St. Thomas assigns five ways in which idolatry may be committed. The first is the worship of creatures — the heavens, the earth, and the like. The second is the worship of images. The third is the worship of the dead. The fourth is the worship of immaterial creatures — namely, demons. The last is the worship of the world as though it were animate. To these five species, as it were, all idolatry ever devised can be reduced. See St. Thomas, who treats the whole matter at length here, and praises St. Augustine, who discusses this subject in several chapters of Book VIII of the City of God.

III. St. Thomas (loc. cit., art. 4) assigns a twofold cause of idolatry: one on the part of man, the other on the part of the demon. He teaches that the first, on man's part, is threefold. The first, he says, arises "from a disordered affection — namely, when men, either loving or venerating some man excessively, paid him divine honor." And this cause is assigned in Wisdom 14: a father, grieving bitterly, made an image of the son suddenly snatched from him, and began to worship as a god one who had shortly before been but a dead man; and it is added there that men, whether serving their own passions or their kings, bestowed the incommunicable Name — that is, of divinity — upon stones and wood. Secondly, this occurs because man naturally delights in representation, as the Philosopher says in his Poetics; and so from the very beginning, uncultivated men, seeing through the skill of artists lifelike images of men expressively made, paid worship to them in imitation. Thirdly, this occurs through ignorance of the true God, whose excellence men, failing to consider, attributed to certain creatures on account of their beauty or power, the worship due to divinity. Another cause of idolatry, consummating it from the side of the demons, was that these showed themselves worthy of worship to erring men, giving them oracular responses, and performing certain things that seemed marvelous to men. As to the time when the crime of idolatry first arose in the world, commentators are not agreed; St. Thomas, in the second objection of the cited article, reviews various opinions, and finally answers as follows: in the first age there was no idolatry, on account of the still-recent memory of the world's creation, from which the knowledge of the one God still flourished vigorously in men's minds. In the sixth age, idolatry was excluded through the power and teaching of Christ, who triumphed over the devil.

IV. That the crime of idolatry is most grave is proved by the same St. Thomas (loc. cit., art. 3), on the grounds that by its very nature it is directed against God, from whom the worship owed him is stolen away and bestowed instead upon a creature. For whoever gives to a creature the worship owed to God treats that creature as God. Let us hear the Angelic Doctor himself, who draws the gravity of this sin both from the nature of the sin itself and from the disposition of the sinner. "The gravity of a sin," he says, "can be considered in two ways: in one way, on the part of the sin itself; and thus, just as in an earthly commonwealth it seems a most grave matter for someone to render royal honor to another than the true king — since, so far as lies in him, he thereby overturns the whole order of the state — so too among the sins committed against God (which are nonetheless the gravest of all), it seems the gravest of all that someone should render divine honor to a creature: for, so far as lies in him, he sets up another god in the world. In another way, the gravity of a sin may be considered on the part of the sinner; and in this respect it is said to be graver for one to sin knowingly than for one who sins in ignorance. Accordingly, nothing prevents heretics, who knowingly corrupt the faith they have received, from sinning more gravely than idolaters who sin in ignorance. And likewise, other sins can be graver on account of the greater contempt of the sinner."

V. Idolatry is, therefore, the gravest of all the crimes opposed to religion, being a crime of high treason against the divine majesty. It should be noted, however, that idolatry admits of a threefold degree. The first is when idolatry is joined with actual unbelief, as when someone truly believes a creature to be God, and worthy of divine honor; and this, on the side of the sin itself, involves the highest degree of malice. The second is when someone, without such unbelief, nonetheless offers to a creature — say, to a demon whom he knows not to be God — the worship due to God, in order to render that demon favorable to himself; this too is an enormous crime. The last degree is when someone, to avoid the danger of death or of some other grave harm, outwardly worships and adores a creature with external divine worship, but without any internal unbelief; this too is a grave crime, but is not true idolatry in the strictest sense. From this you may gather that idolatry, in malice, surpasses all other sins opposed to the theological virtues, but not necessarily all other vices opposed to the moral virtues — except insofar as the Angelic Doctor, in the passage cited, considers idolatry together with all that is committed directly against God, as when he treats it alongside unbelief and hatred of God, from which it proceeds, and as the culmination of all other crimes. Elsewhere, however, the Angelic Doctor plainly teaches (II-II, q. 10, art. 3) that hatred of God, heresy, unbelief, and despair are the gravest of all crimes, being opposed to the theological virtues, which far surpass the moral ones. If, then, idolatry is considered in its second and third degrees, greater malice can appear on the part of the sinner in the first degree, to which is attached a culpable ignorance of the true God. For this reason, one who sins knowingly sins more gravely than one who errs through ignorance.

VI. Question II. What is idolatry, and in how many ways is it perpetrated? Answer. It is divine worship shown to a creature, not as it is an image of God, but as it is a creature. There are five ways of perpetrating idolatry: 1. the adoration of simulacra; 2. the adoration of creatures, for instance of the sky, the earth, etc.; 3. the adoration of dead men; 4. the adoration of demons; 5. the adoration of the world, as though animate. The crime of idolatry is most grave.