Catholic devotions
This article is primarily about devotions in the Roman Catholic Church. For devotions in the Eastern Catholic Churches, refer to the articles on the individual Churches or the corresponding Orthodox Churches.
Catholic devotions are prayer forms which are not part of the official public liturgy of the Church but are part of the popular spiritual practices of Catholics. Many are officially sanctioned by the Church as profitable for spiritual growth but not necessary for salvation. Often devotions in the Church take the form of formalized prayers, sacred objects or sacred images that arise from private revelations, or personal religious experiences of individuals such as apparitions of Mary or of Christ. Catholic devotions also include the veneration of the saints. The Church has a tradition of thorough investigation of such private revelations and the lives of candidates for sainthood to assure that no natural or scientific explanation can, at the time of investigation, account for any miracles involved. Often an approved devotion of the Church has a particular prayer form, an image and sometimes a message or prophecy.
Examples of Roman Catholic devotions include the Rosary, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the various scapulars, the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Novenas to various saints, pilgrimages and devotions to the Blessed Sacrament, and the veneration of icons in the Eastern Catholic Churches, etc.
Terminology
Several terms related to Catholic Devotions require some clarification as they are used by various religious groups and scientific fields with different senses.
Veneration vs. worship
English-speaking Catholics today generally do not use the term "worship" except in relation to God, (that is, the Holy Trinity, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit and the sacramental real presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament). The relationship of Catholics to saints is one of honor and to request intercessory prayer.
In the past, it was common for Catholic theologians to use the term "worship" in relation to Mary and the saints as documented here[1] in the Catholic Encyclopedia. Worship is considered the genus to which latria (worship of God as the supreme being), dulia (worship of saints), and hyperdulia (worship of the Blessed Virgin Mary) all belong as distinct species. The Catholic Encyclopedia describes these as "three degrees of worship"[2]. A few tradition-minded Catholic theologians still persist in using the term "worship" in this way.
It is not rare to find Catholics, especially converts, who claim that Catholics do not pray to Mary or the saints and that this is bad terminology. However, the official website of the Holy See contains 18 uses of the specific phrase "pray to Mary"[3], including by the current Pope Benedict XVI[4] Thus the official posture of the Roman Catholic Church would seem to indicate that it is correct Catholic theology and terminology.
Veneration is specifically the worship given to God or the honor given to a saint by acts of piety offered to God or the saint through a prayer, song or gesture before an image of the one worshiped or honored. An example is the "Veneration of the Cross" on Good Friday when Catholics commemorate the death of Jesus on the Cross. During the Church's liturgy for that day, after the homily, the faithful are invited to approach the front of the Church to kiss a cross or crucifix. As Catholics believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ, this is an act of worship by veneration. To lay flowers or light a candle before a statue of St. Joseph, on the other hand, is an act of honor through veneration. In response to the Age of Iconoclasm, the Second Council of Nicaea defined this principle: "For the honor of the image passes to the original,"[5] that is, to honor given to an image passes to the one imaged.
Latria, dulia and hyperdulia
Latria, dulia and hyperdulia are terms which come from Greek and describe the proper relations between the faith and God and the faithful and saints. Latria, translated as "worship" in English is the praise, honor, glorification and adoration due to God alone as Creator of all that is. Dulia is the kind of honor given to great people such as a nation's president or a war hero. One may say great things of him and praise his achievements or what his office signifies such as the nation. This should not be confused with latria. Hyperdulia is the honor given to the Blessed Virgin Mary. While the faithful honor her to a greater extent than other saints (for her unique and essential role in salvation in the Annunciation) this honor given her remains inferior to latria.
As precise definitions of words do not translate well from one language to another, words connoting latria and dulia vary from one language to another. In English certain words are theologically reserved to instances of latria, though in everyday usage the distinctions are often less clear. Terms generally reserved today for Latria include "worship," and "to adore." Similarly the gestures of genuflection and double genuflection are reserved to the honoring of the real presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament alone.
Terms that may refer to either latria or dulia include: "veneration," "to honor," "to praise." Gestures applied to latria and dulia include: kissing an image, using incense, making the sign of the cross, bowing the head, bowing at the waist, laying flowers, lighting votive candles et-cetera.
Cultus
Cultus or Cult in Catholic theology refers to the accumulated literature, music, and gerstures of a local faith community or particular church in the veneration of a saint. Over time as the Church in a local area develops practices related to the honoring of someone who has died as a person of exemplary and heroic holiness through such observances as the commemoration of the person's anniversary of death (also known as the saint's "birth into heaven"), or honoring the person's image, through processions or prayers for intercession, it can be said that a cult of a person has developed. The spontaneous development of such pious practices is one kind of evidence in favor of that person's canonization. The various aspects of a person's cult may not be publicly promoted in the Church until that person has been beatified."
"Cult" in this theological sense is not to be confused with "cult" in the sociological sense, which is group formed for the psychological control of its members.
Origins and functions
By the term "devotions" in the plural, or "popular devotions" are external practices which evoke a sense of piety, devotion, love or affection for God. Several factors shape the effects of these practices on the devout:
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- association with the private revelation of others
- the strong appeal which they make to the emotions
- the simplicity of form which puts them within the reach of all
- the association with many others engaged in the same practices
- their derivation from the example of others considered to lead a holy life.
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Examples and their development
Historically, the best known devotions have nearly all originated from the imitation of some practice of the religious orders. The Rosary, for instance, was known in its earliest form as "Our Lady's Psalter". At the time, the recitation of all one hundred fifty Psalms was a common practice of the religious orders; those unable to read recited instead a hundred fifty Pater Nosters or Hail Marys. The Rosary was thus a miniature Psalter.
Another example is the Stations of the Cross. It became popular in the eleventh century, at a time when much Christian attention was focused on the Holy Land but few were able to actually visit. Great numbers of Europeans found an equivalent to walking the Via Dolorosa in following Christ's footsteps in spirit. The practice of the Stations of the Cross was a kind of miniature pilgrimage.
Similarly, wearing a scapular of a particular religious order is like wearing a miniature habit.
The Angelus originated with the eleventh-century monastic custom of reciting three Hail Marys during the evening bell.
Some devotions are limited in popularity to certain periods or particular churches. Many Tridentine-era Roman Catholic devotions such as the Six Sundays of St. Aloysius, the Five Sundays of St. Francis's Stigmata, the Seven Sundays of the Immaculate Conception, the Seven Sundays of St. Joseph, the Ten Sundays of St. Francis Xavier have fallen out of use since the liturgical reforms of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Other devotions such as the Rosary, Eucharistic Adoration and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament and other devotional prayer forms which declined abruptly after the Second Vatican Council have flourished once again since the pontificate of Pope John Paul II. Over time and in different nations and cultures there is a tendency to multiply various devotional forms. There is not only one Rosary, but many rosaries or chaplets such as the Rosary of the Seven Dolours. There is not just one scapular but many scapulars.
The Popes, Doctors of the Church, and saints have also recommended some traditional devotions and pious practices which have been effective for growth in holiness, specially through daily practice: morning offering, spiritual reading, visit to the Blessed Sacrament, thanksgiving after Communion, mental prayer, lectio divina, and examination of conscience.
Approbation process
Specific devotions in the Roman Catholic Church may not be promoted publicly through any ecclesiastical medium such as parishes, publications, etc. unless they are approved by the Church. The process of approval requires a detailed investigation by the local ordinary. After it is determined that a practice is based on sound doctrine and is not injurious to one who practices, it may be permitted (but not promoted by the clergy). Although the Holy See as a rule refrains from intervention, on rare occasions, where some theological principle is involved, action may be taken by one of the Roman Congregations, The slow recognition by the Church of the devotion to the Sacred Heart illustrates the caution with which the Holy See proceeds in matters of theological principle. Only after a thorough investigation by the Holy See may a devotion be fully approved and recommended (though never required) by the Church. With such approval the devotion may be given a feast day on the liturgical calendar after which it may be used as the name of Churches, schools and various other ecclesiastical institutions. Examples include Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Infant of Prague, el Santo Nino de Atocha, the Feast of the Holy Rosary, among many others.
Indulgences
Indulgences have long been associated specifically with Roman Catholic devotions. In the Medieval period until the reforms of the Second Vatican Council indulgences were expressed in terms of days, weeks and years and were attached to various devout practices. An indulgence is the removal of some of the temporal penalty for sin. As breaking a window even accidentally requires two forms of repayment, an apology (contrition and appeal for forgiveness or mercy) and replacement of the window (an act of justice) so all sin is an offense against God requiring two responses (contrition, and appeal for mercy) and purification of the damage caused to one's soul (an act of justice as we belong to God). The Church understands Purgatory an indefinite state of purification in preparation for the fullness of the Beatific Vision or heaven. While the remission of "time" in Purgatory is no longer expressed in temporal terms such as days, weeks, months, the Roman Catholic Church continues to attach indulgences (partial and plenary) to many forms of Catholic devotions, particularly in relation to pilgrimages, certain feast days (like All Souls' Day or Divine Mercy Sunday) and other pious practices during Jubilees or Holy Years. Plenary indulgences remit all of the existing temporal punishment due for the individual’s sins, while partial indulgences remit only a part of the existing punishment. Eastern Catholic Churches, on the other hand, do not use the concept of indulgences.
Sacramentals
Many Catholic devotions incorporate "sacramentals", objects which have been blessed or consecrated, set aside as instruments of God's grace through their symbolic value and the devout use of the faithful. Some examples of sacramentals are blessed crosses, crucifixes, rosaries, religious medals, images and other objects of religious significance. The use of sacramentals is not "magic" but can provide an occasion for a deeper relationship with God. This is not automatic but depends on the spiritual disposition of the individual and the will of God who offers grace freely out of his mercy.
External links
- Devotions
- Devotions and Promises
- EWTN Faith Devotionals
- Several Devotions
- "Popular Devotions". Catholic Encyclopedia. (1913). New York: Robert Appleton Company.
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