Bowing to Altar or Tabernacle?

[JReducation]

In this case the English differences of the word “adore” do not apply to the Latin word latria, which as you know is the word that signifies adoration given to God alone. It is obviously not referring to “adore” as in someone who adores a cute puppy.

I was actually asking you a question, not making a statement. I was asking you whether you would make that conclusion. You said that adoring the cross with latria (adoration given only to God) is idolatry, and since I think I’ve demonstrated clearly that St. Thomas taught that we are to adore the cross with latria worship (as the Catholic Encyclopedia article and his own writings clear attest), then I was curious if you would thereby logically conclude that Aquinas was an idolater. Again I find that difficult to accept. Could you possibly elaborate on your understanding of the word latria? I think from the passage it’s quite clear what Aquinas taught on this matter.

I don’t know why you are getting so defensive. I meant nothing rude by that comment, so I apologize if you took it that way. Perhaps I could have worded it differently, but ultimately you said that Aquinas did not teach that we adore the cross, so I pointed out where he clearly and irrefutably did, so I wondered if you had read that passage. I meant no insult. Again I am just seeking answers here.

They also explain what the language of their time meant. Here is what Aquinas said about latria from his Summa:

• “Reverence is due to God on account of His excellence, which is communicated to certain creatures not in equal measure, but according to a measure of proportion; and so the reverence which we pay to God, and which belongs to latria, differs from the reverence which we pay to certain excellent creatures; this belongs to dulia, and we shall speak of it further on (103)” newadvent.org/summa/3084.htm#article1
• “Wherefore dulia, which pays due service to a human lord, is a distinct virtue from latria, which pays due service to the lordship of God” newadvent.org/summa/3103.htm#article4
• “latria is not divided into different species” [in other words, there is no such thing as a lesser species of latria worship. It is not divided as the word “adore” into different meanings.] newadvent.org/summa/3103.htm#article4

There are many online dictionary definitions of the word latria that also explain its use in our Catholic religion. Here is one: wordiq.com/definition/Latria

I hope these references make it more clear what Aquinas had in mind when he used the word latria in stating that one adores the cross with latria worship. Again here is what he concluded: "Christ’s cross should be worshiped with the adoration of “latria.” newadvent.org/summa/4025.htm#article4

Thank you for the clarification. I too apologize for my response, if it came across rude. I should clarify that there is often an attempt by so many people to shove Aquinas down people’s throats, that I tend to have a knee-jerk reaction when people throw out Aquinas to corner others, as if Auinas ever attempted to write doctrine for the Church. Nothing was further from this humble man’s mind. His writings are often used to prove a point, forgetting that these were his writings, not the writings of the Church. We must always be careful to make sure that when we read him we know which of his writings the Church teaches very literally and which she does not.

While I and the Church deeply respect Aquinas, not everything that he wrote became Church law or Church doctrine. This example is precisely the reason that many of his writings were not adopted in the wording that he used, because they were confusing to the average person.

Aquinas was not an idol worshipper. However, he was a mystic. His teaching on the cross, like those of St. Francis of Assisi, St. Paul of the Cross and St. John of the Cross were rooted in their mystical experience. When these men speak about adoring the cross, the image in their minds is THE cross, the actual cross of Calvary with our Lord on it. They were trying to lead the faithful back to Calvary. In as much as the rite of Good Friday leads people back to Calvary, it is appropriate to use the term “latria.”

We can see the difference in our liturgy. When we enter the Church if there is no tabernacle on the main altar or near it, there is no act of adoration or latria toward the crucifix in the sanctuary. This has alwasy been this way in all the Apostolic Churches. The same goes for a crucifix in our home or some other place. We do not perform the same ritual that we do toward the crucifix on Good Friday.

An easy way to see the reason for the difference is the call that is chanted by the deacon on Good Friday as he exposes the cross, “Behold the wood of the cross” and the congregation responds. The call there is to behold and worship the actual cross on Mt. Calvary, which is represented by the crucifix in the rite. Detached from Calvary, the crucifix is like any other holy work of art. It draws us into prayer and into contemplation of a deeper reality, but it is not the reality itself. We are called to adore the reality. This is the msytical point that Thomas and the others make when they use this kind of language. They are enamored of the cross, but the cross of why they are enamored is the cross of Calvary, which all of us should try to be. This is the cross that they worship. The one that they have in the rite of Good Friday should draw us back to Calvary where we adore the cross on which we behold the salvation of the world as we say on Good Friday. I may be complicating this. I hope that I am not doing that.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[una_fides]

I will caution readers who are very attached to Aquinas. Aquinas is a wonderful source for understanding our faith. But there are several things that must be kept in mind. Aquinas was never a pope, not even a bishop.

You are likely very familiar with the following pronouncements of popes concerning Aquinas: From the encyclical Aeterni Patris by Pope Leo XIII.
Innocent VI: “His [Aquinas’] teaching above that of others, the canonical writings alone excepted, enjoys such a precision of language, an order of matters, a truth of conclusions, that those who hold to it are never found swerving from the path of truth, and he who dare assail it will always be suspected of error.”
22. The ecumenical councils, also, where blossoms the flower of all earthly wisdom, have always been careful to hold Thomas Aquinas in singular honor. In the Councils of Lyons, Vienna, Florence, and the Vatican one might almost say that Thomas took part and presided over the deliberations and decrees of the Fathers…
We exhort you, venerable brethren, in all earnestness to restore the golden wisdom of St. Thomas, and to spread it far and wide for the defense and beauty of the Catholic faith, for the good of society, and for the advantage of all the sciences… Let carefully selected teachers endeavor to implant the doctrine of Thomas Aquinas in the minds of students, and set forth clearly his solidity and excellence over others. http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Leo13/l13cph.htm
It is because of the degree of his papal endorsements (along with the fact he was a saint and the greatest doctor of the Church) that I have such a difficulty understanding this matter.

 

[una_fides]

Thank you for the clarification. I too apologize for my response, if it came across rude. …]

Aquinas was not an idol worshipper. However, he was a mystic. His teaching on the cross, like those of St. Francis of Assisi, St. Paul of the Cross and St. John of the Cross were rooted in their mystical experience. When these men speak about adoring the cross, the image in their minds is THE cross, the actual cross of Calvary with our Lord on it. They were trying to lead the faithful back to Calvary. In as much as the rite of Good Friday leads people back to Calvary, it is appropriate to use the term “latria.”

I thought of that possibility, that St. Thomas was only referring to the actual cross of Calvary, but then I read his question “Whether the image of Christ should be adored with the adoration of ‘latria’?” Aquinas also concludes that not only the cross itself but also images of Christ should be adored with latria worship. He states the following conclusion:
On the contrary, Damascene (De Fide Orth. iv, 16) quotes Basil as saying: “The honor given to an image reaches to the prototype,” i.e. the exemplar. But the exemplar itself–namely, **Christ–is to be adored with the adoration of “latria”; therefore also His image. **

Consequently the same reverence should be shown to Christ’s image as to Christ Himself. Since, therefore, Christ is adored with the adoration of “latria,” it follows that His image should be adored with the adoration of “latria.”
He also attributes the adoration of latria to images of Christ to apostolic tradition in his reply to objection 4.

In addition, in his answer on adoring the cross with latria, Aquinas also states that we adore the images of the cross just as we adore the images of Christ:
But if we speak of the effigy of Christ’s cross in any other material whatever–for instance, in stone or wood, silver or gold–thus we venerate the cross merely as Christ’s image, which we worship with the adoration of “latria,” as stated above (Article 3).

…we worship the image of Christ’s cross in any material
newadvent.org/summa/4025.htm#article4
Aquinas was obviously no fool. He always pointed to tradition and to the practices and teachings of other saints in his defense as well as to reason. For him to conclude such a thing tells me that there were many others in the Church who taught and condoned such adoration of images with latria worship. If this practice was so prevalent within the Church, why was it never expressly condemned after the fact or clarified by any popes? At least I haven’t found any clarifications made after the second Council of Nicea, which occurred before all these theological teachings.

Also any comment as to the wording in the GIRM that says we genuflect to the cross as an act of adoration?

I realize these are difficult questions. I may pose them to some Dominicans and see if they can possibly help clarify further for me.