Cult of Guadalupe?

[ColorMomma]

I’m taking an art history class this summer. One of the choices of courses is art of Mexico. In the description, they describe the “Cult of Guadalupe.” The wording strikes me as disrespectful but maybe I am being too sensitive. I don’t want to sign up for a class that is disparaging of our beliefs. I googled it and it just talks about Our Lady of Guadalupe. Is this a commonly used phrase?

 

[1ke]

One of the choices of courses is art of Mexico. In the description, they describe the “Cult of Guadalupe.”

It depends on how the class/professor is using the term.

There is nothing inherently wrong with the term cult, from the Latin cultus. It simply means worship or veneration. It was a common phrase in the past-- the cult of St. So-and-So.

The popular use of the word now in some places has come to mean something different and derogatory.

But the Church uses the word to describe worship and veneration, such as when it describes Eucharistic adoration (quoting Paul VI, Mysterium Fidei) - see quote below-- or when it talks of the cult of mary or cult of the saints.

CCC 1378 Worship of the Eucharist. In the liturgy of the Mass we express our faith in the real presence of Christ under the species of bread and wine by, among other ways, genuflecting or bowing deeply as a sign of adoration of the Lord. "The Catholic Church has always offered and still offers to the sacrament of the Eucharist the cult of adoration, not only during Mass, but also outside of it, reserving the consecrated hosts with the utmost care, exposing them to the solemn veneration of the faithful, and carrying them in procession."208

 

[ColorMomma]

Thank you. It’s hard to know which way the term is going to be used in the class.

 

[brian_custer]

i’ve never heard of veneration for Our Lady of Guadalupe described that way. I would take the course; if nothing else, you can gather intel about what the Enemy is propagandizing about the Patroness of the western hemisphere

stay strong, good luck & godspeed…

 

[Spyridon]

It’s hard to know which way the term is going to be used in the class.

In the context you’re describing, I’m 99% confident they are using it in the manner of a “cultus”, not of aa “insane religious cult.”

 

[guanophore]

Cult of Guadalupe.

No, it is not disrespectful. Cult is also the root of our word cultivate, which is about preparing the soil for planting and nurturing growth of plants. When it comes to religious practices, it is about our souls becoming good soil for faith practices to be rooted.

There is a whole culture in Mexico around our Lady, and some conflate her with a female goddess that was worshipped there before she appeared.

 

[JamalChristophr]

It would be best to go to the professor and voice your concerns about whether to take the class or not.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

It’s my understanding that the Guadalupe imagery and related motifs have taken on a bit of a life of their own in Mexican art, not all of it focused towards Catholicism.
I would suggest discussing it with your professor to find out more.

 

[Kei]

It is probably the opposite, very respectable to our beliefs!