Actually, for the edification of the reader, I will provide a little clip on the above mentioned vocabulary:
Latria vs. Dulia and Hyperdulia
Latria is sacrificial in character, and may be offered only to God. Catholics offer other degrees of reverence to the
Blessed Virgin Mary and to the
Saints; these non-sacrificial types of reverence are called
Hyperdulia and
Dulia, respectively. Hyperdulia is essentially a heightened degree of dulia provided only to the Blessed Virgin. This distinction, written about as early as
Augustine of Hippo and
St Jerome, was detailed more explicitly by
Thomas Aquinas in his
Summa Theologiae, A.D. 1270,
II II, 84, 1: “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 (
II II 103 3)”; in this next article St. Thomas Aquinas writes: “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. It is, moreover, a species of observance, because by observance we honor all those who excel in dignity, while dulia properly speaking is the reverence of servants for their master, dulia being the Greek for servitude.” From St. Thomas it is apparent that a clear distinction exists among
latria and forms of
dulia within Catholic theology.
edit] Linguistic distinctions in English
Generally, in English, the word
adoration is reserved for God alone and therefore it aptly translates
latria. The word
worship is a contraction of ‘worth-ship’ – the state ("-ship") of being worthy – and can be used in a strong sense in relation to God (
latria), but also in a weak sense in relation to man: for instance, “His Worship the Mayor”, or “Your Worship” (when addressing a magistrate in Court), or the worship of the saints (
dulia) as distinct to the adoration of God (
latria).
Adoration provides a clear and unequivocal, and therefore better, translation of
latria and expression of the absolute sacrificial reverence due to God alone. “This worship called forth by God, and given exclusively to Him as God, is designated by the Greek name
latreia (Latinized,
latria), for which the best translation that our language affords is the word
Adoration. Adoration is different from other acts of worship, such as supplication, confession of sin, etc., inasmuch as it formally consists in self-abasement before the Infinite, and in devout recognition of His transcendent excellence.”
[1]
Catholics, and Eastern Orthodox Christians especially adore with
latria during their religious service, the
Mass or Divine Liturgy. Other religious groups, such as
Protestants and
Muslims, do not have a
Eucharistic sacrifice;
Catholics consider that they literally participate in the sacrifice at the foot of Calvary, that what Christ offered once “participates in the divine eternity” (
CCC § 1085), and thus have a very active sense of the worship of
latria.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latria#Latria_vs._Dulia_and_Hyperdulia
