In order that the full and living Gospel might always be preserved in the Church the apostles left bishops as their successors. They gave them their own position of teaching authority.
-- St. Iranaeus, Adversus Haereses (c. A.D. 180)
Who was Irenaeus?
Saint Irenaeus (Greek: Εἰρηναῖος), (2nd century AD - c. 202) was a Christian Bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, then a part of the Roman Empire (now Lyons, France). He was an early church father and apologist, and his writings were formative in the early development of Christian theology. He was a disciple of Polycarp, who was said to be a disciple of John the Evangelist.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Review: FAITH
1. Faith is an assent of the mind to a truth because God in his goodness has revealed it to us. The Will assents to something BEYOND the intellect's ability to grasp it.
2. As God--infinite, almighty, beyond what we can comprehend--is the object of Faith, this makes sense.
3. Therefore, an act of Faith is a reasonable thing, even as the object of that Faith is beyond reason's reach.
4. Reason needs Faith to preserve it from pridefully claiming to do what is beyond its reach, ie, proclaim on the inner life of God.
2. As God--infinite, almighty, beyond what we can comprehend--is the object of Faith, this makes sense.
3. Therefore, an act of Faith is a reasonable thing, even as the object of that Faith is beyond reason's reach.
4. Reason needs Faith to preserve it from pridefully claiming to do what is beyond its reach, ie, proclaim on the inner life of God.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Definition: RELIGION
Latin: religere, to recover, or religare, to bind)
In its widest sense the union of man with God. Objectively, it consists in doctrines and precepts by which man seeks to bring about this union. Religion is true when its doctrines and precepts are either dictated by right reason or revealed by God; if the former, it is called natural religion, if the latter, supernatural religion.
Religion is false if, when claiming to be revealed, it is unable to show a divine guarantee, or when its dogmas and practises sin against right reason and conscience. Subjectively, religion is the attitude of the man who rules his thoughts, words, and actions according to right reason and revelation. In this latter sense religion is a special virtue allied to justice, because it prompts man to render to God what is due Him by strict right from His rational creatures. As such, religion is a strict obligation incumbent on every man. It is also the means by which man is to work out his final destiny.
In its widest sense the union of man with God. Objectively, it consists in doctrines and precepts by which man seeks to bring about this union. Religion is true when its doctrines and precepts are either dictated by right reason or revealed by God; if the former, it is called natural religion, if the latter, supernatural religion.
Religion is false if, when claiming to be revealed, it is unable to show a divine guarantee, or when its dogmas and practises sin against right reason and conscience. Subjectively, religion is the attitude of the man who rules his thoughts, words, and actions according to right reason and revelation. In this latter sense religion is a special virtue allied to justice, because it prompts man to render to God what is due Him by strict right from His rational creatures. As such, religion is a strict obligation incumbent on every man. It is also the means by which man is to work out his final destiny.
Definition:Divination
(Latin: divinare, to foretell)
Seeking after the knowledge of future or hidden things through means inadequate by nature and unlawful. By natural means some effects can be foreseen with physical certainty; others surmised as probable; others are contingent upon future, free causes and knowable only to God. Divination implies the direct or indirect solicitation of a preternatural evil agency to supplement a natural deficiency. Its practise or patronage is sinful, varying with circumstances. As old as humanity, it existed in every age and country, and nowhere is it completely abandoned. Christianity undermined its power, and after centuries of effort it disappeared as an official system.
Seeking after the knowledge of future or hidden things through means inadequate by nature and unlawful. By natural means some effects can be foreseen with physical certainty; others surmised as probable; others are contingent upon future, free causes and knowable only to God. Divination implies the direct or indirect solicitation of a preternatural evil agency to supplement a natural deficiency. Its practise or patronage is sinful, varying with circumstances. As old as humanity, it existed in every age and country, and nowhere is it completely abandoned. Christianity undermined its power, and after centuries of effort it disappeared as an official system.
Definition: LOVE
The supernatural virtue of love (theological virtue of charity), is not acquired but infused. It is a love of God for His own sake, and of fellow man and of self for God's sake.
True love of God and of man are inclusive of one another. The obligation of making acts of supernatural love of God is contained in Holy Writ (Deuteronomy 6; Matthew 22; Luke 10), and urges at the dawn of reason, at the time of death, and at various times during life. Supernatural love of God is also the principle and good of moral perfection. The obligation of loving our fellow man binds whenever our neighbor is in need, and we are in a position to help him. It is regulated by a certain order depending on his nearness to us by reason of relationship, friendship, country, etc., on the nature and extent of his need, and on the inconvenience, injury, or loss we undergo by helping him.
True love of God and of man are inclusive of one another. The obligation of making acts of supernatural love of God is contained in Holy Writ (Deuteronomy 6; Matthew 22; Luke 10), and urges at the dawn of reason, at the time of death, and at various times during life. Supernatural love of God is also the principle and good of moral perfection. The obligation of loving our fellow man binds whenever our neighbor is in need, and we are in a position to help him. It is regulated by a certain order depending on his nearness to us by reason of relationship, friendship, country, etc., on the nature and extent of his need, and on the inconvenience, injury, or loss we undergo by helping him.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Definition: MARTYR
The Greek word martus signifies a witness who testifies to a fact of which he has knowledge from personal observation. It is in this sense that the term first appears in Christian literature; the Apostles were "witnesses" of all that they had observed in the public life of Christ, as well as of all they had learned from His teaching, "in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the earth" (Acts 1:8). St. Peter, in his address to the Apostles and disciples relative to the election of a successor to Judas, employs the term with this meaning: "Wherefore, of these men who have accompanied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day he was taken up from us, one of these must be made witness with us of his resurrection" (Acts 1:22).
In his first public discourse the chief of the Apostles speaks of himself and his companions as "witnesses" who saw the risen Christ and subsequently, after the miraculous escape of the Apostles from prison, when brought a second time before the tribunal, Peter again alludes to the twelve as witnesses to Christ, as the Prince and Saviour of Israel, Who rose from the dead; and added that in giving their public testimony to the facts, of which they were certain, they must obey God rather than man (Acts 5:29 sqq.). In his First Epistle St. Peter also refers to himself as a "witness of the sufferings of Christ" (1 Peter 5:1).
But even in these first examples of the use of the word martus in Christian terminology a new shade of meaning is already noticeable, in addition to the accepted signification of the term. The disciples of Christ were no ordinary witnesses such as those who gave testimony in a court of justice. These latter ran no risk in bearing testimony to facts that came under their observation, whereas the witnesses of Christ were brought face to face daily, from the beginning of their apostolate, with the possibility of incurring severe punishment and even death itself. Thus, St. Stephen was a witness who early in the history of Christianity sealed his testimony with his blood. The careers of the Apostles were at all times beset with dangers of the gravest character, until eventually they all suffered the last penalty for their convictions. Thus, within the lifetime of the Apostles, the term martus came to be used in the sense of a witness who at any time might be called upon to deny what he testified to, under penalty of death.
In his first public discourse the chief of the Apostles speaks of himself and his companions as "witnesses" who saw the risen Christ and subsequently, after the miraculous escape of the Apostles from prison, when brought a second time before the tribunal, Peter again alludes to the twelve as witnesses to Christ, as the Prince and Saviour of Israel, Who rose from the dead; and added that in giving their public testimony to the facts, of which they were certain, they must obey God rather than man (Acts 5:29 sqq.). In his First Epistle St. Peter also refers to himself as a "witness of the sufferings of Christ" (1 Peter 5:1).
But even in these first examples of the use of the word martus in Christian terminology a new shade of meaning is already noticeable, in addition to the accepted signification of the term. The disciples of Christ were no ordinary witnesses such as those who gave testimony in a court of justice. These latter ran no risk in bearing testimony to facts that came under their observation, whereas the witnesses of Christ were brought face to face daily, from the beginning of their apostolate, with the possibility of incurring severe punishment and even death itself. Thus, St. Stephen was a witness who early in the history of Christianity sealed his testimony with his blood. The careers of the Apostles were at all times beset with dangers of the gravest character, until eventually they all suffered the last penalty for their convictions. Thus, within the lifetime of the Apostles, the term martus came to be used in the sense of a witness who at any time might be called upon to deny what he testified to, under penalty of death.
Definition: Pantocrator
Pantocrator or Pantokrator (from the Greek Παντοκράτωρ) is one of many titles ascribed to the Divine. When the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek as the Septuagint, Pantokrator was used to translate the Hebrew title El Shaddai. Christians ascribed this title to Jesus of Nazareth.
The most common translation of Pantocrator is "Almighty" or "All-powerful". In this understanding, Pantokrator is a compound word formed from the Greek words for "all" and the noun "strength" (κρατος). This is often understood in terms of potential power; i.e., able to do anything, or omnipotent.
Another, more literal translation is "Ruler of All" or, less literally, "Sustainer of the World". In this understanding, Pantokrator is a compound word formed from the Greek for "all" and the verb meaning "To accomplish something" or "to sustain something" (κρατεω). This translation speaks more to God's actual power; i.e., God does everything (as opposed to God can do everything).
The Pantokrator, largely an Eastern Orthodox or Eastern Catholic theological conception is by that name less common in Western (Roman) Catholicism and largely unknown to most Protestants. In the West the equivalent image in art is known as Christ in Majesty, which developed a rather different iconography.
The icon of Christ Pantokrator is one of the most widely used religious images of Orthodox Christianity, though the earliest remaining examples of the subject are all in Italy. Generally speaking, in Byzantine church art and architecture, an icon of Christ Pantokrator occupies the space in the central dome of the church, or simply on the ceiling, over the nave.
This blog's main image:
The oldest known surviving example of the icon of Christ Pantocrator was painted in encaustic on panel in the sixth or seventh century, and survived the period of destruction of images during the Iconoclastic disputes that racked the Eastern church, 726 to 787 and 814 to 842, by being preserved in the remote desert of the Sinai, in Saint Catherine's Monastery.[5]
The gessoed panel, finely painted using a wax medium on a wooden panel, had been coarsely overpainted around the face and hands at some time around the thirteenth century. It was only when the overpainting was cleaned in 1962 that the ancient image was revealed to be a very high quality icon, probably produced in Constantinople. The subtlety, immediacy and realism of the image are immediately apparent when the image is compared to any of the more familiar stiffened and hieratic icons — following the same model - that were painted after iconoclasm had been decisively rejected.
Christ here is Christ the Teacher: the gesture of Christ's right hand is not the gesture of blessing, but the orator's gesture; the identical gesture is to be seen in a panel from an ivory diptych of an enthroned vice-prefect, a Rufius Probianus, ca 400, of which Peter Brown remarks, "With his hand he makes the 'orator's gesture' which indicates that he is speaking, or that he has the right to speak."[6]
The most common translation of Pantocrator is "Almighty" or "All-powerful". In this understanding, Pantokrator is a compound word formed from the Greek words for "all" and the noun "strength" (κρατος). This is often understood in terms of potential power; i.e., able to do anything, or omnipotent.
Another, more literal translation is "Ruler of All" or, less literally, "Sustainer of the World". In this understanding, Pantokrator is a compound word formed from the Greek for "all" and the verb meaning "To accomplish something" or "to sustain something" (κρατεω). This translation speaks more to God's actual power; i.e., God does everything (as opposed to God can do everything).
The Pantokrator, largely an Eastern Orthodox or Eastern Catholic theological conception is by that name less common in Western (Roman) Catholicism and largely unknown to most Protestants. In the West the equivalent image in art is known as Christ in Majesty, which developed a rather different iconography.
The icon of Christ Pantokrator is one of the most widely used religious images of Orthodox Christianity, though the earliest remaining examples of the subject are all in Italy. Generally speaking, in Byzantine church art and architecture, an icon of Christ Pantokrator occupies the space in the central dome of the church, or simply on the ceiling, over the nave.
This blog's main image:
The oldest known surviving example of the icon of Christ Pantocrator was painted in encaustic on panel in the sixth or seventh century, and survived the period of destruction of images during the Iconoclastic disputes that racked the Eastern church, 726 to 787 and 814 to 842, by being preserved in the remote desert of the Sinai, in Saint Catherine's Monastery.[5]
The gessoed panel, finely painted using a wax medium on a wooden panel, had been coarsely overpainted around the face and hands at some time around the thirteenth century. It was only when the overpainting was cleaned in 1962 that the ancient image was revealed to be a very high quality icon, probably produced in Constantinople. The subtlety, immediacy and realism of the image are immediately apparent when the image is compared to any of the more familiar stiffened and hieratic icons — following the same model - that were painted after iconoclasm had been decisively rejected.
Christ here is Christ the Teacher: the gesture of Christ's right hand is not the gesture of blessing, but the orator's gesture; the identical gesture is to be seen in a panel from an ivory diptych of an enthroned vice-prefect, a Rufius Probianus, ca 400, of which Peter Brown remarks, "With his hand he makes the 'orator's gesture' which indicates that he is speaking, or that he has the right to speak."[6]
Course Syllabus
Freshman Religion
Syllabus/Requirements/Texts
September 2009 Michael J. Ortiz
Organization of Class
“What good must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mt. 19:16).
This course is organized on a quarterly basis. Each element studied during the year aims to help students understand and assimilate the Revelation of Jesus Christ in Sacred Scripture and the Tradition of the Church in its moral, doctrinal, and spiritual dimensions. In the first quarter we will study the Decalogue; in the second, the Sacraments; in the third, the Credo and how God speaks to us in Scripture and Tradition; in the fourth, we will concentrate on Life in Christ as it relates to the dignity of the human person, community life, and the relationship between Law and Grace. Throughout the year, we will read and reflect on the Gospel of St. Mark. We will study its origins, context, and history. Students will be quizzed weekly as we read—and memorize parts of—the life of Christ as put down in writing by the St. Mark.
Quarter One: The origin of the Decalogue; its historical context; meaning in Church tradition; meaning of each of the commandments within a Covenant relationship with God; the unity of the Decalogue; its relation to natural law; the Decalogue in the Life of Grace and Prayer and Divine Filiation.
Quarter Two: The institution of the seven Sacraments by Christ; the nature and purpose of the sacraments in the Liturgical life of the Church; sacraments of initiation, Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist, “source and summit of Christian life”; sacraments of healing, Reconciliation, or Sacrament of Confession, and Anointing of the Sick; Holy Orders, deacon, priest, bishop; Marriage, goods and requirements of Conjugal love.
Quarter Three: Transmission of Divine Revelation, in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition; the Magisterium; the senses of Scripture; Canon of Scripture; unity of Old and New Testaments; the Apostles’ Creed; the Nicene Creed; Faith as Man’s free response to God’s initiative
Quarter Four: Dignity of the Human Person; Man as Image of God; vocation to Beatitudes; Beatitudes as “the countenance of Jesus Christ”; reality of human freedom; responsibility; the morality of human acts; morality of the passions; moral conscience; human virtues; cardinal virtues; theological virtues; gravity of sin, mortal and venial; the Common Good; Grace and Justification.
Requirements
1. A neat, well-organized notebook will be 15% of the class grade. Class notes, definitions, historical outlines, prayers studied, and drafts of essays will be done in this notebook.
2. Quizzes on our reading of the Gospel of St. Mark will be 10% of the grade.
3. Tests will include memorization and essay, and will be 70% of the grade.
Texts
The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church
The Gospel of St. Mark, (Navarre Bible 2005 edition)
Forget Not Love, Andre Frossard
Syllabus/Requirements/Texts
September 2009 Michael J. Ortiz
Organization of Class
“What good must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Mt. 19:16).
This course is organized on a quarterly basis. Each element studied during the year aims to help students understand and assimilate the Revelation of Jesus Christ in Sacred Scripture and the Tradition of the Church in its moral, doctrinal, and spiritual dimensions. In the first quarter we will study the Decalogue; in the second, the Sacraments; in the third, the Credo and how God speaks to us in Scripture and Tradition; in the fourth, we will concentrate on Life in Christ as it relates to the dignity of the human person, community life, and the relationship between Law and Grace. Throughout the year, we will read and reflect on the Gospel of St. Mark. We will study its origins, context, and history. Students will be quizzed weekly as we read—and memorize parts of—the life of Christ as put down in writing by the St. Mark.
Quarter One: The origin of the Decalogue; its historical context; meaning in Church tradition; meaning of each of the commandments within a Covenant relationship with God; the unity of the Decalogue; its relation to natural law; the Decalogue in the Life of Grace and Prayer and Divine Filiation.
Quarter Two: The institution of the seven Sacraments by Christ; the nature and purpose of the sacraments in the Liturgical life of the Church; sacraments of initiation, Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist, “source and summit of Christian life”; sacraments of healing, Reconciliation, or Sacrament of Confession, and Anointing of the Sick; Holy Orders, deacon, priest, bishop; Marriage, goods and requirements of Conjugal love.
Quarter Three: Transmission of Divine Revelation, in Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition; the Magisterium; the senses of Scripture; Canon of Scripture; unity of Old and New Testaments; the Apostles’ Creed; the Nicene Creed; Faith as Man’s free response to God’s initiative
Quarter Four: Dignity of the Human Person; Man as Image of God; vocation to Beatitudes; Beatitudes as “the countenance of Jesus Christ”; reality of human freedom; responsibility; the morality of human acts; morality of the passions; moral conscience; human virtues; cardinal virtues; theological virtues; gravity of sin, mortal and venial; the Common Good; Grace and Justification.
Requirements
1. A neat, well-organized notebook will be 15% of the class grade. Class notes, definitions, historical outlines, prayers studied, and drafts of essays will be done in this notebook.
2. Quizzes on our reading of the Gospel of St. Mark will be 10% of the grade.
3. Tests will include memorization and essay, and will be 70% of the grade.
Texts
The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church
The Gospel of St. Mark, (Navarre Bible 2005 edition)
Forget Not Love, Andre Frossard
Friday, September 4, 2009
Palatine Hill
The Palatine Hill (Latin: Collis Palatium or Mons Palatinus) is the centermost of the Seven Hills of Rome and is one of the most ancient parts of the city. It stands 40 metres above the Forum Romanum, looking down upon it on one side, and upon the Circus Maximus on the other.
It is the etymological origin of the word "palace" and its cognates in other languages (Italian "Palazzo", French "Palais" etc).
According to Roman mythology, the Palatine Hill was the location of the cave, known as the Lupercal, where Romulus and Remus were found by the she-wolf that kept them alive. According to this legend, the shepherd Faustulus found the infants, and with his wife Acca Larentia raised the children. When they were older, the boys killed their great-uncle (who seized the throne from their father), and they both decided to build a new city of their own on the banks of the River Tiber. Suddenly, they had a violent argument with each other and in the end Romulus killed his twin brother Remus. This is how "Rome" got its name - from Romulus. Another legend to occur on the Palatine is Hercules' defeat of Cacus after the monster had stolen some cattle. Hercules struck Cacus with his characteristic club so hard that it formed a cleft on the southeast corner of the hill, where later a staircase bearing the name of Cacus was constructed.
It is the etymological origin of the word "palace" and its cognates in other languages (Italian "Palazzo", French "Palais" etc).
According to Roman mythology, the Palatine Hill was the location of the cave, known as the Lupercal, where Romulus and Remus were found by the she-wolf that kept them alive. According to this legend, the shepherd Faustulus found the infants, and with his wife Acca Larentia raised the children. When they were older, the boys killed their great-uncle (who seized the throne from their father), and they both decided to build a new city of their own on the banks of the River Tiber. Suddenly, they had a violent argument with each other and in the end Romulus killed his twin brother Remus. This is how "Rome" got its name - from Romulus. Another legend to occur on the Palatine is Hercules' defeat of Cacus after the monster had stolen some cattle. Hercules struck Cacus with his characteristic club so hard that it formed a cleft on the southeast corner of the hill, where later a staircase bearing the name of Cacus was constructed.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Definition: IDOLATRY
(Greek eidololatria.)
Idolatry etymologically denotes Divine worship given to an image, but its signification has been extended to all Divine worship given to anyone or anything but the true God. St. Thomas (Summa Theol., II-II, q. xciv) treats of it as a species of the genus superstition, which is a vice opposed to the virtue of religion and consists in giving Divine honour (cultus) to things that are not God, or to God Himself in a wrong way. The specific note of idolatry is its direct opposition to the primary object of Divine worship; it bestows on a creature the reverence due to God alone.
An essential difference exists between idolatry and the veneration of images practised in the Catholic Church, viz., that while the idolater credits the image he reverences with Divinity or Divine powers, the Catholic knows "that in images there is no divinity or virtue on account of which they are to be worshipped, that no petitions can be addressed to them, and that no trust is to be placed in them. . . that the honour which is given to them is referred to the objects (prototypa) which they represent, so that through the images which we kiss, and before which we uncover our heads and kneel, we adore Christ and venerate the Saints whose likenesses they are" (Conc. Trid., Sess. XXV, "de invocatione Sanctorum").
Considered in itself, idolatry is the greatest of mortal sins. For it is, by definition, an inroad on God's sovereignty over the world, an attempt on His Divine majesty, a rebellious setting up of a creature on the throne that belongs to Him alone. Even the simulation of idolatry, in order to escape death during persecution, is a mortal sin, because of the pernicious falsehood it involves and the scandal it causes. Of Seneca who, against his better knowledge, took part in idolatrous worship, St. Augustine says: "He was the more to be condemned for doing mendaciously what people believed him to do sincerely".
The guilt of idolatry, however, is not to be estimated by its abstract nature alone; the concrete form it assumes in the conscience of the sinner is the all-important element. No sin is mortal — i.e. debars man from attaining the end for which he was created — that is not committed with clear knowledge and free determination. But how many, or how few, of the countless millions of idolaters are, or have been, able to distinguish between the one Creator of all things and His creatures? and, having made the distinction, how many have been perverse enough to worship the creature in preference to the Creator? — It is reasonable, Christian, and charitable to suppose that the "false gods" of the heathen were, in their conscience, the only true God they knew, and that their worship being right in its intention, went up to the one true God with that of Jews and Christians to whom He had revealed Himself. "In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ . . . . . the gentiles who have not the law, shall be judged by their conscience" (Romans 2:14-16). God, who wishes all men to be saved, and Christ, who died for all who sinned in Adam, would be frustrated in their merciful designs if the prince of this world were to carry off all idolaters.
Idolatry etymologically denotes Divine worship given to an image, but its signification has been extended to all Divine worship given to anyone or anything but the true God. St. Thomas (Summa Theol., II-II, q. xciv) treats of it as a species of the genus superstition, which is a vice opposed to the virtue of religion and consists in giving Divine honour (cultus) to things that are not God, or to God Himself in a wrong way. The specific note of idolatry is its direct opposition to the primary object of Divine worship; it bestows on a creature the reverence due to God alone.
An essential difference exists between idolatry and the veneration of images practised in the Catholic Church, viz., that while the idolater credits the image he reverences with Divinity or Divine powers, the Catholic knows "that in images there is no divinity or virtue on account of which they are to be worshipped, that no petitions can be addressed to them, and that no trust is to be placed in them. . . that the honour which is given to them is referred to the objects (prototypa) which they represent, so that through the images which we kiss, and before which we uncover our heads and kneel, we adore Christ and venerate the Saints whose likenesses they are" (Conc. Trid., Sess. XXV, "de invocatione Sanctorum").
Considered in itself, idolatry is the greatest of mortal sins. For it is, by definition, an inroad on God's sovereignty over the world, an attempt on His Divine majesty, a rebellious setting up of a creature on the throne that belongs to Him alone. Even the simulation of idolatry, in order to escape death during persecution, is a mortal sin, because of the pernicious falsehood it involves and the scandal it causes. Of Seneca who, against his better knowledge, took part in idolatrous worship, St. Augustine says: "He was the more to be condemned for doing mendaciously what people believed him to do sincerely".
The guilt of idolatry, however, is not to be estimated by its abstract nature alone; the concrete form it assumes in the conscience of the sinner is the all-important element. No sin is mortal — i.e. debars man from attaining the end for which he was created — that is not committed with clear knowledge and free determination. But how many, or how few, of the countless millions of idolaters are, or have been, able to distinguish between the one Creator of all things and His creatures? and, having made the distinction, how many have been perverse enough to worship the creature in preference to the Creator? — It is reasonable, Christian, and charitable to suppose that the "false gods" of the heathen were, in their conscience, the only true God they knew, and that their worship being right in its intention, went up to the one true God with that of Jews and Christians to whom He had revealed Himself. "In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ . . . . . the gentiles who have not the law, shall be judged by their conscience" (Romans 2:14-16). God, who wishes all men to be saved, and Christ, who died for all who sinned in Adam, would be frustrated in their merciful designs if the prince of this world were to carry off all idolaters.
Definition: SUPERSTITION
Defined by St. Thomas (II-II:92:1) as "a vice opposed to religion by way of excess; not because in the worship of God it does more than true religion, but because it offers Divine worship to beings other than God or offers worship to God in an improper manner". Superstition sins by excess of religion, and this differs from the vice of irreligion, which sins by defect. The theological virtue of religion stands midway between the two. (II-II:92:1)
Division
There are four species of superstitions:
improper worship of the true God (indebitus veri Dei cultus);
idolatry;
divination;
vain observances, which include magic and occult arts.
The source of superstition is, in the first place, subjective. Ignorance of natural causes leads to the belief that certain striking phenomena express the will or the anger of some invisible overruling power, and the objects in which such phenomena appear are forthwith deified, as, e.g. in Nature-worship. Conversely, many superstitious practices are due to an exaggerated notion or a false interpretation of natural events, so that effects are sought which are beyond the efficiency of physical causes. Curiosity also with regard to things that are hidden or are still in the future plays a considerable part, e.g. in the various kinds of divination.
New Advent Encylopedia
Division
There are four species of superstitions:
improper worship of the true God (indebitus veri Dei cultus);
idolatry;
divination;
vain observances, which include magic and occult arts.
The source of superstition is, in the first place, subjective. Ignorance of natural causes leads to the belief that certain striking phenomena express the will or the anger of some invisible overruling power, and the objects in which such phenomena appear are forthwith deified, as, e.g. in Nature-worship. Conversely, many superstitious practices are due to an exaggerated notion or a false interpretation of natural events, so that effects are sought which are beyond the efficiency of physical causes. Curiosity also with regard to things that are hidden or are still in the future plays a considerable part, e.g. in the various kinds of divination.
New Advent Encylopedia
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