Do Catholics worship Mary and pray to Saints?

Question

We actually do "worship Mary" -- but not with the sort of worship that is due to God alone (latria) which has become the modern Protestant sense of the word (this is why many Catholics, using this modern definition, insist we don't "worship Mary"; we most definitely don't believe she is God! We do not "worship Mary" in any sense that Protestants accuse us of, we don't "worship Mary" in the modern, Protestant sense of the word!). "To worship" does not necessarily mean treating someone or something as God. The British call their magistrates and mayors "Your Worship," and I don't think any of them mistakenly consider Mayor So-and-So to be the Father Almighty. The point for Protestants reading this is this: if you come across a traditional Catholic text referring to "Mary worship" in a good light, don't freak out.

Yes, we actually pray TO Saints. Some conservative Catholics are afraid to say this, mistakenly thinking that "to pray" means "to worship as God or a god" (or are afraid that Protestants think that). All they need is a dictionary to find that "to pray" means "to ask."

Now, pray tell, was that so hard to figure out?

Latria is a Greek term used in Catholic theology to mean adoration, which is the highest form of worship or reverence and is directed only to the Holy Trinity.

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.

In Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglo Catholic theology, veneration is a type of honor distinct from the worship due to God alone. Church theologians have long adopted the terms latria for the sacrificial worship due to God alone, and dulia for the veneration given to saints and icons. Catholic theology also includes the term hyperdulia for the type of veneration specifically paid to Mary, mother of Jesus, in Catholic tradition. This distinction is spelled out in the dogmatic conclusions of the Seventh Ecumenical Council (787), which also decreed that iconoclasm (forbidding icons and their veneration) is a heresy that amounts to a denial of the incarnation of Jesus.

Veneration is a religious symbolic act giving honor to someone by honoring an image of that person, particularly applied to saints.

The Blessed Virgin, as manifesting in a sublimer manner than any other creature the goodness of God, deserves from us a higher recognition and deeper veneration than any other of the saints; and this peculiar cultus due to her because of her unique position in the Divine economy, is designated in theology hyperdulia, that is dulia in an eminent degree. It is unfortunate that neither our own language nor the Latin possesses in its terminology the precision of the Greek. The word latria is never applied in any other sense than that of the incommunicable adoration which is due to God alone. But in English the words adore and worship are still sometimes used, and in the past were commonly so used, to mean also inferior species of religious veneration and even to express admiration or affection for persons living upon the earth. So David "adored" Jonathan. In like manner Miphiboseth "fell on his face and worshipped" David (2 Samuel 9:6).

Answer 1

Here is the way I understand Prayer to Mary & the Saints
(Note: this is my view of them & how I pray to them)

The best way I can explain my view of prayer to Mary or the Saints is the world "Talking". I talk to Mary as I would my mother with respect, but still as a woman. She is the mother of Jesus so yes she is special & pure but she is not worthy of worship. I do not worship Mary in any way, shape or form. Nor do I believe that she can forgive me of my sins, or save my soul. God is the only one who can do that. I ask her to pray for me just like how I would ask a family member to pray for me. (That does not mean that I do not ask God my self) I talk to the Saints as I would my close friends.
"Saints are people & angels in heaven" I ask them to pray for me, just like how I how ask one of my friends to pray for me.

I hope this helps to answer your question, and the questions of others.

Answer 2

Prayer and worship are two different things. Praying to saint or to Mary is no different than asking a friend to pray for your intention. Catholics only worship God.

Answer 3

As a lapsarian Catholic, I have to say you do a terrible job of presenting Catholic doctrine. All "saints" are considered by the Church to be continuing members of the Church and therefore as capable of praying on behalf of others as living members of the Church. That's what "communion of saints" means, Christians living AND dead. Catholics honor the saints (dulia), a practice grown out of the veneration of departed martyrs in the early Church. Mary is given extra veneration (hyperdulia) because of her intimate connection to Christ. None of them are "worshipped" (latria) under any definition. People who think they are "worshipping" Mary are not following Church teaching. No one but God has any supernatural power. Saints can only pray along with the Church to God. If anything, you've created MORE confusion.

Answer 4

The basic problem here is the evolution of language. Catholics neither pray to saints nor worship Mary, using these terms in their modern sense.

However, Catholics ask saints for their help. Contrary to faithless Protestants, Catholics take Jesus at his word:

Luke 20:37: "But in the account of the bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord 'the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive."

Every Protestant in Y!A asks the living for help. Catholics include the living saints in heaven in their community of help.

Catholics honor Mary above all saints, as do the biblical witnesses to tell her story in the gospels:

Luke 1:26: In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."

Because Jesus is God (as even Protestants admit), Mary is literally the Mother of God. Now that sounds like an achievement worthy of the Queen of Heaven.

Cheers,
Bruce

Answer 5

Many Protestants reading this aren't nearly open-minded enough to even remotely appreciate this.

Yes, Catholics do pray to saints. They ask the saints to pray for them. In other words, intercession. One can call it a prayer request from a saint.

Catholics venerate and honor Mary, and they ask her for her prayers for them, but they do not worship her as a god, which she is not. Only God is God. So, they ask for her intercession. Again, this is a prayer request.

Although I can appreciate this, you the Fundies are incapable of reading this without popping their eyes, trembling in rage, pointing hard and saying, "I IT! THOSE ROMANS ARE GOIN' STRAIGHT TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET!!"

As for "saved" ---- "saved" = dead and with God. People from MANY religions can attain salvation. Look at the first answer, that's what I mean about narrow-minded Protestants.

Answer 6

spiderhedron -
You are taking the ex-communications of these nuns out of content. Here is the whole story:

http://www.religioustolerance.org/army_mary.htm



Six sisters from the Monastery of Our Lady of Charity and Refuge in Hot Springs were excommunicated by the Catholic Church for their involvement in a schismatic association based in Quebec, Canada.

The women have been long-time members of the Community of the Lady of All Nations, also known as the Army of Mary. On their own, the six sisters decided to join the association between 20 and 30 years ago and adopt the teachings of its founder, Marie-Paul Giguere, who believes she is the reincarnation of the Virgin Mary.

The Army of Mary is a special interest group, considered by its followers to be a part of the Roman Catholic faith. It was founded in Quebec, Canada, on 1971-AUG-28. As the name implies, the group's purpose is to bring "together souls of good will resolved to live, with Mary, the Christian life to its perfection in all the demands of the duties of their state. They suggest that "The Army of Mary is the Catholic religion lived intensely." 1 According to the Army's web site, "the goal of the Army of Mary is the sanctification of souls through devotion to the Triple White – the Eucharist, Mary and the Pope..." By emphasizing the Christian message of peace and love, they believe that Jesus' second coming will be hastened.

Members of the Army, called Knights of Mary are expected to:

Develop a spirit of prayer.
Assist at mass and receive communion every day, if possible.
Practice the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity.
Observe the Ten Commandments.
Recite the rosary each day, the fifteen decades if possible.
Do at least fifteen minutes of spiritual reading daily.
Perform well the duties of his/her state.
Look to his/her interior reform.

In 1987, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith expressed concern about two books that had been circulated by the Army of Mary.
Cardinal Ratzinger stated that they contained "gravely erroneous doctrines," and authorized Cardinal Vachon, the Archbishop of Quebec, to take any needed actions up to and including suppression of the Army. A Committee of Enquiry claimed that the Army of Mary "doesn’t pray with the same words as others."

Beginning in 1978, Guigère introduced herself as the mystical incarnation of Mary. 6 In her press conference on 1987-MAY-7, Ms. Giguère denied that she presented herself as the Virgin Mary.

Answer 7

"To pray," as a verb, has two very distinct meanings:

1 : to make a request in a humble manner
2 : to address God or a god with adoration, confession, supplication, or thanksgiving

It is only in this first sense that Catholics "pray" to saints. "To pray" is simply to ask.

You are correct, all worship in the sense of latria is God's alone. All grace comes from God alone. Only Christ can save us.

We pray to saints to ask them to pray for us, in the same way you might pray for me if I ask and I would pray for you if you ask. Christians are called to pray for each other: James 5:16 "Pray one for another... The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."

The secular world rightly honors its heroes -- the brave soldiers, the brilliant scientists, the artists, etc. --- and it even makes up pretend heroes with the Batmans and Supermans found in comic books. For Catholics, the hero is a man of virtue, and the heroine is the woman whose dedication to Christ makes her truly worthy of respect.

.

Answer 8

Telling people a burner is hot on a stove will only stop a few from touching it to see. Some people are just wired like that. I believe everything you said, yet I know there will be a few that will fight you. We all know people that will fight you about if water is wet, or the desert hot.
Especially on this site, please do not get discouraged that there are so many picking on your faith.
Peace.

Answer 9

I think you are the one who doesn't understand. Jews and Christians are not to "ask" anything of anyone not of this Earth except God. The only difference is that Christians believe Jesus is God. Can you honestly believe that Peter or Paul would try to make contact with Stephen after his death, asking him for favors? This is the Roman way, where anyone could be declared a god after his death. You are to make supplication directly to God Almighty, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, not human beings living or dead. The minute "Saint Anne" left the planet, she was out of the running.

Protestants don't understand why Catholics can't figure that one out. It seems so simple to us.

Hstvx, citing Catholic prayers doesn't make it Biblical truth.

Answer 10

Very well stated.

One comment on CJ's response: If the Church that Jesus founded on His Apostles is a Babylonian pagan religion, wouldn't that imply that Jesus was a Babylonian pagan?