ADORATION. – Etymologically, adoration (from the Latin *ad os*) is the gesture of bringing the hands to the lips and then turning them toward a likeness or any sacred object as a sign of veneration. This term also extends to similar postures of the arms, hands, or body (kneeling, prostration [Gr. *proskynesis*], profound bows, etc.).
I. ADORATION IN RELIGIONS IN GENERAL
The act of adoration exists in all religions because it is prompted by an intimate feeling of fear and respect for the divine mystery, and in higher religions by reverent love toward the deity or the venerated object.Adoration is expressed through acts of collective or individual worship. Collective acts unite the entire human group, whether small or large, in the expression of the same religious sentiment, which may manifest in lower forms such as orgiastic dances, rhythmic movements of the Quakers and Pentecostals, the whirling dances of dervishes; and in higher forms, such as prayers and modulated chants led by the presider of the assembly, and sacrifices.
Individual acts of worship depend on the free expression of the individual and range from a simple gesture to contemplative meditation, prepared in certain religions by practical means such as breath control in yoga, "psychotic" practices in Theosophy, the pursuit of silence that isolates from external contact, and finally the complete abandonment of all the soul’s powers to God. On this point, see MYSTICISM.
The religious monuments that have come down to us in great abundance from antiquity and the Middle Ages allow us to distinguish various gestures of adoration. The complete prostration on the ground, used in ancient times and still practiced today among Muslims, was the same as that used before sovereigns, where subjects and vassals placed their feet on the neck of the king while the inferior kissed the ground. A simpler attitude is sitting on the heels or kneeling on one or both knees. One could also adore while standing, in the posture of a servant awaiting orders, with arms hanging or crossed on the chest, or with both arms raised. The gesture of greeting, with the arm raised and the palm facing forward, was also common. The humility of these gestures could be heightened by bowing the head in reverence.
A gesture that appears to have been isolated in use among the Cretan-Mycenaeans consisted of bringing a closed fist to the forehead, as if to shield the eyes from the brilliance emanating from the deity. Finally, kissing is a sign of adoration, though it is rather rare both in antiquity and in the modern age.
Paolino Mingazzini
2. IN CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY
In the broad sense in which adoration has been defined, it could also refer to persons invested with civil authority. However, in Christian tradition, it is used exclusively in a religious context and may denote any act of worship (cf. John 4:21) or, more properly, any external act of worship rendered to God or to creatures, taking into account their special relationship with God.In these latter words, the object of adoration is perfectly determined: God supremely, fully, without any relation; and then the creature considered solely in its relation to God. Since the union of various creatures with God can be more or less intimate, it follows that adoration can have different degrees. Already St. Augustine wrote on this point: “We honor the martyrs with that cult of love and social intimacy with which we honor here on earth other men distinguished by their holiness in serving God. Only we honor the martyrs with greater devotion and confidence because they have already overcome the struggle” (*Contra Faustum*, 20, 21: PL 32, 384). In practice, however, the use of the word adoration has been restricted, with regard to creatures, to those who have a very special relation to God. Thus, the holy humanity of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, the cross as a symbol of our redemption, the angels and saints whose sole occupation is to honor God, and the Mother of the divine Word, who is placed above the angels and saints, are the object of our adoration, but in a manner proportionate to their excellence in relation to God. Hence, there are three kinds of adoration, which are true acts of religion: latria, dulia, and hyperdulia. Theologians, following St. Thomas, teach that while the adoration of dulia and the adoration of hyperdulia do not differ substantially from each other (since both are acts of worship rendered to creatures), they do differ substantially from the adoration of latria (which is due to God alone) (cf. *Summa Theologiae*, II-II, q. 103, art. 3).
Taken in this sense, adoration is equivalent to worship (see), so that authors speak equally of the worship of latria, the worship of dulia, and the worship of hyperdulia. Generally, however, they restrict the use of the word adoration to the worship due to God alone (adoration in the strict sense, adoration of latria), calling the worship due to angels, saints, and their relics and images veneration (dulia means dependence, submission, and thus veneration); and special veneration that due to the Virgin, her relics, and images. In each of these kinds of adoration or worship, authors distinguish between absolute and relative adoration or worship: absolute adoration is that rendered to what deserves to be adored in itself because of its own excellence; relative adoration, on the other hand, is that rendered to what does not deserve honor in itself but because of the excellence of another. Thus, absolute adoration of latria is due to God, to the Most Holy Trinity, to Jesus Christ, to the Eucharist, to the Sacred Heart of Jesus; relative adoration of latria is due to the name of Jesus, to the cross on which Jesus died, to the image of Our Lord, to the instruments of the Passion such as the crown of thorns, the nails, the lance, etc. With absolute adoration of hyperdulia, we honor the Blessed Virgin, and with relative hyperdulia, her images. With absolute adoration of dulia, we venerate the angels and saints, and with relative dulia, their relics and images.
According to the definition given above, it is clear that adoration involves a twofold act: one internal, of the intellect which recognizes the excellence of another and one’s own subjection, and of the will which intends to manifest externally, through some sign, this subjection; and the other external, namely the very act of humility and respect through which we manifest the internal act.
The external acts by which adoration has been demonstrated in the past and is still demonstrated today, with the sole exception of sacrifice, are indifferent and can be offered both to God and to creatures; hence the specific reason for adoration, rather than from the external act, depends on and is derived from the internal act. Thus, whoever through prostration intends to submit to someone as to God renders an act of latria; if instead he intends to submit to him as to a unique God, he performs an act of dulia; if, however, he intends to submit to him as to one invested with authority or power in any way, he performs nothing more than an act of civil worship. Hence, it is easy to explain the ecclesiastical use of genuflection before the Pope and the diocesan bishop, the kissing of the foot of the Supreme Pontiff, the very term adoration to designate the act of respect and veneration shown by the cardinals to the newly elected Vicar of Jesus Christ; as well as the use of civil prostration (or genuflection) and similar gestures, practiced especially in the East toward the person of the emperor or toward ancestors and the deceased in general.
When, however, the practice of these acts is demanded toward human creatures with the same intention with which they are rendered to God, we often see the believer in the true God refuse to perform them. Thus Holy Scripture tells us that Abraham worshiped Ephron the Hethite (Gen. 23:12), that Joseph was worshiped by his brothers (Gen. 43:26), David by Mephibosheth, Joab, Absalom, etc. (2 Kgs. 9:6 and 8; 14:22 and 33); but it also tells us that Mordecai refused to worship Haman, who demanded this act as if he were a god (Esth. 3:2); that St. Peter refused the worship of the centurion Cornelius, who wished to render it to him as to a god (Acts 10:26). Thus the early Christians refused those acts of homage toward the emperors, who demanded them as if they were gods, protesting that with such an intention they could be rendered only to the one God. The theological disputes regarding the use of worship are also well known; these disputes, more or less intense, troubled the East and the West from the 5th to the 9th century (v. ICONOCLASM).
It must be conceded that in both Churches the fundamental doctrine on this matter was the same: the controversy arose from a failure to agree on the meaning of the terms (from that time the Greeks began to reserve the word λατρεία to indicate the worship given to God alone and used the word προσκόμισις in a more general sense; but the distinction did not become precise until gradually—ἡ ἀλλογενὴς λατρεία, ἡ κατὰ λατρείαν προσκόμισις distinct from ἡ τιμητική [or ἐκ τιμῆς] προσκόμισις—while in the Latin language the two words were translated with the single term adoratio, which contributed neither to clarity nor to understanding); and also from the fact that the Latins saw in the usages of the Greeks the expression of absolute latria worship, whereas the Greeks did not see it in that way.
As for the obligation of worship toward God, moralists recall that this duty is imposed both by natural law and by positive divine law (cf. Matt. 4:10); ecclesiastical law has then determined the manner and time for the faithful to fulfill this precept (cf. can. 1255 ff. of the CIC). The worship of the saints, sacred images, and relics is regulated by the provisions of the CIC (can. 1276–89).
3. IN ART
In early Christian art, the rite of *adoratio*, already used by pagans toward deities and later also toward emperors, becomes a simple prostration, usually on one knee and often accompanied by a gesture of speech or greeting. Thus do the saints who present themselves before the judgment of God, and thus do the various figures (the Canaanite woman, Jairus, the three Marys, etc.) whom the Gospel shows approaching Jesus in an act of worship. Another form of worship was the simple deep bow; this too appears in early art, as, for example, in representations drawn from the Apocalypse. The kissing of the feet accompanied by deep prostration, seen on various ancient sarcophagi, combines the sentiment of worship with that of the most profound respect in general. This has remained in the rite still improperly called the *adoratio* of the Pope upon his election.Adorazione: see also ORAZIONE.
Adorazione della CROCE: see CROCE.
Adorazione dei MAGI: see EPIFANIA.
Adorazione del PAPA: see SOMMO PONTEFICE.
Adorazione PERPETUA NOTTURNA: see SACRAMENTO.
Adorazione delle QUARANTORE: see QUARANTORE.
Adorazione del S.mo SACRAMENTO, SUORE MALABARESI dell'. — This congregation was recently founded by Monsignor Thomas Kurialachery (1873–1925). Its purpose is the adoration of the Most Blessed Sacrament and the instruction of youth. The congregation is spread across the dioceses of Ernakulam and Changanacherry and in 1937 numbered 202 sisters and 37 novices.
Guilielmus de Vries