DEVOZIONE. –
I. GENERAL NOTIONS
The word devotion is not always properly understood. This term is often confused with devotions in the plural. The latter are rather certain means of attaining true devotion. At other times the term is used to indicate attentiveness and a certain sensible fervor in prayer. In the strict sense, it could be defined as “a reverential and at the same time affectionate movement of the soul toward God, whom we recognize as possessing prerogatives worthy of love and respect.” It is at once an act of the intellect, which knows God’s amiability, and of the will, which gives itself to his service. S. Tommaso numbers it among the interior acts of the virtue of religion, together with prayer. The principal object, then, of devotion is God, who is also its principal cause, insofar as he gives it, sustains it, and increases it according to his good pleasure (Sum. Theol., 2ᵃ-2ᵃᵉ, q. 82, a. 3). On the part of man, however, it requires an act of the will, which must be resolved to remain constantly consecrated to the service of God, despite all physical and spiritual trials. Devotion, in fact, is not the fruit of feeling, but of the will. The very fervor of devotion, which is often mistakenly believed to be due to feeling and therefore inconstant, can instead be a permanent state of the soul, which, driven by a strong will, constantly remains engaged in the complete exercise of God’s service. It is necessary, like the virtue of religion to which it belongs. S. Ambrogio says that devotion is “the first virtue and the foundation of the others, and God requires it of all” (De Abraham, I, 2).II. QUALITIES OF D
a) Detachment from earthly things. As s. Tommaso rightly observes, d. (from devouo) etymologically means “consecration to the divinity.” This necessarily entails a total self-giving, without interference from other human objects. b) Complete submission to the will of God in all the joyful and sorrowful circumstances of life. c) Not anxiously seeking the interior consolations that at times, through God’s goodness, accompany d., but striving disinterestedly for perfect union with God through charity. d) Consequently, d. must be anchored, like the virtue of religion, in a conscious and lived faith. From all this it follows that true d. must not be limited to a merely intellectual knowledge of God’s demands, but must tend toward an effective union (Sum. Theol., 2ᵃ-2ᵃᵉ, q. 180, na. 1 e 7).III. MEANS OF OBTAINING II
St Thomas indicates one, which he calls, however, “the intrinsic cause of d. on the part of man.” It is contemplation or meditation.Meditation must focus above all on two considerations: a) the goodness of God and the benefits that man has received from him; b) awareness of one’s own failings, which obliges one to raise one’s eyes to heaven in order to obtain forgiveness and help from God. According to the best Doctors of the Church, a very effective means is meditation on the mysteries of the life, Passion, and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Other means that could help to obtain and increase it are: 1) spiritual direction; 2) frequent reception of the Sacraments; 3) the practice of the interior life and union with God; 4) prayer, a means likewise indicated by s. Thomas; 5) mortification of the passions that disturb and distract the soul from true d.; 6) particular d. approved by the Church and recommended by the saints.
IV. EFFECTS OF D
According to the Angelic Doctor, these are spiritual joy, which arises from consideration of the goodness of God, and at the same time a sense of sadness originating in awareness of our own failings and of the inadequacy of our nature to fulfill perfectly our duties toward God. The hope, which becomes certainty, of God’s help transforms this sentiment of repentance and humility also into serenity and joy.From what has been said thus far, it follows that true d. is neither an experience nor does it consist in the observance of certain specific religious practices; rather, it is sentimental and emotional, a living and positive expression of our faith in God and of the affection we feel in our heart for him. D. presupposes profound veneration for God, sincere gratitude toward him, the desire to be united with him, and resignation to his divine will.
Giuseppe Sette
V. PRACTICES OF D
These are the means of attaining the end, which is d., that is, the interior act of the virtue of religion. Practices of piety and practices of d. are one and the same thing.The great Catholic devotions are directed to the Most Holy Trinity, to Our Lord Jesus Christ, to the Blessed Virgin Mary, to s. Giuseppe, to the angels, to the saints, and even to the souls in Purgatory (v. CULTO). The most common practices of d., such as the Sign of the Cross, the Way of the Cross, the Holy Hour, the visit to the Most Blessed Sacrament, processions, the nine First Fridays, etc., have received the explicit or implicit approval of the Church and the favor of spiritual masters.
These devotions offer precious benefits (indulgences, etc.) and particular graces of a spiritual and also material nature. All produce moral and social effects of the highest importance. It is through the practice of these devotions, so foolishly despised or neglected by short-sighted or blind minds, that small and great, children and adults, learned and ignorant, have learned and continue to learn to raise their souls above the vulgarities or turpitudes of this world. Abuses must, however, be avoided. Practices of d. become abusive when they place entirely secondary practices before the fundamental acts of religion; when they assume too predominant a role in life, even taking precedence over the duties of one’s state; when the entire effect is made to depend on the exterior act or, worse still, on a particular combination of exterior acts. Interior worship together with the practice of Christian virtue is the essential condition for practices of d. to achieve their purpose and for superstition to be avoided. There is also a certain order to be followed in practices of d. The only obligatory element in them is what God and the Church prescribe in public worship, in the Commandments and the Precepts. Finally, there is the obligation to respect the norms of the Church concerning worship. Some practices of d. have been proscribed by the Church: thus devotion to the Penitential Heart of Jesus (Holy Office, 15 July 1893), the title of Interior Blessed Virgin Mary (Holy Office, 13 Dec. 1893), devotion to the Heart of s. Giuseppe (Sacred Congregation of Rites, in Nanneten, 14 June 1873), devotion to the annihilated love of Jesus, and the rosary of the Most Holy Wounds of Our Lord Jesus Christ (Holy Office, 12 Dec. 1939; AAS, 32 [1940], p. 24).
For the norms of the CIC on this matter (canons 1259, 1261, 1279) V. CULTO. By a decree of 17 May 1937, the Holy Office returned to the subject of not introducing new forms of d. into the Church (AAS, 29 [1937], p. 304). The recent encyclical Mediator Dei et hominum of 20 Nov. 1947 also refers to this decree (AAS, 29 [1947], p. 588). Nor may books of piety and d. be printed by either clerics or laypersons without ecclesiastical approval (canon 1385).