Superstition

SUPERSTITION. — From Lat. superstitio (cf. the Greek ἐκαταχύς), “to stand outside or above,” in religious ethnology it designates the state of isolation from the surrounding world, by virtue of a special emotion or stimulus; among the Romans it has the meaning of excess, exaggeration, superfluous observance (cf. Lucretius, V, 56–59; Isidore, Etym., VIII, 3; Nonius Marcellus, De comp. doctrina, V, 36; Cicero’s popular etymology, De nat. deorum, II, 28, is to be excluded).

The term superstitio, in the Vulgate, translates two different Greek expressions; in the Acts (17, 22; 25, 19) it corresponds to the word ἐκαταχύς, which means religious belief regarding poorly known divinities; in the Letter to the Colossians (2, 23), it translates the expression ἐδελφόρυστα, which designates special practices rather than a purely religious sentiment. These two scriptural terms continued to have different meanings among the Greek Fathers (cf. Clement of Alexandria, Protrept.: PG 8, 224; Strom., I, VII, 1 and 4: PG 9, 408, 428; Origen, Contra Cels., I, II, 2: PG 11, 800; Eusebius, Hist. eccl., VI, 12; Basil, Const. monast., 25: PG 31, 1412; Epiphanius, Adv. haer.: PG 41, 172, 1040; Theodoret, Epist., 161: PG 83, 1460). For the Latin Fathers, superstition is a counterfeit of true religion, a simulated religion, namely that of pagan cults (cf. Lactantius, Div. instit., IV, 28: PL 536; especially St. Augustine, Enarrat. in Ps. XCV, n. 5: PL 38, 377–78; De Civ. Dei, IV, 30: PL 41,

136-38). The Middle Ages limits itself to coordinating, from the theological standpoint, all the preceding notions: namely, that superstition is a vice, an excessive, capricious, vain, and pagan deformation of the virtue of religion (Sum. Theol., 2°-2°², q. 92, a. 1). Finally, Suárez (De relig., t. III, l. II, cap. 1; ed. Vives, t. X, III, Paris 1861, p. 469 ff.) provides a detailed and subtle psychological analysis of superstition.

Under the name of superstition, which the scholastics call cultus vitiosus veri vel falsi numinis, are included worship of the true God, but in an erroneous manner (undue worship), and worship offered to a creature (worship of a false god; V. IDOLATRIA).

In the false worship of the true God—true in its aspirations and false in its applications—two elements are distinguished: the esteem in which the person one wishes to honor is held, and the sign used to render that worship. An element of truth and goodness is not lacking: esteem for the true God. The error lies in the material aspect of worship, that is, in using procedures or means wholly unsuited to honoring God (Sum. Theol., 2°-2°², q. 93, a. 1). Superstition is therefore based either on the false meaning of a sign or on the false intention of the person performing the religious act, for example, honoring God with the ceremonies of the Old Testament, etc.

Even excessive worship of the true God is rightly directed in its orientation, but excessive, superfluous, and useless in its objective aspect. Here superfluous does not mean a quantitative excess, because nothing can be excessive in divine worship, insofar as everything that man does or can do always falls short of what is owed to God. Interior generosity must be supreme, and the only limit is imposed by human strength. Excess or superfluity consists in the circumstances of the practices of worship, which, like every moral virtue, must observe the mean. What does not correspond to the ends of worship is therefore superfluous, invertendo l’ordine dei fattori, quia in exterioribus solum consistens, ad interiorem Dei cultum non pertinet, or what does not follow the prescriptions or customs recognized by the Church (ibid., q. 93, a. 2; q. 81, a. 5 ad 3; q. 92, a. 1). Thus, for example, adding particular ceremonies, prayers, etc., to sacred services contrary to the rubrics.

The false worship of the true God, whose disorder is grave ex genere suo (cf. s. Agostino, Contra mendacium, cap. 3), is injurious to God, who cannot be worshiped through falsity and deceit, and is harmful to religion, because it makes religion suspected of error. In the excessive worship of the true God, moral theologians generally find matter for venial sin, insofar as no grave irreverence or ill will is discernible, but rather frivolity and superficiality. It is added, however, that propter contemptum vel praeceptum grave sin may be recognized. These excesses must not, therefore, be regarded as insignificant on the pre-

text that they are not an obstacle but an aid to the true worship of God, because “every disorder in religious matters is important.” Moreover, the culpability of these forms of cultic superstition varies according to the attachment one has to them, the origin attributed to them, the efficacy ascribed to them, and the dissemination one wishes to give them.

The CIC (can. 1251) recognizes the duty of local Ordinaries to ensure that divine worship, in all its various manifestations, remains pure from every form of superstition.

Angelo Criscito
THE S. IN THE MIDDLE AGES. — The Fathers of the Church, especially s. Agostino, had already severely condemned the s.; but they had not succeeded in making them disappear. When the barbarians converted to Christianity, they contributed new elements to popular beliefs, so much so that in the Middle Ages the s. experienced a singular impetus. The spread of Cathar doctrine seems to have aggravated the situation in the 13th and 14th centuries. The bull Summis desiderantes affectibus (5 Dec. 1484) testifies that witchcraft had attained considerable scope, which made necessary the sanctions promulgated by Innocenzo VIII (cf. Magnum Bullarium Romanum, ed. C. Cocquelines, III, part 2, p. 191). An enumeration of the s. that flourished in Germany during the early Middle Ages is found in the Indiculus superstitionum et paganiarum (PL 89, 810-18) and in P. Lacroix, Superstitions, croyances populaires, moyen âge et Renaissance (I, part 2, Paris 1848, chap. 24). Here only the principal ones will be indicated.

In the Middle Ages, some people were reputed to possess the power of keeping a private demon in their service, one that effectively aided them in their good or evil undertakings. In this way, the jurists in the pay of Filippo il Bello, exploiting the credulity of their contemporaries, falsely accused Bonifacio VIII of keeping one at his side. It was also said that pacts were made with the demon, in which particular mention was made of the renunciation of Jesus Christ and the Virgin, and an oath of loyalty was imposed; this oath was very often subsequently broken by those who had sworn it, once they had attained their goal. Worse still, it was believed that demons could have carnal relations with human beings and even procreate monsters. Satan counted sorcerers and witches among his most faithful servants. The latter were recruited especially among old women, who, on Saturdays, straddled a broomstick or climbed onto the back of a demon transformed into an animal and invisibly crossed the sky until they reached a place of sacrilegious assembly, where Satan was worshipped; he often took the form of a cat or a goat. During the assembly, licentious scenes took place.

Sorcerers and witches possessed the power to cast the evil eye, to cause illnesses or cure them with spells, to bring about epidemics, to kill domestic animals, to destroy crops, to cause hailstorms, to prepare love potions for public use, and to bring good fortune. Witches showed themselves to be more cruel than sorcerers; they were said to crave the flesh of children; it was believed that they carried away unbaptized infants in order to consecrate them to the demon.

Belief in witchcraft was so widespread among the medieval populace that the inquisitors, apparently beginning in the 14th century, equated it with the crime of heresy and handed over to the secular arm those who devoted themselves to this pernicious art. Based on the confessions extorted from sorcerers and witches, the Dominican Giacomo Sprenger composed his Malleus maleficarum, maleficia et eorum haeresim ut framea potentissima conferens (Cologne 1487), intended to facilitate the task of the inquisitors while at the same time offering an overview of the s. raging in the lands of the Empire.

But sorcerers and witches were not the only practitioners of black magic; wax dolls were prepared against some enemy, and were baptized by a priest or deacon; strips bearing the name of one person or another were then attached to them, after which the corresponding point at the heart was pierced with a pin, while the formula was pronounced: « Pietro... Giovanni, muori! ». At other times the belly of the figurine was exposed to fumigations, with the purpose of causing the adversary a visceral illness that would bring him to the grave. The most celebrated trials, which brought the accused condemnation to the stake, took place at the beginning of the 14th century: those of a group of Gascons who had cast a spell on Pope Giovanni XXII (cf. E. Albe, Hugues Géraud et l'affaire des poisons, Paris 1903), and of Guichard de Troyes, falsely accused of having practised magic in order to win the favor of Queen Giovanna, wife of Filippo il Bello (A. Rigault, Le procès de Guichard, évêque de Troyes, Paris 1896).

The death of an adversary was also sought through harmful powders, composed of the most bizarre substances: animal hair, remains of toads, and the flesh of a hanged person, mixed with a consecrated host. Medieval people seem to have been tormented by fear of drugs prepared by magicians. Great personages had wine and food tasters in their service for the meals prepared for their tables; they also used stones shaped like a serpent’s tongue, which were hung in banquet halls and were believed to possess the power to reveal poison. Fear of the evil eye led populations to use amulets, wrapped in cabalistic formulas. Nails, horseshoes, amber, and coral brought good fortune. Bands of cloth or braided herbs, wound around the arms and legs, protected against bad luck. S. Tommaso (Sum. Theol., 2ᵃ-2ᵃc, q. 96, a. 4) mentions fragments of Gospels stamped on lead or tin, or written on parchment, which were worn suspended around the neck by cords and served the same purpose. Necromancy was also practised. Some mediums claimed to be in constant communication with the dead; they spoke with them and undertook to communicate particular requests to their friends, most often consisting in making amends for wrongs committed by them during their earthly life or in requesting Masses for the repose of their souls. Necromancers also undertook to give relatives news of their dead and to inform them of their fate (cf. J. M. Vidal, Une secte de spirites à Pamiers en 1320, in Annales de St-Louis des Français, 3 [1898], pp. 285-345).