Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 15.djvu/776

 WORSHIP

710

WORSfflP

parish church of Ischl, a work for which he was com- missioned by the emperor; also compositions for "Parzival" and for Weber's " Dreizehnlinden " (Thirteen Linden Trees). He was also the private teacher of the Archdukes Francis Ferdinand and Otto. The last work he did was the entire fresco ornamentation of the Church of St. Anastasius at Vienna in 1900-1901; in recognition of this work he received the cross of the Knights of the Order of Francis Joseph. He was a member of the Austrian commission for historical and artistic remains and of the section for art of the Austrian Leo Association. He married in 1S72 Anna von Ftlhrich (d. 1909); he had one son, Joseph (d. ISSO), and a daughter Paula, now Mother Felicitas, of the Ursuhne Nuns at Inns- bruck. August von Worndle is buried at Innsbruck.

Philip von Wornilh (Brixen, 1894).

Heinrich von Worndle.

Worship, Ancestor. See Animism; China; Con- fucianism; Indo-China.

Worship, Christian. — Notion and Character- istics. — The word worship (Saxon weorthscipe, "honour"; from worth, meaning "value", "dignity", "price", and the termination, ship; Lat. cullus) in its most general sense is homage paid to a person or a thing. In this sense we may speak of hero-worship, worship of the emperor, of demons, of the angels, even of reUcs, and especially of the Cross. This article wiU deal with Christian worship according to the following definition: homage paid to God, to Jesus Christ, to His saints, to the beings or even to the objects which have a special relation to God. There are several degrees of this worship: if it is addressed directly to God, it is superior, absolute, supreme worship, or worship of adoration, or, accord- ing to the consecrated theological term, a worship of latria. This sovereign worship is due to God alone; addressed to a creature it would become idolatry. When worship is addressed only indirectly to God, that is, when its object is the veneration of martyrs, of angels, or of saints, it is a subordinate worship dependent on the first, and relative, in so far as it honours the creatures of God for their peculiar relations with Him; it is designated by theologians as the worship of dulia, a term denoting servitude, and implying, when used to signify our worship of distinguished servants of God, that their service to Him is their title to our veneration (cf. ChoUet, loc. cit., col. 2407, and Bouqviillon, "Tractatus de virtute rehgionis", I, Bruges, 1880, 22 sq.).

As the Blessed Virgin has a separate and absolutely supererainent rank among the saints, the worship paid to her is called hyperdulia (for the meaning and history of these terms see Suicer, "Thesaurus ecclesiasticus", 1728). In accordance with these principles it will readily be understood that a certain worship may be offered even to inanimate objects, such as the reUcs of a martyr, the Cross of Christ, the CrovvTi of Thorns, or even the statue or picture of a saint. There is here no confusion or danger of idolatry, for this worshij) is subordinate or dependent. The relic of the saint is venerated because of the link which unites it with the person who is adored or venerated; while the statue or picture is regarded as having a conventional relation to a person who has a right to our homage — as being a symbol which re- minds us of that person (see Vacant, "Diet de tlu'ol. cath.", 8. V. "Adoration", and authors cited in bibli- ography; also .\doration ; Idolatry; Images; Virgin M.\RY, Devotion to the Blessed).

Interior worship is to b(^ distingui.shed from exterior worship. The former is not manifested by external acts, but consists in internal adoration; but when this inner sentiment is expressed by words or actions, prostration, genuflexion, the sign of the cross, or any other gesture, it becomes exterior worship. Again

worship is private or pubhc; the former, which may be an act of external worship, is performed unseen by men or seen by only a few; the second is official worship rendered by men assembled for a rehgious end and forming a religious society properly so called. This is not the place to show that Cliristian worship is a worship at once interior and exterior, pubhc and private. It should be interior, otherwise It would be mere comedy, a purely Pharisaical wor- ship such as Christ condemned when He told His disciples that they should worship in spirit and in truth. But it should not be purely interior worship, as Sabatier, with certain Protestants and most Deists, maintains (Sabatier, "Esquisse d'une philosophic de la rehgion", 1908, 5); for man is not a pure spirit, but composed of body and soul, and he should adore God not' only in his soul but also in his body. This is the justification of all external manifestations of worship — genuflexion, prostration, kneehng, standing, the sign of the cross, the lif ting-up or imposition of hands. Furthermore, on the same principle it will readily be understood that, in rendering homage to God, man may have recourse to animate or inanimate creatures (sacrifice of animals, incense, hghts, flowers, etc.). Neither is it difficult to prove that, since man is a social being, his worship should bo pubhc and in common with others. Worship in private, or even individual worship in pubhc, is not sufficient. Society as such should also render to God the honour due to Him. Furthermore, it is natural that men who beheve in the same God and experience towards Him the same sentiments of adoration, gratitude, and love should assemble to praise and thank Him.

But even if this principle of a natural right did not exist to prove the necessity and legitimacy of a social worship, the fact that Christ founded a Church, that is, a society of mer professing the same faith, obeying the same laws, united with one another by the closest bonds, implies the existence of the same worship. This rehgious society founded by Christ should have one and the same worship — "one Lord, one faith, one baptism. One God and Father of all" (Eph., iv, 5-6). This baptism represents the entire worship, which should be one, addressed to the same God by the same Christ. Hence Christian worship is the worship of the Church, the expression of the same faith, and exercised under the supervision of the ecclesiiistical authority. Thus understood, worship depends on the virtue of religion and is the manifestation of that virtue. Finally, theologians usually connect worship also with the \artue of justice; for worship is not an optional act of the creature; God is entitled to the worship of inteUigent creatures as a matter of justice.

In Christianity the worship offered to God has a special character which profoundly differentiates it from Jewisii worship, for it is the worship of the Trinity, God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The worship of the Jews is directed to God, one, omnipotent, magnificent, sovereign, King of kings. Lord of lords, God of gods, but without distinction of persons. Prayer is addressed to Him as the hving God, the Lord God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, or simply to the Lord our God. The formula, to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, remains in use among Christians, but ordinarily God is conceived of by Christians under other titles and with ;mother form. In the worship which Christ paid to God lie shows Him to us as the Father. He adores Him as His Father: "I confess to Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth" (Matt., xi, 25; cf. Luke, x, 21); "Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee: remove this chaUce from me" (Mark, xiv, .36); "Father, sanctify me . . . Father glorify me . . . Just Father" (John, xvii). Already He seems to claim for Himself a worship of adoration equal to