Protestants call it idolatry and modernists see it as quaint superstition, but in these lucid pages written over a century ago, Catholic author Orestes Brownson demonstrates that veneration of Mary and the saints is not merely permissible; it’s essential for every Christian who yearns to worship God in spirit and in truth.
Worship comes from the Anglo-Saxon word weorthscipe, which means “worthy of honor.” And Mary and the saints are worthy of honor more than all other created beings. As Christians praise God in the majesty of the heavens and of the earth, so they praise Him by venerating Him in His saints, who are also the work of His hands and whose good deeds are possible only by His grace.
Such praise is not idolatrous because idolatry is the act of rendering to created things the worship that is due to God alone. Catholics do pray to Mary and to the saints, but they don’t invoke them as God; they call on them as humans — humans whose nearness to God in Heaven enables them to assist us here on earth. Catholics simply ask of Mary and the saints what they ask of each other while they live in the flesh: prayers.
Brownson explains that veneration of Mary and the saints arises from two central mysteries of our Faith — the creation and the Incarnation. And he shows that saint worship is not just a pious devotion that Christians can take or leave as they choose. Rather, it must be part of the faith of every Christian, for it serves as a critical safeguard against atheism, pantheism, and idolatry.
Saint Worship and the Worship of Mary challenges every Christian — Catholic and Protestant alike — to take a fresh look at veneration of Mary and the saints, and to discover in these wise and worthy devotions sure means to keep alive in their souls the great mysteries of our Christian Faith.
