That Catholicism contains an enormous variety of devotions suited to every kind of person
2 min • Digitized on May 1, 2023
From A Defense of the Teachings of Mary, page 30
By St. John Henry Newman
This distinction is forcibly brought home to a convert, as a peculiarity of the Catholic religion, on his first introduction to its worship. The faith is every where one and the same; but a large liberty is accorded to private judgment and inclination in matters of devotion.
Any large church, with its collections and groups of people, will illustrate this. The fabric itself is dedicated to Almighty God, and that, under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin, or some particular Saint; or again, of some mystery belonging to the Divine Name or to the Incarnation, or of some mystery associated with the Blessed Virgin.
Perhaps there are seven altars or more in it, and these again have their several Saints. Then there is the Feast proper to the particular day; and, during the celebration of Mass, of all the worshippers who crowd around the Priest, each has his own particular devotions, with which he follows the rite. No one interferes with his neighbour; agreeing, as it were, to differ, they pursue independently a common end, and by paths, distinct but converging, present themselves before God.
Then there are Confraternities attached to the church,—of the Sacred Heart, or the Precious Blood; associations of prayer for a good death, or the repose of departed souls, or the conversion of the heathen; devotions connected with the brown, blue, or red scapular;—not to speak of the great ordinary Ritual through the four seasons, the constant Presence of the Blessed Sacrament, its ever-recurring rite of Benediction, and its extraordinary forty hours’ Exposition.
Or, again, look through some such manual of prayers as the Raccolta, and you at once will see both the number and the variety of devotions, which are open to individual Catholics to choose from, according to their religious taste and prospect of personal edification.