What Does it Mean to be “Devoted” to the Saints?

A common Catholic practice is the devotion to the saints.  But what does it even mean to be “devoted” to a saint?  Thankfully, several Doctors of the Church have an answer for us. 

St. Thomas Aquinas defines religious devotion in general as “an act of the will to the effect that man surrenders himself readily to the service of God” (Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 82, a. 3).  Let’s break this definition down into its parts.  First of all, devotion is an act of the will.  This simply means that it is a choice which one makes.  Like all choices, we choose it because we see some goodness in the choice.  So, we first perceive God (and serving Him) as a good thing, then we choose to move closer to Him (and serving Him).  Thus, devotion is recognizing that God, and serving God, are good things and this recognition moves us to submit ourselves to God and His service.  Devotion is a willingness to serve God completely.   

 St. Thomas then expands on the general idea of religious devotion.  He says that, “the extrinsic and chief cause of devotion is God” (Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 82, a. 3).  God is the chief cause of everything in the sense that God created all people and things.  Furthermore, all of our good actions are only possibly through God’s grace.  It is God who empowers us to do any and every good thing.  When we have devotion, when we recognize God as a good and orient ourselves to Him, it is God who has empowered us to do so.  Therefore, God is the cause of our devotion. 

 Note that St. Thomas said that God is the extrinsic cause of our devotion.  If we merely say that God causes our devotion and stop there, then we have gained no useful knowledge, for this can be said of every good thing we have and do.  So, St. Thomas goes on to explain that there is also an intrinsic cause of our devotion, which we can affect.  God does not force a devotion onto us against our wills.  He is the cause of our capability of having a devotion.  We have to do our part, and we call this the intrinsic cause of devotion.  What is the intrinsic cause of our devotion?  St. Thomas says that it is contemplation or meditation.  He explains:

The intrinsic cause on our part must needs be meditation or contemplation.  For it was stated above that devotion is an act of the will to the effect that man surrenders himself readily to the service of God.  Now every act of the will proceeds from some consideration, since the object of the will is a good understood.  Wherefore Augustine says that “the will arises from the intelligence.”  Consequently meditation must needs be the cause of devotion, in so far as through meditation man conceives the thought of surrendering himself to God’s service (Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 82, a. 3).

Before we can recognize that God and serving Him is a good thing, we must think about both of these things.  By pondering them, we gradually come to realize that they are great goods, the very best goods.  Only after we come to perceive God and serving Him as goods can we totally dedicate ourselves to them (to God and His service).  So, a precursor or logical prerequisite to having devotion is thinking and coming to recognize God and His service as good things.  The more we meditate on the goodness of God and serving Him, the more we will want to give ourselves totally to Him and His service.  So, our devotions are caused and strengthened by meditation. 

How does this understanding of religious devotion towards God fit with having our devotions be toward the saints?  Thomas answers this question and says, “devotion to God’s holy ones . . . does not terminate in them, but passes on to God, in so far as we honor God in His servants” (Summa Theologiae II-II, q. 82, a. 2, ad 3).  Since the saints in heaven are totally conformed to God’s will and perfectly holy, they want the same things as God.  Therefore, when we devote ourselves to them and to serving them, we are devoting ourselves to the service of God.  And, since God wants the saints intercede for us, when we devote ourselves to the saints, we devote ourselves to God’s agents.  By being devoted to the saints we are being devoted to God, who sends the saints to us for their glory and our aid.  If we want to strengthen our devotions to the saints, we should meditate on them, their virtue, their glory in heaven, and their love for us. 

 But how do we serve the saints?  If devotion is being ready to serve God, then devotion to the saints at the very least includes a readiness to serve the saints, but how do we do that?  St. Teresa of Avila gives us one answer to this question. 

When she is discussing her devotion to St. Joseph and all the favors she has received through his intercession, she explains that as a response to these benefits, she wants to spread devotion to him.  She writes, “Because of my impressive experience of the goods this glorious saint obtains from God, I had the desire to persuade all to be devoted to him.  I have not known anyone truly devoted to him and rendering him special services who has not advanced more in virtue” (Teresa of Avila, The Book of Her Life, chapter 6).

This theme fits well with how St. Augustine describes true religion.  He says that authentic religion includes evangelization, we must attempt to spread our love for God and help others to love God as well.  He writes, “Thus, if a man knows how to love himself, the commandment to love his neighbor bids him to do all he can to bring his neighbor to love God. This is the worship of God; this is true religion; this is the right kind of devotion; this is the service which is owed to God alone” (Augustine, City of God, 10.3).  While Augustine is discussing religion in general and worship of God, the theme of spreading one’s devotion fits well.  Thus, at least a part of service to a saint (devotion towards a saint) includes working to spread one’s devotion.

A second way to serve the saints, in addition to spreading devotion to them, would seem to be continuing their work.  By this I mean that each saint is unique; they did various forms of apostolates or work for the Church.  One way to serve a particular saint could be to work for the Church in similar ways as that saint did.  While every saint has a certain commonality, their holiness, each saint was unique in their holiness.  If we are particularly devoted towards a specific saint, we should probably try to imitate their unique spirituality, not just their general holiness.  Essentially, we might try to be like the saint we are devoted to precisely in the ways that they are unique, in the work they did and the spirituality they practiced. 

In all, devotion to the saints expresses a readiness to love and serve those saints.  This includes, of course, a strong devotion to God, but also a readiness to spread devotion the those saints we are devoted towards as well as a desire to imitate them and continue the unique ways they tried to help the Church, as appropriate in our own time and place.