Popular Piety
Religious Studies A: AQA GCSE Religions, topic 3.3.2
Popular Piety
Popular piety (being religious) refers to kinds of prayer used by Catholics that are not part of the principal liturgical prayers of the Church. These are prayers that can be said without a priest being present and can be both in private and in public.
Catholic Church tradition
- Acts of popular piety are part of a long tradition of the Catholic Church.
- They come from the devotion of Catholics towards Jesus, Mary and many saints.
Spontaneous prayer
- Popular piety provides a structure for prayer that does not always need to take place in a church or for there to be a priest present.
- Many of these prayers can be a spontaneous response to times of crisis.
Teachings of the Catholic Church on popular piety
- The Catholic Church insists that acts of popular piety must be extensions of prayer through the Eucharist and other sacraments and not replace them.
- Though Catholics may focus on the lives of Mary and the saints to aid their prayer, the Catholic Church teaches that all prayer must be centred on God.
Teachings of other Churches on popular piety
- Some Christians from other Churches express concern that the devotions over-emphasise the importance of Mary and the saints, sometimes at the expense of Jesus.
Quotes about popular piety
- ‘And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.‘ [Ephesians 6:18 NIV]
- ‘Popular piety has rightly been regarded as ‘a treasure of the people of God and manifests a thirst for God known only to the poor and humble…’ [Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy, Vatican 2001, 9]
Examples of Popular Piety
Some examples of popular piety are the Rosary, the Stations of the Cross, and the novenas (nine days) of prayers to Mary or to popular saints. Below are some descriptions of the Rosary and the Stations of the Cross:
The Rosary
- The Rosary is a form of meditation on the life of Jesus and Mary.
- The moments from their lives are divided up into joyful scenes (often called mysteries), sorrowful scenes and glorious scenes.
Scenes of the life of Jesus and Mary
- The joyful scenes include the Annunciation, the sorrowful scenes include Mary standing at the foot of Jesus’ cross, and the glorious scenes include the ascension of Mary into heaven.
- For each scene from the life of Jesus and Mary, Catholics will say one ‘Our Father’, ten ‘Hail Mary’s and one ‘Glory be’.
- Catholics will often use a set of beads, called rosary beads, that help them count the prayers.
Stations of the Cross
- The Stations of the Cross are a series of images often found in Catholic churches depicting scenes from the passion and death of Jesus.
- They allow Catholics to meditate on Jesus’ suffering, often during Lent and Holy Week.
- Before the image of each scene, there is a reminder of what happened, a period of silent prayer, and then spoken prayers and hymns.
How many Stations of the Cross are there?
- Traditionally, there are 14 Stations of the Cross, which include Jesus being made to carry his cross and his death on the cross.
- More recently some churches have added a 15th Station, the Resurrection, to remind Catholics that Jesus’ suffering ended in the triumph of him coming back to life.
Test yourself on Popular Piety
What do we call kinds of prayer used by Catholics that are not part of the principal liturgical prayers of the Church?
Which of the following is NOT an example of popular piety?
What is the name of the series of images often found in Catholic churches depicting scenes from the passion and death of Jesus?
What do Catholics say after each scene in the Rosary?