hyperdulia

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English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin hyperdūlīa, from hyper-, from Ancient Greek ὑπέρ (hupér, above) + dūlīa, from Ancient Greek δουλείᾱ (douleíā, slavery), from δοῦλος (doûlos, slave).

Pronunciation

Noun

hyperdulia (usually uncountable, plural hyperdulias)

  1. (Roman Catholicism) A level of veneration higher than dulia but less than latria, properly given to the Virgin Mary only.
    • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, published 2010, page 451:
      By the thirteenth century, the growth of devotion to Mary, the Mother of God, in both East and West led John of Damascus's admirer Thomas Aquinas to formalize a further refinement: the concept of an exceptional sort of veneration, hyperdulia, offered only to the greatest of God's creations, Mary, the mother of Jesus.

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