Glossary
Converts drown in vocabulary. These are working definitions — what a term means, what it does not, and how you actually meet it in Catholic life. 47 entries and growing.
Devotion
- Chaplet
A set of prayers counted on beads, distinct from the full Rosary—e.g. the Divine Mercy Chaplet or chaplets to particular saints.
- Consecration
The act of setting a person or thing apart for God—supremely the Eucharistic consecration; also personal dedication to Christ or Our Lady.
- Eucharistic Adoration
Prayer before the Blessed Sacrament—reserved in the tabernacle or exposed in a monstrance—adoring Christ truly present.
- Eucharistic devotion
Prayer and rites centered on the Blessed Sacrament—adoration, Benediction, processions, and hymns of the Real Presence.
- Marian
Of or directed to the Blessed Virgin Mary—her feasts, antiphons, hymns, and the Church's filial devotion to the Mother of God.
- Novena
A nine-day pattern of prayer for a particular intention, modeled on the apostles' prayer between Ascension and Pentecost.
- Relic
The bodily remains of a saint, or an object closely connected with a saint or with Our Lord, honored by the Church with due veneration.
- Sacramental
A sacred sign instituted by the Church—holy water, medals, scapulars, blessings—that disposes the soul for grace; not one of the seven Sacraments.
- Scapular
A sacramental of two small cloth panels worn over the shoulders, signifying consecration and enrollment in a religious family or devotion.