“Popular piety” is a way for Catholics to express their devotion and faith to God through prayers and rituals that are not part of the official liturgy. 

These practices are often called "devotions" and can include prayers, rituals, and other expressions of piety.

• Popular piety is often inspired by the cultural traditions and practices of a particular nation or people.

• It's a way for people to connect with their spiritual roots and their community.

• Popular piety is a way for people to express their faith through gestures and symbols that are meaningful to their culture.

• Popular piety is a way for Christianity to exchange cultural treasures with other cultures.

• Popular piety is a way for the faith to be passed on from one generation to the next.

Popular Piety can be characterized by:

• Appealing to emotions

• Simplicity

• A communal aspect

• A traditional connection to a venerated person

Some examples of popular piety include:

• The Rosary

• Eucharistic Adoration

• The Via Matris

• Stations of the Cross

• Veneration of relics

• Visits to sanctuaries

• Pilgrimages

• Processions

• Religious dance

• Medals

• Devotion to the Divine Mercy

• Patronal saint celebrations

• Novenas

• Affection for the saints and angels

• Fasting on Fridays

• Fasting during Lent

• Statues (including burying a statue of St. Joseph to sell a house)

• Touching a candle

Popular Piety emphasizes that worship and devotion are connected to the seven sacraments. It also reminds Catholics that there are many ways to be pious and participate in religious practice.

Popular piety should be an extension of prayer through the Eucharist and other sacraments, not a replacement.

Pope Paul VI said that popular piety “manifests a thirst for God known only to the poor and to the humble, rendering them capable of a generosity and of sacrifice to the point of heroism in testifying to the faith while displaying an acute sense of the profound attributes of God: paternity, providence, and His constant and loving presence.

Pope St. John Paul II said that popular piety is a “treasure of the People of God”.

Pope Francis said in 2024 that popular piety, is a vehicle for transmitting the faith and that when popular piety is successful in communicating the Christian faith and the cultural values of a given people, uniting hearts and building community, it bears great fruit that has an effect on society as a whole, including relations between political, social and institutions and the Church.

I’d like to recommend an article about Popular Piety I found while researching this article. It’s called Reclaiming Catholic Culture: Popular Piety in the Modern World, written by Masha Goepel in 2021. It appeared on the Catholic Stand website.

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