Has the Church ever condemned any Marian devotions as idolatrous?
August 4, 2011
Full Question
Has the Church ever condemned any Marian devotions as idolatrous?
Answer
Yes. In the fourth to fifth centuries there was a heresy known as Collyridianism, in which the adherents treated the Virgin Mary as a goddess by offering to her a bread sacrifice during their liturgies. The primary defender of the orthodox Catholic position was St. Ephiphanius of Salamis in his work Panarion.
