2. Again, no act which finds a place in different kinds of acts can be itself a special kind of act. But devotion is to be found in acts of different kinds, both in corporal acts, for example, and in spiritual; thus a man is said to meditate devoutly, for instance, or to genuflect devoutly.
But devotion does not find a place in different kinds of acts as though it were a _species_ coming under different _genera_, but in the same sense as the motive power of a moving principle is virtually discoverable in the movements of the things it sets in motion.
3. Lastly, all special kinds of acts belong either to the appetitive or to the cognoscitive faculties. But devotion comes under neither of these--as will be evident to anyone who will reflect upon the various acts of these faculties respectively.
But devotion is an act of the appetitive powers of the soul, and is, as we have said above, a movement of the will.
_Cajetan:_ With regard to the proper meaning of the term _devotion_, note that since _devotion_ is clearly derived from _devoting_, and since _to devote_--derived in its turn from _to vow_--means to promise something spontaneously to God: it follows that the principle in all such promises is the will; and further, not the will simply as such, but the will so affected as to be prompt. Hence in Latin those are said to be _devoted_ to some superior whose will is so affected towards him as to make them prompt in his regard. And this seems to refer especially to God and to those who in a sense stand in His place, as, for instance, our rulers, our fatherland, and our principles of action. Hence in the Church's usage the term _devotion_ is especially applied to those who are so affected towards God as to be prompt in His regard and in all that concerns Him. And so _devotion_ is here taken to signify the act of a will so disposed, the act by which a man shows himself prompt in the Divine service.... Thus, then, _devotion_, the principal act of the virtue of religion, implies first of all the prompt desire of the Divine honour in our exercise of Divine worship; and hence comes the prompt choice of appropriate means to this end, and also the prompt carrying out of what we see to be suitable to that end. And the proof of possession of such _devotion_ is that truly devout souls, the moment they perceive that some particular thing (or other) ought to be done for the service of God, are so promptly moved towards it that they rejoice in having to do or in actually doing it (_on_ 2. 2. 82. 1).