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The honor paid to angels and saints
is entirely different from the
supreme honor due to God alone, and
is indeed paid to them only as His
servants and friends. "By honoring
the Saints and by invoking their
intercession…the glory of God is
very much increased, in proportion
as the hope of men is thus more
excited and confirmed, and they are
encouraged to the imitation of the
Saints" (Cat. of the Council of
Trent, pt. III, c. ii, q.)
We can address our prayers directly
to God, and He can hear us without
any intervention. Nevertheless, this
does not prevent us from asking the
help of those who may be more
pleasing to Him than we are. It is
not because our faith and trust in
Him are weak; nor because His
goodness and mercy to us are less;
rather is it because we are
encouraged by His precepts to
approach Him at times through His
servants. As pointed out by St.
Thomas, we invoke the angels and
saints in quite different language
from that addressed to God.
"We ask God to have mercy upon us
and God to grant us whatever we
require; whereas we ask the saints
to pray for us, i.e. to join their
petitions with ours. Nothing should
be asked of the saints but their
prayer for us, the question is not
about the words, but the sense of
the words. For as far as the words
go, it is lawful to say: 'St. Peter,
'save and pity me by praying for
me'; 'help me to be granted this or
that by thy prayers and merits.'
The Catholic
Encyclopedia, Volume VIII
Copyright © 1910 by Robert Appleton
Company
Online Edition Copyright © 2003 by
K. Knight
Nihil Obstat, October 1, 1910.
Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor
Imprimatur. +John Cardinal
Farley, Archbishop of New York |
