[117] Ps. lxx. 17, 18.
[118] S. Matt. vii. 7.
[119] Ps. cxx. 4.
[120] S. Matt. vi. 8.
[121] Ps. ciii. 33, 34.
[122] Ps. lxxxiii. 12.
[123] viii. 4.
[124] 1 Cor. xiv. 15.
[125] _On Care for the Dead_, chaps, xiii., xv., xvi.
[126] _Moralia in Job_, xii. 14.
[127] Ps. lxvi.
[128] S. Matt. vi. 9-13; S. Luke xi. 2-4.
[129] _Of Socrates the Philosopher_, vii. 21.
[130] Ps. lxxix. 4.
[131] Ps. cxviii. 35.
[132] _On the Orthodox Faith_, iii. 24.
[133] iv. 3.
[134] Rom. viii. 26.
[135] S. John iv. 24.
[136] 1 Tim. ii. 4.
[137] Isa. lxiii. 15, 16.
[138] xxx. 8.
[139] _Ep._, CXXX., chap. xii.
[140] _Ethics_, I. vii. 15.
[141] _Ep._, CXXX., chap. vi.
[142] S. Matt. vi. 33.
[143] _On the Sermon on the Mount_, II. x. 1.
[144] S. Matt. vi. 25.
[145] 2 Cor. iv. 18.
[146] Ps. xxxvii. 10.
[147] 1 Thess. v. 17.
[148] Heb. iv. 3.
[149] Ps. liv. 23.
[150] v. 16.
[151] _Opus Imperf. in Matthaeum, Hom._ XIV.
[152] _On the Lord's Prayer._
[153] S. John xvi. 23.
[154] _Tractatus in Joannem_, 102.
[155] xv. 1.
[156] Ps. xxxiv. 13.
[157] Jer. vii. 16.
[158] Eccles. vii. 14.
[159] 1 John v. 16.
[160] _De Correptionibus et Gratia_, cap. xv.
[161] Rom. xv. 30.
[162] 1 Cor. i. 11.
[163] S. John xxii. 24.
[164] S. Matt. v. 44.
[165] xv. 4.
[166] Ps. vi. 11.
[167] _On the Sermon on the Mount_, i. 21.
[168] Apoc. vi. 10.
[169] Ps. lvii. 11.
[170] _On the Sermon on the Mount_, i. 22, and _Questions on the
Gospels_, II., xlv.
[171] _Questions on the Old and New Testament, Qu._ lxviii.
[172] Ecclus. xxxvi. 1-3.
[173] _Ep._ cxxx. 12.
[174] _Ep._ cxxx. 11.
[175] _Comment. on S. Matthew_, vi.
[176] 1 Cor. vi. 9, 10.
[177] S. Luke i. 49.
[178] Ps. cxliv. 13.
[179] Isa. xlvi. 10.
[180] _On the Sermon on the Mount_, ii. 5.
[181] _Ep._ cxxx. 11.
[182] _Enchiridion_, 115.
[183] _On the Sermon on the Mount_, ii. 11.
[184] xi. 2-4.
[185] _Enchiridion_, 116.
[186] 1 John iv. 19.
[187] S. John xvii. 1-3.
[188] See Touron, O.P., _Vie de S. Thomas d'Aquin_, p. 254; Paris, 1740.
[189] S. John xiv. 16.
[190] Rom. viii. 26.
[191] xcvi. 7.
[192] Ps. cxlvi. 9.
[193] Ecclus. xxxvi. 18, 19.
[194] 2 Macc. xv. 14.
[195] _Contra Vigilantium_, vi.
[196] _Heb._ vii. 25. S. Thomas is quoting from memory.
[197] Exod. iii. 6.
[198] Ps. cxli. 1.
[199] _Ep._ cxxx. 9.
[200] Ps. xxvi. 8.
[201] 1 Kings i. 13.
[202] Osee xiv. 3.
[203] Ps. xv. 9.
[204] S. Matt. vi. 6.
[205] _Opus Imperf. Hom. XIII. in Matt._
[206] _On the Sermon on the Mount_, ii. 3.
[207] Ps. cxviii. 145.
[208] Ps. lxxxv. 1-5.
[209] Ps. xxxix. 13.
[210] Implicitly, _Moralia in Job_, xxii. 13; but see Hugh of S. Victor,
_Exposition of the Rule of S. Augustine_, iii.
[211] 1 Cor. xiv. 14.
[212] _Of the Manner of Prayer_, ii.
[213] iv. 24.
[214] _On the Monastic Constitutions_, chap. i.
[215] _Ep._ cxxi.
[216] Art. IV.
[217] Ps. lxxv. 4, 5.
[218] Ps. cxlv. 1.
[219] 2 Cor. v. 6.
[220] Wisd. ix. 15.
[221] Ps. cxlii. 4-7.
[222] S. Luke xviii. 1.
[223] 1 Thess. v. 17.
[224] 1 Cor. x. 31.
[225] S. Matt. vi. 7.
[226] S. Luke vi. 12.
[227] S. Luke xxii. 43.
[228] Ps. xxvi. 4.
[229] Exod. xix. 21.
[230] S. Matt. vi. 9.
[231] S. Luke xviii. 1.
[232] 1 Thess. v. 17.
[233] Ps. xxxii. 20-22.
[234] Ps. xxxiv. 13.
[235] _On the Sermon on the Mount_, Sermon CV. i.
[236] St. Luke vi. 13.
[237] _On Perseverance_, chap. xxiii.
[238] 2 Cor. xii. 7-9.
[239] S. Prosper, _The Book of Sentences gleaned from S. Augustine_,
Sent. 212.
[240] _Tractatus in Joannem_, 102.
[241] _Monastic Constitutions_, chap, i.
[242] i. 6.
[243] Ps. xxxviii. 13, 14.
[244] _Tractatus in Joannem_, 44.
[245] _Opus Imperf. in Matt., Hom._ XVIII.
[246] _Tractatus in Joannem_, 73; and _De Verbis Domini_, Sermon cccliv.
7.
[247] S. John ix. 31.
[248] xxviii. 8.
[249] _Tractatus in Joannem_, 44.
[250] Implicitly in the old interlinear Gloss on 2 Tim. iii. 5.
[251] _Opus Imperf. in Matt., Hom._ XIV.
[252] xxviii. 2.
[253] Ps. xxxvi. 23-25.
[254] 1 Tim. ii. 1.
[255] xi. 3.
[256] Dan. ix. 18, 19.
[257] Friday in the September Ember days.
[258] The Ordinary Gloss on the words _obsecrations_, _prayers_, etc.,
in 1 Tim. ii. 1.
[259] _Collat._, IX., chaps. xi-xiii.
[260] _Tractatus_ xxxv. _in Matt._
[261] _De Orthodoxa Fide_, iii. 24.
[262] 2 Kings vii. 18.
[263] 3 Kings xviii. 42.
[264] vii. 59; xx. 36.
[265] vi. 7.
[266] Ps. liv. 1-7.
FROM THE SUPPLEMENT TO THE SUMMA--QUESTION LXXII
OF THE PRAYERS OF THE SAINTS WHO ARE IN HEAVEN
I. Are the Saints cognizant of our Prayers?
II. Ought we to appeal to the Saints to intercede for us?
III. Are the Saints' Prayers to God for us always heard?
I
Are the Saints cognizant of our Prayers?
On those words of Job,[267] _Whether his children come to honour or
dishonour, he shall not understand_, S. Gregory says: "This is not to be
understood of the souls of the Saints, for they see from within the
glory of Almighty God, it is in nowise credible that there should be
anything without of which they are ignorant."[268]
And he says also: "To the soul that sees its Creator all created things
are but trifling; for, however little of the Creator's light he sees,
all that is created becomes of small import to him."[269] Yet the
greatest difficulty in saying that the souls of the Saints know our
prayers and other things which concern us, is their distance from us.
But since, according to the authority just quoted, this distance does
not preclude such knowledge, it appears that the souls of the Saints do
know our prayers and other things which concern us.
Further, if they did not know what concerned us, neither would they pray
for us, since they would not know our deficiencies. But this was the
error of Vigilantius, as S. Jerome says in his Epistle against him.[270]
The Saints, then, know what concerns us.
* * * * *
The Divine Essence, then, is a sufficient medium for knowing all things,
as, indeed, is evident from the fact that God in seeing His own essence
sees all things. Yet it does not follow that whoever sees the Essence of
God therefore sees all things, but those only who _comprehend_ the
Essence of God; just in the same way as it does not follow that because
we know a principle we therefore know all that that principle contains,
for that would only be the case if we _comprehended_ the whole power of
the principle. Since, then, the souls of the Saints do not comprehend
the Divine Essence, it does not follow that they know everything which
could be known through the medium of that Divine Essence. Hence the
inferior Angels are taught certain things by the higher Angels, though
all see the Divine Essence. But each person in possession of the
Beatific Vision only sees in the Divine Essence as much of other things
as is necessitated by the degree of perfection of his beatitude; and for
the perfection of beatitude it is required that a man "should have
whatever he wants, and should desire nothing in an inordinate
fashion."[271] Each one, however, rightly desires to know those things
which concern himself. Hence, since no rectitude is lacking to the
Saints, they wish to know those things which concern themselves, and
consequently they must know them in the Word. But it belongs to their
glory that they should be able to help on the salvation of those who
need it, for it is thus that they are made co-workers with God--"than
which there is nought more Divine," as Denis says.[272] It is clear,
then, that the Saints have a knowledge of those things which are
requisite for this end. And so, too, it is manifest that they know in
the Word the desires, the devout acts and the prayers, of men who fly to
them for help.
Some, however, maintain that the Saints do not know our prayers, thus:
1. On the words of Isaias,[273] _Thou art our Father, and Abraham hath
not known us, and Israel hath been ignorant of us_, the Interlinear
Gloss has: "For the Saints who are dead know not what the living do,
even their own children." This is taken from S. Augustine's treatise _On
Care for the Dead_, xiii., where he quotes these words, and adds: "If
these great Patriarchs were ignorant of what concerned those whom they
had begotten, how can the dead be concerned with knowing and assisting
the affairs and the deeds of the living?" Hence it would seem that the
Saints are not cognizant of our prayers.
But these words of S. Augustine are to be understood of the
natural knowledge of the souls separated (from this world); and
this knowledge is not obscured in holy men as it is in sinners.
Moreover, S. Augustine is not talking of that knowledge which is
in the Word, a knowledge which it is clear that Abraham had not
at the time that Isaias said these things; for anterior to
Christ's Passion no one had attained to the Vision of God.
2. In 4 Kings xxii. 20, it is said to Josias the king:
_Therefore_--because, that is, thou didst weep before Me--_I will gather
thee to thy fathers ... that thy eyes may not see all the evils which I
will bring upon this place_. But the death of Josias would have been no
relief to him if he was to know after death what was going to happen to
his nation. The Saints, then, who are dead, do not know our acts, and
consequently cannot understand our prayers.
But although after this life the Saints know the things which
are done here below, we are not therefore to suppose that they
are filled with grief at the knowledge of the afflictions of
those whom they loved in the world. For they are so filled with
the joy of their beatitude that sorrow finds no place in them.
Hence, if they know after death the evil plight of those dear to
them, it is none the less a relief to their sorrow if they are
withdrawn from this world before those woes come on.
At the same time it is possible that souls not yet in glory
would feel a certain grief if they were made aware of the
sorrows of those dear to them. And since the soul of Josias was
not immediately glorified on its quitting the body, S. Augustine
endeavours to argue that the souls of the dead have no knowledge
of the deeds of the living.[274]
3. Again, the more a person is perfected in charity the more ready he is
to succour his neighbour in peril. But the Saints while still in the
flesh had a care for their neighbours, and especially for their
relatives, when in peril. Since, then, they are after death far more
perfected in charity, if they were cognizant of our deeds, they would
have now a much greater care for those dear to them or related to them,
and would help them much more in their necessities; but this does not
seem to be the case. Whence it would seem that they are not cognizant of
our actions nor of our prayers.
But the souls of the Saints have their will perfectly conformed
to the Will of God, even in what they would will. Consequently,
while retaining their feelings of charity towards their
neighbour, they afford them no other assistance than that which
they see is arranged for them in accordance with Divine Justice.
Yet at the same time we must believe that they help their
neighbours very much indeed by interceding for them with God.
4. Further, just as the Saints after death see the Word, so also do the
Angels, for of them it is said: _Their Angels in Heaven always see the
face of My Father Who is in Heaven_.[275] But the Angels, though seeing
the Word, do not therefore know all things, for the inferior Angels are
purified of their ignorance by the superior Angels, as is evident from
Denis.[276] Consequently, neither do the Saints, although they see the
Word, know in It our prayers and other things which concern us.
But although it is not necessary that those who see the Word
should see all things in the Word, they none the less see those
things which belong to the perfection of their beatitude, as we
have said above.
5. Lastly, God alone is the Searcher of hearts. But prayer is
essentially an affair of the heart. Consequently God alone knows our
prayers.
But God alone knows of Himself the thoughts of the heart; others
know them according as they are revealed to them either in their
vision of the Word or in any other way.
II
Ought we to appeal to the Saints to intercede for us?
In the Book of Job,[277] it is said: _Call now, if there be any that
will answer thee; and turn to some of the Saints_. And on this S.
Gregory says: "It is our business to call, and to beseech God in humble
prayer."[278] When, then, we desire to pray to God, we ought to turn to
the Saints that they may pray for us.
Further, the Saints who are in the Fatherland are more acceptable in the
sight of God than they were when upon earth. But we ought to ask the
Saints even when on earth to be our intercessors with God, as the
Apostle shows us by his example when he says: _I beseech you, therefore,
brethren, through our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the charity of the Holy
Ghost, that you help me in your prayers for me to God_.[279] Much more,
then, should we ask the Saints who are in our Fatherland to help us by
their prayers to God.
Moreover, the common custom of the Church confirms this, since in her
Litanies she asks the prayers of the Saints.
* * * * *
In the words of Denis,[280] "there is this Divinely established harmony
in things--that they which hold the lowest place should be brought to
God through them that come between them and God." Since, then, the
Saints who are in our Fatherland are most nigh to God, the harmony of
the Divine Government demands that we who, abiding in the body, are
"absent from the Lord," should be led to Him by the Saints who stand
midway; and this is secured when through their means the Divine Goodness
pours out Its effects upon us. And since our return to God ought to
correspond to the orderly way in which His goodnesses flow upon us--for
His benefits flow out upon us through the intervention of the Saints'
suffrages for us--so also ought we to be brought back to God through the
intervention of the Saints, and thus once more receive His benefits.
Whence it is that we make them our intercessors for us with God--and, as
it were, mediators--by begging them to pray for us.
* * * * *
But some say that we should not ask the Saints to pray for us, thus:
1. No one asks a man's friends to intercede for him except in so far as
he thinks that he can obtain a favour more easily through them. But God
is infinitely more merciful than any Saint, and consequently His Will is
more readily inclined to hear us than is the will of any Saint. Whence
it would seem superfluous to make the Saints mediators between ourselves
and God, and so ask them to intercede for us.
But just as it is not by reason of any deficiency on the part of
the Divine Power that It works through the mediumship of
secondary causes, whereas it rather tends to the fulfilment of
the harmony of the universe that His Goodness should be more
copiously diffused upon things, so that things not only receive
from Him their own peculiar goodness, but themselves become a
source of goodness to other things as well; so in the same way
it is not by reason of any lack of mercy on His part that appeal
to His mercy by means of the prayers of the Saints is fitting;
but this is done in order that the aforesaid harmony may be
preserved.
2. If we ought to ask the Saints to pray for us, it can only be because
we know that their prayers are acceptable to God. But the more saintly
is a Saint, the more acceptable is his prayer to God. Consequently we
ought always to make the greater Saints our intercessors with God, and
never the lesser ones.
Yet although the greater Saints are more acceptable to God than
are the lesser ones, it is still useful to pray sometimes to the
lesser Saints. And this for five reasons: Firstly, because a man
sometimes has a greater devotion to some lesser Saint than to
one who is greater; and the efficacy of our prayers depends very
much on our devotion. Secondly, in order to avoid weariness; for
unremitting application to one thing begets distaste; but when
we pray to various Saints fresh devotional fervour is stirred up
in practically each case. Thirdly, because certain Saints are
appointed the patrons of certain particular cases, so S. Antony
for the avoidance of hell-fire. Fourthly, that so we may show
due honour to them all. Fifthly, because sometimes a favour may
be gained at the prayer of many which would not be gained at the
prayer of one alone.
3. Christ, even as man, is termed _the Saint of Saints_;[281] and it
belongs to Him, as man, to pray. Yet we never ask Christ to pray for us.
Hence it is superfluous to make the Saints our intercessors with God.
But prayer is an act. And acts belong to individual beings.
Consequently, if we were to say, _Christ, pray for us_, we
should appear, unless we added something, to be referring this
to Christ's Person, and thus we might seem to fall into the
error of Nestorius who regarded the Person of the Son of Man as
distinct in Christ from the Person of the Son of God; or
perhaps, too, into the error of Arius who regarded the Person of
the Son as less than the Father. In order, then, to avoid these
errors, the Church does not say, _Christ, pray for us_, but
_Christ, hear us_, or _Christ, have mercy on us_.
4. Once more, when one is asked to intercede for another, he presents
the latter's prayers to him with whom he has to intercede. But it is
superfluous to present anything to Him to Whom all things are present.
Hence it is superfluous to make the Saints our intercessors with God.
But the Saints are not said to present our prayers to God as
though they were manifesting to Him something which He did not
know, but in the sense that they ask that these prayers may be
heard by God, or that they consult the Divine Truth concerning
them, so as to know what, according to His providence, ought to
be done.
5. Lastly, that must be held superfluous which is done for the sake of
something which, whether the former were done or not, would yet take
place--or not take place--all the same. But similarly, the Saints would
pray for us or not pray for us whether we asked them to do so or not.
For if we deserve that they should pray for us, they would pray for us,
even though we did not ask them to do so; if, on the other hand, we are
not deserving that they should pray for us, then they do not pray for
us--even though we ask them to do so. Hence to ask them to pray for us
seems altogether superfluous.
But a man becomes deserving that some Saint should pray for him
from the very fact that with pure-hearted devotion he has
recourse to him in his needs. Hence it is not superfluous to
pray to the Saints.
III
Are the Saints' Prayers to God for us always heard?
In 2 Maccabees xv. 14 it is said: _This is he that prayeth much for the
people, and for all the Holy City, Jeremias the prophet of God_; and
that his prayer was heard is evident from what follows, for _Jeremias
stretched forth his right hand and gave to Judas a sword of gold,
saying: Take this holy sword, a gift from God_, etc.
Further, S. Jerome says[282]: "You say in your book that while we live
we can pray for one another, but that after we are dead no one's prayer
for others will be heard"; and S. Jerome condemns this statement thus:
"If the Apostles and Martyrs while still in the body could pray for
others while as yet solicitous for themselves, how much more when they
have won their crown, completed the victory, and gained their triumph?"
Moreover, the Church's custom confirms this, for she frequently asks to
be helped by the prayers of the Saints.
* * * * *
The Saints are said to pray for us in two ways: firstly, by express
prayer, when they by their ardent desires appeal to the ears of the
Divine Mercy for us; secondly, by interpretative prayer--namely, by
their merits which, standing as the Saints do in the sight of God, not
only tend to their own glory but are, as it were, suffrages--and even
prayers--for us; just as the Blood of Christ, shed for us, is said to
ask pardon for us. And in both ways the prayers of the Saints are, as
far as in them lies, efficacious in obtaining what they ask for. But
that we do not obtain the fruit of their prayers may be due to defects
on our part, according, that is, as they are said to pray for us in the
sense that their merits avail for us. But according as they actually do
pray for us--that is, ask something for us by their desires--they are
always heard. For the Saints only wish what God wishes, and they only
ask for what they wish should be done; what God, however, wishes is
always done--unless, indeed, we are speaking of the _antecedent_ will of
God, according to which _He wills all men to be saved_: this will is not
always fulfilled. Hence it is not to be wondered at if what the Saints
also will according to this kind of will is not always fulfilled.
But some maintain that the Saints' prayers for us are not always heard,
thus:
1. If the Saints' prayers were always heard, they would be especially
heard when they pray for those things which affect themselves. Yet they
are not always heard as regards these things, for to the Martyrs who
prayed for vengeance upon the inhabitants of the earth it was said _that
they should rest for a little time till_ the number of _their brethren
should be filled up_.[283] Much less, then, are their prayers heard for
things that do not concern them.
But this prayer of the Martyrs is nothing more than their desire
to obtain the garment of the body and the society of the Saints
who are to be saved; it expresses their agreement with the
Divine Justice which punishes the wicked. Hence on those words
of the Apocalypse,[284] _How long, O Lord_, the Ordinary Gloss
says: "They yearn for a greater joy, and for the companionship
of the Saints, and they agree with the justice of God."
2. It is said in Jeremias[285]: _If Moses and Samuel shall stand before
Me, My soul is not towards this people_. The Saints, then, are not
always heard when they pray for us to God.
But God here speaks of Moses and Samuel according as they were
in this life, for they are said to have prayed for the people
and thus withstood the wrath of God. Yet none the less, had they
lived in Jeremias' time they would not have been able to appease
by their prayers God's wrath upon the people, so great was the
latter's wickedness. This is the meaning of that passage.
3. The Saints in our Fatherland are said to be the equals of the
Angels.[286] But the Angels are not always heard in their prayers to
God, as is evident from Daniel[287]: _I am come for thy words. But the
Prince of the kingdom of the Persians resisted me one and twenty days._
But the Angel who spoke had not come to Daniel's assistance without
asking his freedom from God; yet none the less the fulfilment of his
prayer was hindered. In the same way, then, neither are the prayers of
other Saints to God for us always heard.
But this contest of the good Angels is not to be understood in
the sense that they put forth contrary prayers before God, but
that they set before the Divine scrutiny conflicting merits on
either hand, and awaited the Divine decision. Thus S. Gregory,
expounding the above words of Daniel, says: "These sublime
Spirits who rule over the nations in no sense strive for those
who do evil, but they scrutinize their deeds and judge justly;
hence, when the faults or the merits of any nation are submitted
to the Council of the Supreme Court, he who is set over that
particular nation is described as either losing or failing in
the contest. But the sole victory for all of them is the supreme
will of his Creator above him; and since they ever look towards
that Will, they never desire what they cannot obtain,"[288] and
hence never ask for it. Whence it is clear that their prayers
are always heard.
4. Whoever obtains something by prayer in a certain sense merits it. But
the Saints who are in our Fatherland are no longer capable of meriting.
Therefore they cannot obtain anything for us from God by their prayers.