Chapter I — On the Necessity of Prayer

It was an error of the Pelagians to say that prayer is not necessary for attaining salvation. Their impious master Pelagius used to say that man is lost only insofar as he neglects to know the truths necessary for him to know. But St. Augustine remarked a great thing: Omnia disputat, quam ut oret. Pelagius wished to discuss every other matter except prayer, which is the only means (as the Saint held and taught) for acquiring the Science of the Saints, according to what St. James wrote: Si quis indiget sapientia, postulet a Deo, qui dat omnibus affluenter, nec improperat (James 1:6).

The Scriptures are all too clear in showing us the necessity we have of praying, if we wish to be saved. Oportet semper orare, et non deficere (Luke 18:1). Vigilate, et orate, ut non intretis in tentationem (Matt. 26:41). Petite, et dabitur vobis (Matt. 7:7).

The aforesaid words Oportet, Orate, Petite, as theologians commonly hold, signify and impose both precept and necessity. Wycliffe said that these texts were to be understood not of prayer, but only of the necessity of good works, so that in his view praying was nothing other than doing good; but this was his error, and it was expressly condemned by the Church. Thus the learned Leonard Lessius wrote that it cannot be denied without erring against the Faith that prayer is necessary for adults to be saved, since it is evident from the Scriptures that prayer is the only means of obtaining the helps necessary for salvation: Fide tenendum est Orationem Adultis ad salutem necessariam, ut colligitur ex Scripturis; quia Oratio est medium, sine quo auxilium ad salutem necessarium obtineri nequit.

The reason is clear. Without the assistance of grace we can do no good. Sine me nihil potestis facere (John 15:5). St. Augustine comments on these words that Jesus Christ did not say we could bring nothing to completion, but that we could do nothing: Non ait perficere, sed facere. By this our Savior wished to give us to understand that without grace we cannot even begin to do good. Indeed the Apostle wrote that by ourselves we cannot even have the desire of doing it: Non quod sufficientes simus cogitare aliquid a nobis, sed sufficientia nostra ex Deo est (2 Cor. 3:5). If then we cannot even think of good, much less can we desire it. The same is conveyed to us by many other Scriptures: Deus operatur omnia in omnibus (1 Cor. 12:7). Faciam ut in praeceptis meis ambuletis, et judicia mea custodiatis, et operemini (Ezek. 36:27). So that, as St. Leo I wrote: Nulla facit homo bona, quae non Deus praestet, ut faciat homo. We do no good except what God by His grace causes us to do. Hence the Council of Trent, Session 6, Canon 3, declared: Si quis dixerit, sine praeveniente Spiritus Sancti inspiratione, atque ejus adjutorio, hominem credere, sperare, diligere, aut poenitere posse, sicut oportet, ut ei justificationis gratia conferatur, anathema sit.

The author of the Opus Imperfectum, speaking of the brute animals, says that the Lord has provided some with speed, others with claws, others with wings, so that they might thus preserve their being; but man He has formed in such a state that God alone should be all his strength: Alios munivit cursu, alios unguibus, alios pennis. Hominem autem sic disposuit, ut virtus illius Ipse sit. So that man is utterly powerless to procure his own salvation, since God has willed that whatever he has and can have, he should receive entirely from the aid of His grace.

But this aid of grace the Lord, by ordinary Providence, does not grant except to those who pray, according to the celebrated saying of Gennadius: Nullum credimus ad salutem, nisi Deo invitante, venire; nullum invitatum salutem suam, nisi Deo auxiliante, operari; nullum, nisi orantem, auxilium promereri. Having established on one hand, then, that without the assistance of grace we can do nothing, and on the other, that such assistance is ordinarily granted by God only to those who pray — who does not see that it follows as a consequence that prayer is absolutely necessary to us for salvation? It is true that the first graces, which come to us without any cooperation on our part, such as the call to faith or to repentance — these, says St. Augustine, God grants even to those who do not pray. Nevertheless the Saint holds it as certain that the other graces (and especially the gift of perseverance) are not granted except to those who pray: Deum nobis dare aliqua etiam non orantibus, ut initium Fidei; alia non nisi orantibus praeparasse, sicut Perseverantiam. Hence theologians commonly, along with St. Basil, St. John Chrysostom, Clement of Alexandria, and others, together with St. Augustine himself, teach that prayer is necessary for adults not only by necessity of precept, as we have seen, but also as a means — that is to say, by ordinary Providence it is impossible for a believer to be saved without commending himself to God and asking Him for the graces necessary for salvation. St. Thomas teaches the same, saying: Post Baptismum autem necessaria est homini jugis oratio, ad hoc quod Caelum introeat; licet enim per Baptismum remittantur peccata, remanet tamen fomes peccati nos impugnans interius, et Mundus, et Daemones qui impugnant exterius. The reason, then, that makes us certain according to the Angelic Doctor of the necessity we have of prayer is briefly this: we must fight and conquer in order to be saved: Qui certat in agone non coronatur nisi legitime certaverit (2 Tim. 2:5). On the other hand, without the Divine help we cannot resist the forces of so many and such powerful enemies. Now this Divine help is granted only through prayer. Therefore without prayer there is no salvation.

That prayer is the only ordinary means for receiving the Divine gifts is confirmed more distinctly by the same Holy Doctor elsewhere, where he says that all the graces that God from eternity has determined to give us, He wills to give us through no other means than prayer. And the same was written by St. Gregory: Homines postulando merentur accipere, quod eis Deus ante saecula disposuit donare. Not indeed, says St. Thomas, is it necessary to pray in order that God may know our needs, but in order that we may understand the necessity we have of having recourse to God, to receive the helps needed for our salvation, and thus acknowledge Him as the sole Author of all our goods: Sed ut nos consideremus in his ad Divinum auxilium esse recurrendum; et recognoscamus Eum esse bonorum nostrorum Auctorem. Just as the Lord has ordained, then, that we should be provided with bread by sowing wheat and with wine by planting vines, so He has willed that we should receive the graces necessary for salvation by means of prayer, saying: Petite, et dabitur vobis; quaerite et invenietis (Matt. 7:7).

We are in sum nothing other than poor beggars, who possess only what God gives us as alms. Ego autem mendicus sum et pauper (Ps. 39:18). The Lord, says St. Augustine, indeed desires and wishes to dispense His graces to us, but He will not dispense them except to those who ask: Deus dare vult, sed non dat nisi petenti. He declares plainly, saying: Petite, et dabitur vobis. Seek, and it shall be given to you; therefore, says St. Teresa, whoever does not seek, does not receive. Just as moisture is necessary for plants to live and not wither, so, says Chrysostom, prayer is necessary for us in order to be saved. Elsewhere the same Saint says that as the soul gives life to the body, so prayer maintains the soul in life: Sicut corpus sine Anima non potest vivere, sic Anima sine Oratione mortua est, et graviter olens. He says graviter olens — giving off a foul stench — because whoever ceases to commend himself to God immediately begins to reek of sin. Prayer is also called the food of the soul, because without food the body cannot sustain itself, and without prayer (says St. Augustine) the soul cannot be kept alive: Sicut escis alitur caro, ita orationibus homo nutritur. All these comparisons that the Holy Fathers adduce denote the absolute necessity, which they teach exists in all, of praying in order to attain salvation.

Prayer, moreover, is the most necessary weapon for defending ourselves against enemies; whoever does not make use of it, says St. Thomas, is lost. The Saint does not doubt that Adam fell precisely because he did not commend himself to God when he was tempted: Peccavit, quia ad Divinum auxilium recursum non habuit. And the same was written by St. Gelasius speaking of the rebel angels: Dei gratiam in vacuum recipientes, non orando constare nequierunt. St. Charles Borromeo, in a pastoral letter, observes that among all the means that Jesus Christ has recommended to us in the Gospel, He has given the first place to prayer; and in this He wished that His Church and Religion should be distinguished from all other sects, wishing that it should be called especially a House of Prayer: Domus mea domus orationis vocabitur (Matt. 21:13). St. Charles concludes in the aforesaid letter that prayer est omnium virtutum principium, progressus, et complementum — is the beginning, the progress, and the completion of all virtues. So that in the darkness, the miseries, and the dangers in which we find ourselves, we have nothing else on which to found our hopes but to lift our eyes to God and from His mercy obtain our salvation through prayer: Sed cum ignoramus quid agere debeamus, hoc solum habemus residui, ut oculos dirigamus ad te (2 Chron. 20:12).

And so also David practiced, finding no other means to escape being the prey of enemies than to pray continually to the Lord to free him from their snares: Oculi mei semper ad Dominum, quoniam ipse evellet de laqueo pedes meos (Ps. 24:15). So that he did nothing else but pray, saying: Respice in me et miserere mei, quia unicus et pauper sum ego (ibid. v. 16). Clamavi ad te, Domine, salvum me fac, ut custodiam mandata tua (Ps. 118:146). Lord, turn Your eyes upon me, have pity on me, and save me, for I can do nothing, and outside of You there is none who can help me.

And in truth, how could we ever resist the forces of so many enemies and observe the Divine precepts, especially after the sin of our first father Adam, which has rendered us so weak and infirm, if we did not have the means of prayer, by which we can obtain from the Lord the light and the strength sufficient to observe them? It was indeed a blasphemy what Luther said — namely, that after the sin of Adam the observance of the Divine Law has become absolutely impossible for men. Jansenius too said that some precepts were impossible even for the just, according to the present forces they have; and thus far his proposition could have been explained in a good sense. But it was justly condemned by the Church for what he then added, saying that the Divine grace to make them possible was also lacking: Deest quoque Gratia qua possibilia fiant. It is true, says St. Augustine, that man by reason of his weakness cannot fulfill certain precepts with his present forces and with the ordinary or common grace given to all, but he can well obtain by prayer the greater help that is needed to observe them: Deus impossibilia non jubet, sed jubendo monet et facere quod possis, et petere quod non possis, et adjuvat ut possis. This excellent text of the Saint was later adopted and made a dogma of faith by the Council of Trent, Session 6, Chapter 11. And there the Holy Doctor immediately added: Videamus unde medicina poterit, quod vitio non potest — that is, how man can do what he cannot do by his own power. And he means that by prayer we obtain the remedy for our weakness, since when we pray, God gives us the strength to do what we cannot do by ourselves. We cannot believe, St. Augustine continues, that the Lord wished to impose on us the observance of the law and then imposed on us a law that is impossible; and therefore, says the Saint, when God makes us realize that we are unable to observe all His precepts, He admonishes us to do the easy things with the ordinary grace He gives us, and then to do the difficult things with the greater help that we can obtain by means of prayer: Eo ipso quo firmissime creditur Deus impossibilia non potuisse praecipere, admonemur et in facilibus quid agamus, et in difficilibus quid petamus. But why (someone will say) has God commanded us things that are impossible for our strength? Precisely for this reason, says the Saint, so that we might attend to obtaining by prayer the help to do what we cannot do: Jubet aliqua, quae non possumus, ut noverimus quid ab illo petere debeamus. And in another place: Lex data est, ut gratia quaereretur, gratia data est, ut lex impleretur. The law cannot be observed without grace, and God has given the law for this purpose: that we should always beseech Him to grant us the grace to observe it. In another place he says: Bona est lex, si quis ea legitime utatur. Quid est ergo legitime uti lege? And he answers: Per legem agnoscere morbum suum, et quaerere ad sanitatem Divinum adjutorium. St. Augustine says, then, that we must make use of the law, but for what purpose? To recognize by means of the law (impossible to us) our powerlessness to observe it, so that we may then obtain by prayer the Divine help that heals our weakness.

The same was written by St. Bernard, who said: Qui sumus nos, aut quae fortitudo nostra, ut tam multis tentationibus resistere valeamus? Hoc erat certe, quod quaerebat Deus, ut videntes defectum nostrum, et quod non est nobis auxilium aliud, ad ejus Misericordiam tota humilitate curramus. The Lord knows how useful to us is the necessity of praying, to keep us humble and to exercise our confidence; and therefore He permits us to be assailed by enemies that our forces cannot overcome, so that by prayer we may obtain from His mercy the help to resist. Let it be especially noted that no one can resist the impure temptations of the flesh unless he commends himself to God when he is tempted. This enemy is so terrible that when it attacks us, it almost robs us of all light; it makes us forget all our meditations and good resolutions, and makes us despise even the truths of the Faith, almost losing even the fear of Divine punishments; for it conspires with our natural inclination, which with the utmost violence drives us toward sensual pleasures. Whoever at that moment does not have recourse to God is lost. The only defense against that temptation is prayer, says St. Gregory of Nyssa: Oratio pudicitiae praesidium est. And Solomon said it before him: Et ut scivi, quoniam aliter non possem esse continens, nisi Deus det... adii Dominum, et deprecatus sum illum (Wis. 8:21). Chastity is a virtue that we have not the strength to observe unless God grants it to us, and God does not grant this strength except to those who ask for it. But whoever asks for it will certainly obtain it.

Therefore St. Thomas says, against Jansenius, that we must not say that the precept of chastity, or any other precept, is impossible for us, because although we cannot observe it by our own strength, we can nonetheless do so with the Divine help: Dicendum, quod illud quod possumus cum auxilio Divino, non est nobis omnino impossibile. Nor let it be said that it seems an injustice to command a lame man to walk straight; no, says St. Augustine, it is not unjust, provided he is given the means to find the remedy that heals his defect; and if he then continues to walk crookedly, the fault is his own: Consultissime homini praecipi, ut rectis passibus ambulet, ut, cum se non posse perspexerit, medicinam requirat ad sanandam peccati claudicationem.

In sum, says the same Holy Doctor, whoever does not know how to pray well will never know how to live well: Recte novit vivere, qui recte novit orare. And on the other hand, St. Francis of Assisi said that without prayer no good fruit can ever be hoped for in a soul. Those sinners, therefore, who excuse themselves by saying they have not the strength to resist temptations are wrong. But if you (St. James reproaches them) do not have this strength, why do you not ask for it? You do not have it because you do not seek it: Non habetis, propter quod non postulatis (James 4:2). There is no doubt that we are too weak to resist the assaults of our enemies; but it is also certain that God is faithful, as the Apostle says, and does not permit us to be tempted beyond our strength: Fidelis autem Deus est, qui non patietur vos tentari supra id quod potestis, sed faciet cum tentatione proventum, ut possitis sustinere (1 Cor. 10:13). Primasius comments: Illud faciet provenire gratiae praesidio, quod possitis tentationem sustinere. We are weak, but God is strong; when we ask Him for help, He communicates His strength to us, and we can do all things, as the Apostle himself justly promised, saying: Omnia possum in eo, qui me confortat (Phil. 4:13). He who falls has no excuse, then (says St. John Chrysostom), because he neglected to pray, since if he had prayed, he would not have been overcome by enemies: Nec quisquam poterit excusari, qui hostem vincere noluit, dum ab orando cessavit.

Here the question arises whether it is also necessary to have recourse to the intercession of the saints in order to obtain the Divine graces. As to saying that it is a lawful and useful thing to invoke the saints as intercessors to obtain for us through the merits of Jesus Christ what by our own demerits we are not worthy to obtain — this is a doctrine already established by the Church, as the Council of Trent declared (Session 25, Decree on the Invocation of Saints): Bonum atque utile est suppliciter eos invocare, et ob beneficia impetranda a Deo per Filium ejus Christum ad eorum opem auxiliumque confugere. This invocation was condemned by the impious Calvin, but quite unjustly; if it is lawful and profitable to invoke living saints for our help and to ask them to assist us with their prayers, as the prophet Baruch did, saying: Et pro nobis ipsis orate ad Dominum Deum nostrum (Bar. 1:13), and St. Paul: Fratres orate pro nobis (1 Thess. 5:25), and God Himself wished that the friends of Job should commend themselves to his prayers, so that through Job's merits He would then favor them: Ite ad servum meum Job... Job autem servus meus orabit pro vobis; faciem ejus suspiciam (Job 42:8) — if it is lawful, then, to commend ourselves to the living, why should it not be lawful to invoke the saints, who in heaven enjoy God more closely? This does not derogate from the honor due to God, but doubles it, as when one honors the King not only in his person but also in his servants. For this reason St. Thomas says that it is well to have recourse to many saints, quia plurium orationibus quandoque impetratur, quod unius oratione non impetratur. And if someone were to say: But what is the use of having recourse to the saints to pray for us, when they already pray for all who are worthy of it? The same Holy Doctor answers that one would not already be worthy that the saints should pray for him, but ex hoc fit dignus, quod ad ipsum cum devotione recurrit — he becomes worthy precisely by having devout recourse to them.

It is then debated whether it is beneficial to commend ourselves to the souls in Purgatory. Some say that the souls in Purgatory cannot pray for us, relying on the authority of St. Thomas, who says that those souls, being occupied in purifying themselves amidst their sufferings, are inferior to us, and therefore non sunt in statu orandi, sed magis ut oretur pro eis. But many other doctors, such as Bellarmine, Sylvius, Cardinal Gotti, and others, very probably affirm it, since it should be piously believed that God makes our prayers known to them, so that those holy souls may pray for us, and thus this beautiful exchange of charity may be maintained between them and us: we praying for them, and they for us. Nor does what the Angelic Doctor said — that the souls in Purgatory are not in a state of praying — present an obstacle (as Sylvius and Gotti say), for it is one thing not to be in a state of praying, and another not to be able to pray. It is true that those holy souls are not in a state of praying, because (as St. Thomas says) since they are suffering, they are inferior to us and are rather in need of our prayers. Nevertheless in such a state they can well pray, because they are souls who are friends of God. If a father loves a son tenderly but keeps him imprisoned in order to punish him for some fault committed, the son is not in a state of praying, but why can he not pray for others? And why can he not hope to obtain what he asks, knowing the affection his father bears him? Thus, since the souls in Purgatory are greatly loved by God and confirmed in grace, there is no impediment that can forbid them to pray to Him for us. The Church, it is true, does not customarily invoke them or implore their intercession, because ordinarily they do not know our prayers. But it is piously believed (as has been said) that the Lord makes our prayers known to them, and then they, who are full of charity, certainly do not fail to pray for us. St. Catherine of Bologna, whenever she desired some grace, used to have recourse to the souls in Purgatory and would soon find herself heard; indeed she attested that many graces she had not obtained through the intercession of the saints, she had then obtained through the souls in Purgatory.

But here let me be permitted to make a digression for the benefit of those holy souls. If we want the help of their prayers, it is well that we too attend to helping them with our prayers and works. I said it is well, but it must also be said that this is one of our Christian duties, since charity requires that we assist our neighbor when the neighbor is in need of our help and we can help without great inconvenience. Now it is certain that among our neighbors are also the souls in Purgatory, who, although they are no longer in this life, nevertheless do not cease to be in the Communion of Saints. Piorum Animae mortuorum, says St. Augustine, non separantur ab Ecclesia — the souls of the faithful departed are not separated from the Church.

And St. Thomas declares it more distinctly to our purpose, saying that the charity owed to the dead who have passed to the other life in grace is an extension of the same charity we owe to our living neighbors: Caritas quae est vinculum Ecclesiae membra uniens non solum ad vivos se exstendit sed etiam ad Mortuos qui in Caritate decedunt. Hence we must help those holy souls as we can, as our neighbors; and since their necessities are greater than those of our other neighbors, all the greater for this reason appears our duty to assist them.

Now in what necessities do those holy prisoners find themselves? It is certain that their sufferings are immense. The fire that burns them, says St. Augustine, is more tormenting than any pain that can afflict man in this life: Gravior erit ille ignis quam quodquod potest homo pati in hac vita. And St. Thomas holds the same, adding that it is the very same fire as that of hell: Eodem igne torquetur Damnatus et purgatur Electus. And this is as regards the pain of sense; but far greater still is the pain of loss — that is, the privation of the sight of God — which afflicts those holy spouses. For those souls, drawn not only by natural but also by supernatural love, by which they burn toward God, are impelled with such force to unite with their supreme Good, that when they see themselves impeded by their sins, they experience a pain so bitter that if they were capable of death, they would die at every moment.

So that, as Chrysostom says, this pain of the privation of God torments them immensely more than the pain of sense: Mille Inferni ignes simul uniti non darent tantam poenam, quanta est sola poena damni. Hence those holy spouses would rather suffer all the other pains than be deprived of a single moment of that longed-for union with God. The Angelic Doctor therefore says that the pain of Purgatory exceeds every suffering that can be endured in this life: Oportet, quod poena Purgatorii excedat omnem poenam istius vitae. And Denis the Carthusian relates that a certain dead man, who was restored to life through the intercession of St. Jerome, told St. Cyril of Jerusalem that all the torments of this earth are comforts and delights in comparison with the least pain in Purgatory: Si omnia tormenta mundi minori, quae in Purgatorio habentur, poenae comparentur, solatia erunt. And he added that if a man had experienced those pains, he would rather suffer all the sorrows of this life that men have endured until the Day of Judgment than endure for a single day the least pain of Purgatory. Hence the aforementioned St. Cyril wrote that those pains in their severity are the same as those of hell; they differ only in this, that they are not eternal. The pains, then, of those souls are exceedingly great; on the other hand, they cannot help themselves. They, according to what Job says, are in chains, and are bound with the cords of poverty (Job 36:8). Those holy queens are already destined for the Kingdom, but they are detained from taking possession of it until the term of their purgation is reached; so that they cannot help themselves (at least not sufficiently, if we wish to believe those doctors who hold that those souls can by their own prayers obtain some relief) to free themselves from those chains until they have fully satisfied Divine justice — just as a Cistercian monk said from Purgatory to the sacristan of his monastery: Help me, I beg you, with your prayers, for I myself can obtain nothing. And this is in accord with what St. Bonaventure says: Mendicitas impedit solutionem — that is, those souls are so poor that they have no means of paying their debt.

On the other hand, since it is certain, indeed a matter of faith, that we can well assist those holy souls with our suffrages, and principally with prayers — praised in a particular way and also practiced by the Church — I do not know how anyone who neglects to offer them some help, at least with his prayers, can be excused from fault. Let us be moved to assist them, if not by duty, then at least by the pleasure it gives to Jesus Christ to see us working to release those beloved spouses of His, so that He may have them with Him in paradise. Let us be moved at least, finally, by the great merits we can gain by practicing this great act of charity toward those holy souls, who in turn are most grateful and well understand the great benefit we do them by relieving them from those pains and obtaining by our prayers the hastening of their entrance into glory. Hence they will not fail, when they have arrived there, to pray for us. And if the Lord promises His mercy to those who show mercy to their neighbor — Beati misericordes, quoniam ipsi misericordiam consequentur (Matt. 5:7) — whoever attends to helping those holy souls, so afflicted and so dear to God, can with good reason hope for his own salvation. Jonathan, after having procured the salvation of the Hebrews by the victory he obtained over the enemy, was condemned to death by Saul his father for having eaten honey contrary to his order; but the people presented themselves to the king and said: Ergone Jonathas morietur, qui fecit salutem hanc magnam in Israel? (1 Kings 14:45). Now just so we should hope that if any one of us obtains by his prayers that a soul should leave Purgatory and go to paradise, that soul will say to God: Lord, do not permit him who freed me from those pains to be lost. And if Saul granted Jonathan his life at the entreaty of the people, God will not deny eternal salvation to that faithful one at the prayers of a soul who is His spouse. Moreover, says St. Augustine, those who in this life shall have more assisted those holy souls will in the next, when in Purgatory, be more assisted by others through God's Providence. Let it be noted here, as a practical matter, that a great suffrage for the souls in Purgatory is to hear Mass for them, and during it commend them to God through the merits of the Passion of Jesus Christ, saying thus: Eternal Father, I offer You this Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, with all the sorrows He suffered in His life and death; and through the merits of His Passion I commend to You the souls in Purgatory, and especially, etc. And it is an act of great charity to commend at the same time also the souls of all who are in their agony.

What has just been said regarding the souls in Purgatory — as to whether they can or cannot pray for us, and whether it is therefore beneficial or not to commend ourselves to their prayers — certainly does not apply to the saints; since as to the saints there can be no doubt that it is most useful to have recourse to their intercession, speaking of saints already canonized by the Church, who already enjoy the vision of God. To believe the Church fallible in this matter cannot be excused from the guilt either of heresy, as St. Bonaventure, Bellarmine, and others hold, or at least of near-heresy, as Suarez, Azorio, Gotti, and others maintain; since the Supreme Pontiff in canonizing the saints is principally, as the Angelic Doctor teaches, guided by the infallible instinct of the Holy Spirit.

But let us return to the question proposed above: whether there is also an obligation to have recourse to the intercession of the saints. I do not wish to enter into this point, but I cannot omit setting forth a doctrine of the Angelic Doctor. He first of all, in several places cited above, and especially in the book of the Sentences, supposes it as certain that each person is bound to pray, since in no other way can the graces necessary for salvation be obtained from God unless they are asked for: Ad orationem quilibet tenetur, ex hoc ipso quod tenetur ad bona spiritualia sibi procuranda, quae non nisi divinitus dantur; unde alio modo procurari non possunt, nisi ut a Deo petantur. In another place in the same book the Saint proposes the very question: Utrum debeamus Sanctos orare ad interpellandum pro nobis? And he answers thus (to make the Saint's thought well understood, it is necessary to quote his entire text): Ordo est divinitus institutus in rebus secundum Dionysium, ut per media reducantur in Deum. Unde, cum Sancti, qui sunt in Patria, sint Deo propinquissimi, hoc Divinae legis ordo requirit, ut nos qui manentes in corpore peregrinamur a Domino, in Eum per Sanctos medios reducamur; quod contingit, dum per eos Divina Bonitas suum effectum diffundit. Et quia reditus noster in Deum respondere debet processui bonitatum Ipsius ad nos, sicut mediantibus Sanctorum suffragiis Dei beneficia in nos deveniunt, oportet nos in Deum reduci, ut iterato beneficia Ejus sumamus mediantibus Sanctis. Et inde est, quod eos Intercessores pro nobis ad Deum constituimus, et quasi Mediatores, dum ab eis petimus, quod pro nobis orarent.

Let those words be noted: Hoc Divinae Legis ordo requirit; and especially let the last ones be noted: Sicut mediantibus Sanctorum suffragiis Dei beneficia in nos deveniunt, ita oportet nos in Deum reduci, ut iterato beneficia ejus sumamus mediantibus Sanctis. So that according to St. Thomas, the order of the Divine Law requires that we mortals save ourselves through the saints, by receiving through them the helps necessary for salvation.

And to the objection that the Angelic Doctor makes to himself (ad primum) — namely, that it seems superfluous to have recourse to the saints when God is infinitely more merciful than they and more inclined to hear us — he answers that the Lord has so disposed, not out of any defect in His clemency, but in order to preserve the right and universally established order of operating through secondary causes: Non est propter defectum misericordiae ipsius, sed ut ordo praedictus conservetur in rebus.

And on the authority of St. Thomas, the Continuator of Tournely writes with Sylvius that although God alone is to be prayed to as the Author of graces, nevertheless we are bound to have recourse also to the intercession of the saints, in order to observe the order that the Lord has established concerning our salvation — namely, that inferiors should be saved by imploring the help of superiors: Quia lege naturali tenemur eum ordinem observare, quem Deus instituit; at constituit Deus, ut ad salutem Inferiores perveniant implorato Superiorum subsidio.

And if this holds true when speaking of the saints, all the more must it hold true of the intercession of the Divine Mother, whose prayers before God certainly avail more than those of all paradise together. For St. Thomas said that the saints, in proportion to the merit by which they won grace, can save many others; but that Jesus Christ, and so also His Mother, have merited so much grace that they can save all men: Magnum est enim in quolibet Sancto quando habet tantum de Gratia, quod sufficit ad salutem multorum; sed quando haberet tantum quod sufficeret ad salutem omnium, hoc esset maximum; et hoc est in Christo, et in B. Virgine. And St. Bernard, writing of Mary, said: Per Te accessum habemus ad Filium, o Inventrix gratiae, Mater salutis, ut per Te nos suscipiat, qui per Te datus est nobis. By which he meant that just as we have no access to the Father except through the Son, who is Mediator of Justice, so we have no access to the Son except through the Mother, who is Mediatrix of Grace, and who obtains for us by her intercession the goods that Jesus Christ merited for us. And as a consequence of this, the same St. Bernard says elsewhere that Mary received from God two fullnesses of grace. The first was the incarnation of the Eternal Word made man in her most holy womb. The second was the fullness of graces that through the prayers of this Divine Mother we receive from God. Hence the Saint adds: Totius boni plenitudinem posuit in Maria, ut proinde si quid spei nobis est, si quid gratiae, si quid salutis, ab Ea noverimus redundare, quae ascendit deliciis affluens. Hortus deliciarum, ut undique fluant et effluant aromata Ejus, charismata scilicet gratiarum. So that whatever good we have from the Lord, we receive it all through the intercession of Mary. And why is this? Because (answers the same St. Bernard) so God wills: Sic est voluntas Ejus qui totum nos habere voluit per Mariam.

But the more special reason is drawn from what St. Augustine says, who wrote that Mary is justly called our Mother, because she cooperated by her charity so that we faithful might be born to the life of grace, as members of our Head Jesus Christ: Sed plane Mater membrorum Ejus (quae nos sumus), quia cooperata est caritate, ut Fideles in Ecclesia nascerentur, qui illius Capitis membra sunt. Hence, just as Mary cooperated by her charity in the spiritual birth of the faithful, so also God wills that she cooperate by her intercession in enabling them to obtain the life of grace in this world and the life of glory in the next. And therefore the holy Church has us call her and greet her in absolute terms as our Life, our Sweetness, and our Hope: Vita, Dulcedo, et Spes nostra salve.

Hence St. Bernard exhorts us always to have recourse to this Divine Mother, because her prayers are certainly heard by her Son: Ad Mariam recurre, non dubius dixerim, exaudiet utique Matrem Filius. And then he says: Filioli, haec peccatorum Scala, haec maxima mea Fiducia, haec tota Ratio spei meae. The Saint calls her a Ladder, because just as on a ladder one does not ascend to the third step without first setting foot on the second, and one does not reach the second without setting foot on the first, so one does not reach God except through Jesus Christ, and one does not reach Jesus Christ except through Mary. He then calls her his greatest confidence and the whole reason of his hope, because God (as he supposes) wills that all the graces He dispenses to us should pass through the hands of Mary. And he finally concludes by saying that all the graces we desire we must ask for through Mary, because she obtains whatever she seeks, and her prayers cannot be refused: Quaeramus gratiam, et per Mariam quaeramus, quia quod quaerit invenit, et frustrari non potest. And with a sentiment conformable to St. Bernard's, other saints also speak. St. Ephrem: Nobis non est alia quam a Te fiducia, o Virgo sincerissima. St. Ildephonsus: Omnia bona quae illis summa Majestas decrevit facere, tuis manibus decrevit commendare. Commissi quippe sunt Tibi thesauri, et ornamenta gratiarum. St. Germanus: Si nos deserueris, quid erit de nobis, o Vita Christianorum? St. Peter Damian: In manibus tuis sunt omnes thesauri miserationum Dei. St. Antoninus: Qui petit sine Ipsa, sine alis tentat volare. St. Bernardine of Siena says in one place: Tu dispensatrix omnium gratiarum; salus nostra in manu tua est. In another place he not only says that all graces are transmitted to us through Mary, but also asserts that the Blessed Virgin, from the time she was made Mother of God, acquired a certain jurisdiction over all the graces dispensed to us: Per Virginem a capite Christi vitales gratiae in ejus Corpus mysticum transfunduntur. A tempore quo Virgo Mater concepit in utero Verbum Dei, quandam (ut sic dicam) jurisdictionem obtinuit in omni Spiritus Sancti processione temporali; ita ut nulla Creatura aliquam a Deo obtinuerit gratiam, nisi secundum Ipsius piae Matris dispensationem. And he concludes: Ideo omnia dona, virtutes, et gratiae, quibus vult, quando vult, et quomodo vult, per Ipsius manus dispensantur. The same was written by St. Bonaventure: Cum tota Natura Divina intra Virginis Uterum exstiterit, non timeo dicere, quod in omnes gratiarum effluxus, quandam jurisdictionem habuerit haec Virgo, de cujus Utero quasi de quodam Divinitatis Oceano flumina emanant omnium gratiarum. Hence many theologians, founded on the authorities of these saints, have piously and justly defended the position that no grace is dispensed to us except through the intercession of Mary: thus Vega, Mendozza, Paciucchelli, Segneri, Poire, Crasset, and many other authors, along with the learned Father Natale Alessandro, who wrote: Deus vult, ut omnia bona ab Ipso expectemus, potentissima Virginis Matris intercessione impetranda, cum Eam (ut par est) invocamus. And in confirmation he cites the passage of St. Bernard quoted above: Sic est voluntas Ejus, qui totum voluit nos habere per Mariam. And the same says Father Contenson, who, upon the words of Jesus Christ on the Cross spoken to St. John — Ecce Mater tua — adds: Quasi diceret, Nullus Sanguinis mei particeps erit, nisi intercessione Matris meae. Vulnera gratiarum fontes sunt, sed ad nullos derivabuntur rivi, nisi per Mariae canalem. Joannes Discipule, tantum a Me amaberis, quantum Eam amaveris. For the rest, it is certain that if God is pleased that we have recourse to the saints, He will be all the more pleased that we avail ourselves of the intercession of Mary, so that she may supply by her merit what is lacking in our worthiness, as St. Anselm says: Ut dignitas intercessoris suppleat inopiam nostram. Unde Virginem interpellare, non est de Divina Misericordia diffidere, sed de propria indignitate formidare. Then, speaking of the dignity of Mary, St. Thomas calls it quasi-infinite: Ex hoc quod est Mater Dei, habet quandam dignitatem infinitam.

Hence it is rightly said that the prayers of Mary are more powerful before God than the prayers of all paradise together.

Let us end this first point by concluding, in sum, from all that has been said, that whoever prays is certainly saved; whoever does not pray is certainly damned. All the blessed (excepting children) were saved by praying. All the damned were lost for not praying; if they had prayed, they would not have been lost. And this is, and will be, their greatest despair in hell: that they could have saved themselves with such ease as it would have been to ask God for His graces, and now, wretches that they are, it is no longer possible for them to ask.