ontinue in such a
practice would indeed not be a small defect in the Fathers, such as is
inherent in human nature--it would be an enormous public crime. For if
the Church, even in those early times, was infected with such abominable
errors, let any one judge for himself what the Christian faith would
eventually come to. Would not Gamaliel's proposition, to judge whether
Christ's religion be divine or human from its effects, result in its
disfavor?"

But whilst the Catholic Church practises and recommends the veneration
and invocation of the saints, she does not teach us to honor and invoke
them as we do God, nor to pray to them as we do to Him. She makes a
great distinction.

The veneration of the saints differs from the worship of God in the
following:

1. We _adore_ God as our supreme Lord. We _honor_ the saints as His
faithful servants and friends.

2. We _adore_ God for His own sake. We _honor_ the saints for the gifts
and prerogatives with which God endowed them.

Therefore there is a difference between the prayer to God and the
invocation of the saints. We pray to God asking Him to help us by His
omnipotence: we pray to the saints to help us by their intercession with
God.

Our veneration of the saints should consist, primarily, in the imitation
of their virtues. It is truly profitable only when we are intent upon
following their example; for only by imitating their virtues shall we
share their eternal bliss in heaven. A veneration which contents itself
with honoring the saints without imitating their virtues is similar to a
tree that produces leaves and blossoms but bears no fruit.

The saints themselves desire that we should follow their example. Each
of them, so to say, exhorts us with St. Paul, "Be ye followers of me, as
I also am of Christ" (_1 Cor._ iv. 16). There is no age, no sex, no
station in life for which the Catholic Church has not saints, whose
example teaches us to avoid sin and to observe faithfully the
commandments of God and the Church at this or that age, or in this or
that station. Therefore the principal object of our invocation of the
saints ought to be the obtaining of their help in following their
example. Thus we shall move them to come to our aid all the more
readily.

CHAPTER II

Efficacy of the Intercession of the Saints

NOTHING is more consoling and comforting than the assurance that in the
saints of heaven we have powerful protectors and advocates with God.
Through