Section — Prümmer, Manuale Theologiae Moralis
2. For Whom Is Prayer to Be Made?
340. General rule. It is lawful to pray not only for ourselves, but also for all and each creatures capable of eternal glory.75
The intrinsic and fundamental reason why and how one person can pray efficaciously for another is the dogma of the communion of saints. For all men (the damned alone excepted) are bound together by an intimate union of charity, and therefore one can benefit another. The efficacy of prayer consists chiefly in this, that the obstacles to grace existing in us are removed from the way and consequently we are better disposed to receive graces, as was said above in n. 333. Certainly, from the fact that we pray for another, e.g., for a sinner, he does not thereby remove the obstacles to grace nor become fit to receive graces; but God often bestows actual graces without a special disposition being present in the recipient. Thus, e.g., it is piously believed that, through the prayers of Stephen the protomartyr, God bestowed the grace of conversion upon Saul, who was by no means specially disposed, on the road to Damascus. Moreover, since the whole human race, redeemed by the blood of Christ, is one moral society in which individual men are members, the dignity and operation of one member redound in some measure to another member. Therefore, if one man through prayer becomes better disposed to receive graces, this greater disposition redounds in some measure to other men united with him, so that they also (although sinners) become more capable of receiving graces.
Applications. It is lawful to pray for all men living upon this earth, with no one excepted, whether they are faithful or unbelievers, friends or enemies, excommunicated or not. Likewise it is lawful to pray for the souls in purgatory; indeed, even for the blessed in heaven, who, although they possess essential beatitude and that immutable, can nevertheless still increase in accidental beatitude. But it is not lawful to pray for the damned in hell, because they are no longer capable of eternal glory.
Wycliffe taught that prayers were indeed to be poured forth for men in general, but not for men individually. But this doctrine was proscribed by the condemnation of proposition 19: "Special prayers applied to one person by prelates or religious profit that person no more than general prayers, other things being equal."76 That prayers can be made for other men in particular is manifest from Sacred Scripture, from the practice of the Church, and from theological reason. First, indeed, from Sacred Scripture, namely from the example of Christ, who prayed for Peter that his faith might not fail;77 and for those who crucified him.78 In almost every epistle St. Paul solicits the prayers of the faithful for himself.79 St. James admonishes: "Pray one for another, that you may be saved."80 The practice of the Church shows the same thing; for on Good Friday she prays for all, not only the faithful, but also unbelievers, heretics, and Jews. The theological reason for this doctrine is thus explained by St. Thomas:81 "We ought to ask in prayer for that which we ought to desire. But we ought to desire goods not only for ourselves, but also for others; for this pertains to the nature of the love which we ought to expend upon our neighbors. And therefore charity requires this, that we pray for others. Hence Chrysostom says: Necessity compels one to pray for oneself; but fraternal charity exhorts one to pray for another. Sweeter before God is the prayer, not which necessity sends forth, but which the charity of brotherhood commends.... As Cyprian says: Therefore we do not say, My Father, but Our Father; nor, Give me, but, Give us, because the teacher of unity did not wish prayer to be made privately, so that anyone would pray for himself alone; for he wished one to pray for all, since he himself bore all in one."
We not only can but sometimes ought to pray for enemies. Wherefore the doctrine of the Angelic Doctor, admitted by all, is to be noted: "It is necessary that, in our common prayers which we make for others, we not exclude our enemies. But that we pray for them specially is a matter of perfection, not of necessity, except in some special case."82 That special case is a) a grave necessity in which the enemy is placed, or b) if scandal would arise without special prayer.
75 This rule can also be expressed in this manner: We can and ought to pray for all those for whom our prayer is useful and whom we ought to love from charity.
76 Denz. n. 599.
77 Cf. Luke 22:32.
78 Luke 23:34.
79 Cf. Rom. 15:30; 1 Thess. 5:25.
80 Jas. 5:16.
81 S. theol. 2, 2, q. 83, a. 7, corp. and ad 1.
82 S. theol. 2, 2, q. 83, a. 8. Cf. above I, n. 575f.
341. 3. We can certainly pour forth private prayers for the excommunicated, because this is nowhere prohibited and because even the excommunicated are still capable of eternal glory. That at times public prayer for the excommunicated is also lawful is evident from the example of the Church herself, who on Good Friday prays publicly for heretics and schismatics, whom she assuredly regards as excommunicated. But whether in other cases also it is lawful to pray publicly, and especially whether it is lawful to offer the sacrifice of the Mass for the excommunicated, depends upon the legislation of the Church or upon legitimate custom.83 But if St. John seems to exclude great sinners from our prayers, saying: "He that knoweth his brother to sin a sin which is not unto death, let him ask, and life shall be given to him who sinneth not unto death. There is a sin unto death: for that I say not that any man ask";84 the sense of these words is that prayer for sinners is heard with difficulty and not always; or that this prayer is useless for the sinner's eternal life so long as he wishes to remain in sin. In the same manner are the words of Jeremiah to be understood: "Therefore do not thou pray for this people, neither take to thee praise and supplication for them, and do not withstand me: for I will not hear thee."85 But if St. Jerome86 asserts, "It is foolish to pray for sinners unto death," he is to be understood on the supposition that someone knew with certainty that another was entirely reprobated by God. Then certainly prayer would be useless. But this certainty cannot be had without a special divine revelation, which is known scarcely ever to have been granted.
83 Cf. below, in the tract on the sacrifice of the Mass, III, 247ff.; Code of Canon Law, c. 2262.
84 1 John 5:16.
85 Jer. 7:16.
86 Comm. in Jer. (Migne, Patr. lat. 24, 802).
342. 4. That we can and ought to pray for the souls in purgatory follows from the Council of Trent, which teaches that the sacrifice of the Mass can be offered for those who have died in Christ but are not yet fully purged,87 and that the souls detained in purgatory are assisted by the suffrages of the faithful, but especially by the acceptable sacrifice of the altar.88 The same can easily be proved from all the liturgies both of the Latin and of the Eastern Church, in which there are prayers for the dead.89 Nevertheless, the obligation of praying for the dead does not seem grave, because it is not certain that any deceased person in fact still needs our prayers. It is lawful and expedient to pray not only for the souls of purgatory in general, but also for a determinate deceased person; for although it is not certain that such a determinate deceased person will receive relief from our prayers, nevertheless it is piously believed that divine mercy does not leave without fruit a prayer made from charity.90
That we can pray for an increase in the accidental glory of the saints is the common opinion of authors. For that accidental glory can be increased; whence the Church prays in the Mass: "Receive, O Holy Trinity, that it may profit them [the saints] unto honor, but us unto salvation." Essential glory, however, i.e., the vision of God, cannot be increased in the saints; and therefore it is not lawful to pray for that. In this sense also are the words of St. Augustine91 to be understood: "He does injury to a martyr who prays for a martyr, to whose prayers we ought to be commended." Prayers for the saints, however, are not in frequent use, except insofar as prayers are sometimes made for obtaining the beatification or canonization of some servant of God.
It is not lawful to pray for the damned, since they are outside the bond of charity. Moreover, such prayer would be entirely useless, since the punishments of hell are eternal and cannot be diminished. Wherefore the story of the deliverance of the emperor Trajan from hell, as narrated by John the Deacon, namely that St. Gregory the Great by his prayers delivered the emperor Trajan and Falconilla from hell, is to be regarded as a fable.92 Likewise, the assertion of the poet Prudentius that on Easter day all the punishments of the damned cease or are interrupted is a fantastic fiction.93
87 Sess. 22, c. 2 and can. 3 (Denz. nn. 940, 950).
88 Sess. 25, decree on purgatory (Denz. n. 983).
89 In the liturgies there occur certain prayers whose sense is not so easily understood, e.g., in the Mass for the dead: "Deliver, O Lord, the souls of all the faithful departed from the punishments of hell and from the deep pit; let not Tartarus swallow them up; deliver them from eternal death," etc. Certain authors, such as Suarez (De poenit. disp. 48, sect. 5, n. 12), Bellarmine (De purgat. l. 2, c. 5), and Chr. Pesch (Prael. dogm., de noviss. n. 617), think that the Church prays by a certain fiction, as though those souls were still at the point of departing from this life. They think it probable, however, that such a prayer, even if in fact made after death, could, in the foreknowledge of God, have profited the soul even before death, so that it might receive greater assistance from God for avoiding the danger of eternal death. This opinion is not very pleasing, because, first, it is a mere hypothesis without any solid foundation drawn from tradition or from theological reason; and, secondly, because it is an excessively involved explanation. For although God can, on account of the foreseen merits of a future prayer and Mass to be said, grant special graces to one who is dying, it is nevertheless very doubtful whether God would in fact do this. Other authors, among whom is Benedict XIV (De sacrif. Missae l. 2, c. 9), rightly teach that all such formulas are to be understood of purgatory and not of hell. The reason is that, according to several most distinguished authors, e.g., St. Thomas, the punishments of sense in purgatory and hell do not differ essentially from one another. Wherefore the words "hell, eternal death, Tartarus" are not incongruously employed also for purgatory.
90 Brief mention must be made of the opinion of Dominic Soto concerning the duration of purgatory. He writes: "The clemency of God does not permit his friends to be withheld from his sight for a long time. And therefore it belonged to his most wise providence to institute for purifying them those punishments which could cleanse the souls there in a short time. For since those torments are supernatural and cannot corrupt the subject, he could make up for any length of time by accumulated punishments. Wherefore I would believe that no one has ever remained in purgatory for twenty years; indeed, as my opinion inclines, not even ten.... It is not credible that God would detain by length of time those whom he could release thence more quickly by an accumulation of punishments." Certainly all these things are mere opinion, but they are by no means proscribed, as some have wished, by proposition 43 condemned by Alexander VII: "An annual legacy left for a soul does not last beyond ten years" (Denz. n. 1143). For the duration of a legacy lasts for as long as the testator determined and does not cease even if the soul has already been delivered from purgatory.
91 Sermon 159 (Migne, Patr. lat. 38, 868).
92 Life of St. Gregory the Great l. 2, n. 44 (Migne, Patr. lat. 75, 105). St. Thomas attempts to interpret this little story benignly (Suppl. q. 71, a. 5). Cf. Nat. Alexander, De liberatione commenticia Traiani imperatoris ab infernis.
93 Carmen de novo lumine paschalis sabbati v. 125ff. (Migne, Patr. lat. 59, 828).