Section — Prümmer, Manuale Theologiae Moralis
3. To Whom Are Our Prayers to Be Directed?
343. Proposition. God alone is to be prayed to as he who can of himself furnish the things which we ask; but it is lawful and useful to invoke the saints or angels, that they may intercede for us with God.
This is Catholic doctrine and is thus proved and explained by St. Thomas:94 "Prayer is offered to someone in two ways: in one way, as to be fulfilled by him; in another way, as to be obtained through him. In the first way we offer prayer to God alone, because all our prayers (even for obtaining temporal goods) ought to be ordained to the attainment of grace and glory, which God alone gives, according to the words of the Psalm: The Lord will give grace and glory.95 But in the second way we offer prayer to the holy angels and men; not so that through them God may know our prayers, but so that through their prayers and merits our prayers may obtain their effect. And therefore it is said that the smoke of the incense, that is, the prayers of the saints, ascended from the hand of the angel before the Lord.96 And this is also evident from the very manner which the Church employs in praying; for we ask the Holy Trinity to have mercy upon us, but we ask any of the other saints to pray for us."
94 S. theol. 2, 2, q. 83, a. 4.
95 Ps. 83:12.
96 Cf. Apoc. 8:4.
344. On the invocation of the saints.
Several heretics, e.g., Eustathius of Sebaste, Vigilantius, Peter of Bruys, the Apostolics, the Cathars, the Wycliffites, the Lutherans, the Calvinists, etc., deny the utility and lawfulness of the invocation of the saints, asserting that Christ is the sole mediator between us and God; that the saints do not know our prayers; and that God is so good that he is ready to hear us even without the intercession of the saints. To these objections a brief response is made: 1. Christ is indeed our sole mediator insofar as, joining in himself at once the divine and human nature, he joins us again to God by his redemption. But the saints are our mediators insofar as they assist our prayers by interceding for us. Or, more briefly: there is one mediator of redemption, but there are many mediators of intercession. 2. It is false that the saints do not know our prayers, because, by seeing the divine essence, they know all those earthly things which specially concern them. Such things are prayers directed to them.97 3. Certainly God is most clement and most merciful; but there is no derogation from his clemency and mercy if, for most fitting reasons, our prayers become more efficacious from the fact that they are assisted by the intercession of the saints; just as a good father of a family more readily grants a favor asked by one son if at the same time the other sons intercede for their brother.
From all these things it is evident how rightly the Council of Trent98 commanded bishops diligently to instruct the faithful "that the saints reigning together with Christ offer their prayers to God for men; that it is good and useful suppliantly to invoke them, and, for obtaining benefits from God through his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who alone is our redeemer and savior, to have recourse to their prayers, aid, and assistance; but that those who deny that the saints enjoying eternal happiness in heaven are to be invoked, or who assert either that they do not pray for men, or that the invocation of them, that they may pray also for each one of us, is idolatry, or that it conflicts with the word of God and is opposed to the honor of the one mediator of God and men, Jesus Christ, or that it is foolish to supplicate by voice or mind those reigning in heaven, think impiously." The intrinsic reasons why we can invoke the saints especially to our own profit are: 1. Divine goodness, which, although it can most easily act in all things directly through itself, nevertheless employs secondary causes to produce many effects and thus to increase the happiness of creatures. Thus also divine goodness employs the intercession of the saints to grant the grace of being heard to our prayers, so that in this way the accidental happiness of the saints may be increased and our confidence may grow. 2. The communion of saints existing among the Church militant, suffering, and triumphant. For it is most fitting that the members of the same Church not only love one another but also assist one another efficaciously. From all these things it is abundantly evident that the invocation of the saints is lawful, very useful, and indeed sometimes necessary. He who desires more on this matter should consult the apologists.99
Saints and just men existing not only in heaven but still upon earth can be invoked. Hence St. Paul, writing to the Romans (who are called saints), says: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, through our Lord Jesus Christ and through the charity of the Holy Spirit, that you help me in your prayers for me to God."100 Likewise nothing prevents baptized infants who departed from this life before the use of reason from being invoked privately. For such persons are certainly in heaven. Then it is also lawful to invoke the souls existing in purgatory, since they are friends of God. But whether such invocation is in fact efficacious, and especially whether the souls in purgatory know the prayers directed to them, is not certain.101 There are some who say that guardian angels manifest prayers of this kind to the souls in purgatory, or that God grants them a revelation in a special manner; but these things are very uncertain and cannot be sufficiently proved. Wherefore nothing indeed prevents a man from directing his prayers privately to the souls in purgatory, as many of the faithful in fact do; but nevertheless the invocation of the souls in purgatory does not seem to be something to be preached publicly from the pulpit so long as the Church has determined nothing concerning this matter.
97 Cf. S. theol., l.c., ad 2. Theologians do not agree concerning the manner in which the saints know prayers directed to them. Cf. Billuart, De orat. a. 4, obj. 2.
98 Sess. 25, on the invocation of the saints (Denz. n. 984).
99 Cf. Billuart, l.c., a. 4, where many objections of the heretics are also found resolved; Mausbach, Kathol. Moraltheol. II, § 30.
100 Rom. 15:30.
101 Cf. above n. 334 (3).
345. You ask: Is the invocation of the saints not only useful and lawful, but also necessary, so that he who refused to invoke the saints, and especially the Blessed Virgin, would sin?
No explicit precept of invoking the saints is indeed found, and therefore he who, apart from contempt or scandal, never invoked the saints or the Blessed Virgin would not sin gravely; yet he would certainly deprive himself of many graces and would act against the order willed by God. Hence, in practice, he who obstinately refused to invoke the saints, and especially the Blessed Virgin,102 who even in liturgical worship is acknowledged as mediatrix of our grace, would not be excused at least from venial sin.
102 Francis Sylvius in the seventeenth century seems first to have asserted the necessity of invoking the saints (Comm. in 2, 2, q. 83, a. 4, concl. 2). Placidus Boeckhn, O.S.B., also attempted to demonstrate that a precept of invoking the saints exists. At that time sharp disputes arose concerning this matter. Concina treats this controversy broadly and profoundly, In Decal. l. 2, diss. 1, c. 8, n. 6.