The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-09-16
THE CATHOLIC BULLETIN, SEPTEMBER 1e, 1916.

But they honor the saints as the chos-
en- friends of God. Theologians are
always careful to distinguish the ador-
alton due to God and the veneration
paid to the saints by different terms.
The honor to God is called "latria,"
while the devotion to the saints is
called "doulia." In no way do Catho-
lies honor the saints as though the
saints had any merit or any title to
our reverence Independently of the
grace of God which has enabled them
to live lives of virtue on earth and
which is now the whole cause of their
glory in heaven. For the splendor of
the saints is merely the reflected
splendor of the majesty of God. Be
tween the most blessed of Gods crea-
lures, the Blessed Virgin, and God
there is the difference of creature and
Creator. The Blessed Virgin owes all
the glory she now possesses to the
grace of her Lord. Hence in honoring
the saints we are merely honoring
God Himself, though indirectly. If
great man were to visit our city we
would pay him honor; but it would
hardly be considered a derogation of
the honor shown him to honor also his
retinue. Quite the contrary.
Nor do we think that in interceding
the saints in our behalf we are i'm
pugning the microscopy value of
Jesus Christ. We recognize that the
only titles which the, saints have with
Almighty God are owing to the re-
deeming merits of Christ. Without
reference to the transcendant merits
of the Redeemer the works of any
man are valueless. But On the other
hand we recognize that God rewards
and holds in special favor those who
have we'll used the talents which He
has granted them. We approach the
saints not to ask them for grace or
| favors, but that they may obtain this
grace and these favors for us. We i'm
itate the hosts at the marriage feast
of Cana who approached the mother
of Jesus with the story that they had
no more wine. We initiate st. Peter,
who asked John to ask Jesus the
name of the traitor. We consider that
in the mystical body of Christ we
should all help one another by our
prayers and we consider that between
the Church in heaven and the Church
| on earth there is no real separation eX-
cept for a time. Just as we ask one
another for prayers now (and bear in
mind that this practice was sanction
ed by the apostles) so do we ask the
more fortunate of our brethren for
prayers while they are in heaven.
Of course, all this is quite alien to
the austere spirit of the Protestant
religions. We could not imagine the
most devout and liberal Protestant
speaking as did Newman on one occa-
sion that "he had compromised all
the saints in heaven" Betweens the
warmth and familiarity Of the Catholic
religion and the cold, Unconditional
| practices of the Protestant religions
there is an abyss Of difference. This
is the cause of the great misunder'
standings on this matter of the cult
of the saints.
| 1t cannot be denied that grave
abuses have crept into this devotion
at times and unfortunately still creep
| in, for it would be folly to assert that
we are above the human errors of our
Catholic forefathers, and, while freely
acknowledging their faults, deceive
ourselves that we are unable to make
the same blunders we deprecate in
| them. The saints are to be honored
as the friends of God. They are like
wise to be our models of conduct
And Catholic men = lay themselves
open to the sheer of demasculizing
themselves when they choose for
their patron some sainted nun instead
of holding up as their model one OF
the great manly saints OF the Church
an Augustine or Thomas or the
| great st. Paul.
The saints are to be honored pri
marily for the grace of God which has
so visibly shown in them. They are
to be interceded for spiritual favors
and, at times and within limits, for
| temporal favors. But to consider the
saints as a sort of refuge for afflic
tions and nothing else, is of course to
| misuse the reasonable devotions OF
| the Church. The Church cannot stand
sponsor for all the extravagances OF
her individual members. No sensible
apologist would attempt to defend
them. Some people unfortunately
consider some of the saints as an in.
fallible kind of patent medicine, guar.
anteed to cure when all else fails
| This is not devotion at ALL But it is
unfortunately the kind of material
which furnishes admirable ammunition
to our critics.