to the attaining of grace and glory, and these God alone gives:
_The Lord will give grace and glory._[122] But in the latter way we set
forth our prayers both to the holy Angels and to men; and this, not that
through their intervention God may know our petitions, but rather that
by their prayers and merits our petitions may gain their end. Hence it
is said in the Apocalypse: _And the smoke of the incense of the prayers
of the Saints ascended up before God from the hand of the Angel._[123]
And this is clearly shown, too, from the style adopted by the Church in
her prayers: for of the Holy Trinity we pray that mercy may be shown us;
but of all the Saints, whomsoever they may be, we pray that they may
intercede for us.

Some, however, maintain that we ought to pray to God alone, thus:

1. Prayer is an act of the virtue of religion. But only God is to be
worshipped by the virtue of religion. Consequently it is to Him alone
that we should pray.

But in our prayers we only show religious worship to Him from
Whom we hope to obtain what we ask, for by so doing we confess
Him to be the Author of all our goods; but we do not show
religious worship to those whom we seek to have as intercessors
with us before God.

2. Again, prayer to those who cannot know what we pray for is idle. But
God alone can know our prayers, and this because prayer is frequently a
purely interior act of which God alone is cognizant, as the Apostle
says: _I will pray with the spirit. I will pray also with the
understanding_;[124] and also because, as S. Augustine says[125]: The
dead know not, not even the Saints, what the living--not even excepting
their own children--are doing.

It is true that the dead, if we consider only their natural
condition, do not know what is done on earth, and especially do
they not know the interior movements of the heart. But to the
Blessed, as S. Gregory says,[126] manifestation is made in the
Divine Word of those things which it is fitting that they should
know as taking place in our regard, even the interior movements
of the heart. And, indeed, it is most befitting their state of
excellence that they should be cognizant of petitions addressed
to them, whether vocally or mentally. Hence through God's
revelation they are cognizant of the petitions which we address
them.

3. Lastly, some say: if we do address prayers to any of the Saints, the
sole reason fo