are in Purgatory--for they cannot sin. Those, however,
who are in Purgatory do not pray for us, but rather we for them. It
follows, then, that neither can the Saints in Heaven pray for us.

But though those who are in Purgatory are superior to us in that
they cannot sin, yet are they our inferiors as regards the
penalties they suffer; hence they are not in a state to pray for
us, but rather we for them.

4. Once more: if the Saints in Heaven could pray for us it would follow
that the prayers of the holiest Saints would be the most efficacious,
and that consequently we ought not to ask the inferior Saints to pray
for us, but only the greatest ones.

But God desires inferior things to be helped by all that are
superior, and consequently we have to implore the aid of not
only the chief Saints but also of the lesser; else it would
follow that we ought to implore mercy from God alone. And it may
sometimes happen that the petition made to a lesser Saint is
more efficacious, either because we ask him more devoutly, or
because God wishes thus to show forth his sanctity.

5. Lastly, Peter's soul is not Peter. Consequently if the souls of the
Saints could pray for us, we ought--as long as their souls are separated
from their bodies--to appeal, not to Peter to help us, but to Peter's
soul; whereas the Church does the contrary. From which it would seem
that the Saints, at all events previous to the Resurrection, do not pray
for us.

But since the Saints merited when alive that they should pray
for us, we therefore call upon them by the names they bore when
here below, and by which they are best known to us; and we do
this, too, in order to show our faith in the Resurrection, in
accordance with the words _I am the God of Abraham_.[197]

* * * * *

_Cajetan:_ The question arises: how could Jeremias, who in the days of
the Maccabees was not yet in our Fatherland but still in the Limbo of
the Fathers, pray for Jerusalem?

But if we carefully consider what it is at root which makes the prayers
of the Saints in the Fatherland avail for us, we shall find that the
same reason holds for the Saints who were in Limbo as for those who
enjoy the Beatific Vision. For it is their charity in their state of
absolute superiority to us which is the reason for their praying for us.
Hence, in the reply to the third difficulty, those who are in Purgat