who
died in the communion of the body and blood of Christ." The dying
request of St. Monica, the mother of St. Augustine, is well known. "I
request you," she said, "that wherever you may be, you will remember me
at the altar of the Lord." And he assures us that he frequently and
fervently prayed for her soul.

The teaching of the Church of every age confirms the teaching of the Old
and New Testament regarding purgatory and praying for the dead. To one
who believes in heaven and hell, a place of eternal pleasure and of
eternal punishment, the doctrine of purgatory must appear as a
necessity, and the practice of praying for the dead reasonable. For it
is certain that nothing defiled can enter heaven. But it is possible
that many die guilty of but slight sins. Therefore, it must be said that
these are damned, which is impious and absurd; that what is defiled can
enter heaven, which is unscriptural; or that there is a purgatory, a
state in which such souls are made pure as the driven snow, so that they
can enter into the presence of their Maker. For an infinitely just God
can not condemn to the same eternal punishment the child who dies guilty
of a slight fault and the hardened murderer. No. He will render to every
one according to his works.

The doctrine of purgatory, then, is reasonable as well as scriptural and
traditional. Reasonable, too, is the practice of praying for the dead,
for they are still members of the Church. All the members of the Church,
consisting of the church militant on earth, the church triumphant in
heaven, and the church suffering in purgatory, are one family bound
together by the bond of charity. The members of the Church on earth pray
to those in heaven, who love us and pray for us; and we pray for those
in purgatory. They are God's friends deprived of heaven for a time. As
those in heaven rejoice when one sinner does penance, so those in
purgatory hear us, see us, love us, and are helped by our prayers. We
love them and never cease to pray for them and offer the Holy Sacrifice
for them. Even the unbeliever will stand or kneel by the remains of his
departed friend and offer a prayer for him, thus showing that praying
for the dead is reasonable and the natural dictate of the human heart.

X. Praying to the Saints

"And may the angel that delivereth me from all evils bless these boys"
(_Gen_. xlviii. 16).

"So I say to you there shall be joy before the angels of God upon one
sinner doing