As part of his critique of paganism St. Augustine in City of God condemns the tradition of making “gods” out of dead heroes and great men of the past; this is one theory as to how Rome came to have…
Why did Isaac enjoy the favor of God? Was it because of his faith? He was a man of faith, to be sure (see Hebrews 11:20), but why did he enjoy God’s blessings? The book of Genesis offers two reasons…
I like this snip from St. Francis de Sales: But would you know, Philothea, which are the best abjections, I tell you plainly, that those are the most profitable to our souls, and most acceptable to God, which befall us…
Not too long ago I wrote about the rarity of a certain sort of close friendship. St. Francis de Sales takes up the same (or at least a similar) subject in Introduction to the Devout Life. ‘Perfect friendship cannot be…
On a few occasions I have heard people suggest that even if the saints in heaven do hear our prayers, they do not care about what goes on down here: in other words, the point is that even if they…
A while back I wrote two articles on the validity of Protestant baptisms. The first of these wound up being cross-posted at Called to Communion and generated some controversy even among Catholics, which (to be honest) was disappointing. Now I…
Some Protestants object that there is no basis for the Catholic doctrine of the treasury of merits of the saints (about which see here in the Catechism). But this doctrine is really in essence not different from the fact that…
Do not doubt, do not hesitate, never despair of the mercy of God. — St Isidore of Seville
Catholics are sometimes accused of idolatry because we show respect to the saints (and especially the Blessed Virgin) by kneeling before images or statues of them. Generally, though, the people who make this false accusation are either inconsistent, or ignoring…
Aquinas, Etc. 