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INSTR. xi.] Devotion to the Blessed Virgin. 409
INSTRUCTION XI.
DEVOTION TO MOST HOLY
.
MARY.
(THIS instruction may serve either for an instruction
or for a sermon; but whether it be given in the form of
an instruction or of a sermon, the person who gives the
spiritual exercises to the priests is entreated not to omit
this discourse, which is, perhaps, the most fruitful of
all; for without devotion to the divine Mother it is mor
ally impossible for any one to be a good priest.)
Let us, first, consider the moral necessity of the inter
cession of Mary for priests; and secondly, the confidence
which they ought to have in the prayers of this divine
Mother.
Moral Necessity of the Intercession of the
Blessed Virgin.
With regard to the necessity of invoking her inter
cession, it is necessary to know that although the Couacil
of Trent 1 has only declared that the invocation of the
saints is useful, still St. Thomas has asked the question:
"Whether we should ask the saints to pray for us,"
and has answered in the affirmative, saying, that the
order of the divine law requires that we mortals be
saved through the saints by obtaining, through their
prayers, the graces necessary for salvation. The holy
Doctor says:
"Such is, after St. Denis the Areopagite,
the order divinely established for the government of
kings, that those far off should return to God through
2
1
Sess. 2$, De inv. Sand.
Utrum debeamus Sanctos orare ad interpellandum pro nobis."