“The holy Fathers of our church have been in the habit of praying for the intercession of saints from the earliest periods, and none have questioned their fervent piety, or doubted the orthodoxy of their faith,” replied Florence.

“In the first place,” said Mary, “it would be ridiculous in the extreme to advocate all the opinions and tenets advanced by those same Fathers.  St. Augustine doubted the existence of the antipodes; Tertullian emphatically pronounced second marriages adultery; Origen denied the sin of David in causing the death of Uriah, and has often been accused of favoring Arianism, and the doctrine of transmigration of soul; while it is a well-known fact, that Jerome, to vindicate Peter from the charge of dissimulation, actually accused St. Paul of lying, and thereby favoring deceit.  In the second place, are you quite sure that they were in the habit of invoking saints?”

“Certainly, Mary; for it is undeniable that St. Augustine in his Meditations calls on the Blessed Virgin, and all the angels and apostles in heaven, to intercede with God in his behalf.  Father Mazzolin pointed out the passage no later than last week, to remove the doubts which I confess I entertained, as to whether it was proper and in accordance with the practise of the Fathers to implore such intercession.”

“And does your conviction rest on so frail a basis?  Hear what the Rev. Dr. Milner says on this subject, in the first volume of his Ecclesiastical History;” and taking it from the shelf, Mary read: 

’The book of Meditations, though more known to English readers than any other of the works ascribed to Augustine, on account of the translation of it into our language by Stanhope, seems not to be his, both on account of its style, which is sententious, concise, abrupt, and void of any of those classical elegancies which now and then appear in our author’s genuine writings; and also, on account of the prayers to deceased saints which it contains.  This last circumstance peculiarly marks it to have been of a later date than the age of Augustine.  Frauds of this, kind were commonly practised on the works of the Fathers in the monastic times.’

“And why, Florry, does it peculiarly mark it as spurious?  Because, had he entertained these views on so vital a point, the expression of them would most certainly have occurred in his other very voluminous works.  I have searched his Confessions for instances of this invocation, either from himself or anxious mother, and had he believed, as the Catholic prelates assert, in this intercession of the dead, it would most assuredly have been sought in the hour of his suffering and fear, lest he should be given over.  But I find none.  On the contrary, these two passages occur in his Confessions:  ’I now sought the way of obtaining strength to enjoy thee, and found it not, till I embraced the mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ, who is above all, God, blessed forever, calling and saying I am the