St. Cyril of Jerusalem, fourth century, writes: “We commemorate the Holy Fathers, and Bishops, [pg 215] and all who have fallen asleep from amongst us, believing that the supplications which we present will be of great assistance to their souls, while the holy and tremendous Sacrifice is offered up.” He answers by an illustration those that might be disposed to doubt the efficacy of prayers for the dead: “If a king had banished certain persons who had offended him, and their relations, having woven a crown, should offer it to him in behalf of those under his vengeance, would he not grant a respite to their punishments? So we, in offering up a crown of prayers in behalf of those who have fallen asleep, will obtain for them forgiveness through the merits of Christ.”[287]
St. Ephrem, in the same century, says: “I conjure you, my brethren and friends, in the name of that God who commands me to leave you, to remember me when you assemble to pray. Do not bury me with perfumes. Give them not to me, but to God. Me, conceived in sorrows, bury with lamentations, and instead of perfumes assist me with your prayers; for the dead are benefited by the prayers of living Saints.”[288]
St. Ambrose (same century), on the death of the Emperors Gratian and Valentinian, says: “Blessed shall both of you be (Gratian and Valentinian), if my prayers can avail anything. No day shall pass you over in silence. No prayer of mine shall omit to honor you. No night shall hurry by without bestowing on you a mention in my prayers. In every one of the oblations will I remember you.” On the death of the Emperor Theodosius he offers the following prayer: “Give perfect rest to Thy servant Theodosius, that rest which Thou hast prepared for Thy Saints. May [pg 216] his soul return thither whence it descended, where it cannot feel the sting of death.... I loved him and therefore will I follow him, even unto the land of the living. Nor will I leave him until, by tears and prayers, I shall lead him ... unto the holy mountain of the Lord, where is life undying, where corruption is not, nor sighing nor mourning.”[289]
St. Jerome, in the same century, in a letter of condolence to Pammachius, on the death of his wife Paulina, writes: “Other husbands strew violets and roses on the graves of their wives. Our Pammachius bedews the hallowed dust of Paulina with balsams of alms.”[290]
St. Chrysostom writes: “It was not without good reason ordained by the Apostles that mention should be made of the dead in the tremendous mysteries, because they knew well that they would receive great benefit from it.”[291]
St. Augustine, who lived in the beginning of the fifth century, relates that when his mother was at the point of death she made this last request of him: “Lay this body anywhere; let not the care of it in anyway disturb you. This only I request of you, that you would remember me at the altar of the Lord, wherever you be.”
And that pious son prays for his mother's soul in the most impassioned language: “I therefore,” he says, “O God of my heart, do now beseech Thee for the sins of my mother. Hear me through the medicine of the wounds that hung upon the wood.... May she, then, be in peace with her husband.... And inspire, my Lord, ... Thy servants, my brethren, whom with voice and heart and pen I serve, that as many as shall read these [pg 217] words may remember at Thy altar, Monica, Thy servant....”[292]
These are but a few specimens of the unanimous voice of the Fathers regarding the salutary practice of praying for the dead.
You now perceive that this devotion is not an invention of modern times, but a doctrine universally enforced in the first and purest ages of the Church.
You see that praying for the dead was not a devotion cautiously recommended by some obscure or visionary writer, but an act of religion preached and inculcated by all the great Doctors and Fathers of the Church, who are the recognized expounders of the Christian religion.