" [Ejus nos tribue meritis adjuvari per Dominum. A. 544.]
Another example, in which the supplicants plead for deliverance from
hell, to be obtained by the merits and prayers of the saint together, is
the Collect for December 6th, the day of St. Nicolas.
"O God, who didst adorn the blessed Pontiff Nicolas with unnumbered
miracles, grant, we beseech Thee, that by his merits and prayers we may
be set free from the fires of hell, through," &c. [Ut ejus meritis et
precibus a gehennae incendiis liberemur. H. 436.]
Another example, in like manner specifying both the merits and
intercession of the departed saint, contains {252} expressions very
unacceptable to many of those who are accustomed to make the Bible their
study. It is a prayer to Joseph, the espoused husband of the Virgin
Mary. Of him mention is made by name in the Gospel just before and just
after the birth of Christ, as an upright, merciful man, to whom God on
three several occasions made a direct revelation of his will, by the
medium of a dream, with reference to the incarnate Saviour. Again, on
the holy family visiting Jerusalem, when our Lord was twelve years of
age, Mary, his mother, in her remonstrance with her Son, speaks to Him
of Joseph thus: "Why hast Thou thus dealt with us? Behold thy father and
I have sought Thee sorrowing." Upon which not one word was uttered by
our Saviour that would enable us to form an opinion as to his own will
with regard to Joseph.
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