" ... in ... the list of Saints placed before and after the Consecration, we have, in addition to the Apostles, a number of names of local Roman saints and martyrs whose memory we also [i.e.as well as our Lady] venerate. Criticism is sometimes heard on the ground that they are so exclusively local and that a more representative list might well now be provided. Considering what the difficulties of selection would be, it may be as well that the attempt is not made: but in any case , these names, some of great, some of almost 'unknown warriors', may fairly stand for the 'multitude that no man can number' who are known to men or only to God. Nine fishermen, a tentmaker, a tax-collector, three virgins, three married women, a Roman patrician, a Jewish freedman, a child of twelve, a civil officer, two doctors. a landowner and a lawyer, make up, after all, a pretty good cross-section of humanity.
"And it is worth noting why they are mentioned. We pray that 'by their merits and prayers we may in all things be defended by the help of THY protection' -- that is we do not seek any protection or aid directly from the Saints themselves but invite their prayers that God's help may be vouchsafed us. ... so simple, so reasonablle, so appealing."
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Thank you Father
. . . so appealing and so anglican.
There is an ineffable beauty to the listing of the names. It reminds the faithful of, and puts them into communion with, a treasured part of of the Church's early history.
I would add: the particular is both more interesting and more beautiful than the general, which is bland and theoretical. The Confiteor is an example. The appeal in the traditional Confiteor to the intervention of the Archangel Michael, John the Baptist, and the Apostles Peter and Paul is so much more real and interesting then the new Confiteor's sanded-down appeal to "all the angel and saints."
Last year I read "The Great Prayer" by Hugh Ross Williamson and found it a wonderful combination of informative and edifying.
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