Let us also compare SM Stirling's Abbot with Poul Anderson's Phillipe Rochefort. For the latter's invocation of St Joan, see here. The Abbot invokes:
"Mary, pierced with sorrows..."
-A Meeting At Corvallis, Chapter Seventeen, p. 466.
Polytheists invoke gods; monotheists invoke God. However, Catholics can invoke:
saints;
angels;
the Mother of God;
three divine persons -
- thus four kinds of supernatural persons, with Mary the only such person in a class by herself.
Mary is asked to intercede. Joan is asked to help, which can only be by interceding. I accept that Rochefort and the Abbot are reminding themselves of meaningful stories but not that the persons addressed literally exist and are able to intercede. An invocation of a warrior god or saint expresses an aspiration to emulate the god or saint.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I'm sorry to be nit picky, but you frequently make a mistake with the title of Stirling's book, A MEETING AT CORVALLIS. Quite often you use "IN" instead of "AT" in the title.
While I agree with you in how Catholics often invoke the angels, saints, and the BVM in their prayers, Trinitarian Protestants also invoke the three Persons of the Triune God.
And I do believe that not only do angels and the saints exist, but that they can, given God's permission, sometimes assist those who ask for their help. Here I have mind how miraculous cures are sometimes granted at shrines like Lourdes.
Sean
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