I refer to John Guillaumier’s letter ‘A pantheon of saints’ (November 14).

The correspondent’s diabolic mission knows no bounds and his letters seem to mushroom in all papers with a certain amount of prominence.

The Catholic Church promotes the veneration of saints – as the servants and friends of God, the choicest fruits of Christ’s redemption and exemplars of the true Christian life – particularly after the council of Trent defined it as lawful and beneficial. The power of the saints to befriend men, as intercessors with God, flows from the doctrine of the mystical body of Christ – of which they and living men are members – and the communion of saints.

Veneration of the saints is, indirectly, worship of God, who made and sanctified them and whose friends they are. Their holiness, their triumph and glory are but a reflection of those of Christ, their mediator and model.

The miracles performed during their lifetime and after death make it easier for one to accept that it need not be the master Himself who can perform such wonders but even the servants of God. God indeed favoured the saints with amazing gifts and marvellous powers over nature – testifying to His own almighty power and the truth of the Catholic Church.

Catholics’ praying to saints is to be highly respected and recommended. “Believe you not that I am in the Father and the Father in me? Otherwise, believe for the very words’ sake. Amen, amen I say to you, he that believeth in me, the works that I do, he also shall do; and greater than these shall he do” (John 14: 11-12). Words of our Lord.