We should show our esteem for the relics of the saints by venerating them and praying to the saints. We should praise visits to the Station Churches, pilgrimages, indulgences, jubilees, crusade indults, the lighting of candles in churches.

Catholic doctrine on the veneration of the saints, their relics and images, was solemnly defined by the Council of Trent. Among the reasons why saints should be venerated is the fact that through them "salutary examples are put before the eyes of the faithful, so that they fashion their lives and actions in imitation of the saints". In other words, it is intrinsic to Catholic piety to strive after holiness not only by imitating Jesus Christ but also by following the saints.

When St. Paul told the Corinthians to be followers of him as he was of Christ, he intimated a principle that lies deep in the psychology of sanctity. St. Ignatius himself was converted by reflecting on the heroism of Saints Dominic and Francis of Assisi.

Our relation to the saints, therefore, is at least twofold: to beg their intercession for us before the throne of God, and to venerate them by imitating their imitation of Christ. The saints were mere creatures like ourselves. Their virtues were perfections of a human spirit whose actions, even the most heroic, were not essentially different than our own. They drew their motive power and inspiration from the person of Christ, giving us an example of how to follow His example and proving by experience how sanctifying this imitation can be. They lived in times and circumstances that reflect our own, and suffered temptation not only from the devil and the world, but also (except Mary) from the flesh and their fallen nature. We see them as our companions in tribulations, whose lives are at once a mirror of the sanctity of Christ and a picture of our own peculiar trials. What we share in common with them is a finite personality striving for perfection; what we admire and try to emulate is their transformation "through the power and grace of Jesus Christ".

Perhaps in modern times indulgences do not enjoy the dogmatic reputation they had in the sixteenth century, but they are still ascetically important and, should not be overlooked. When Luther was condemned for teaching that "the treasures of the Church, from which the Pope grants indulgences are not the merits of Christ and the saints", the underlying error was not regarding the character of indulgences but the nature of the Catholic Church. The ultimate reason why the Church can confer indulgences derives from her character as more than a human society, however conceived, being the Mystical Body of Christ which incorporates His own divine Spirit and of which the Son of God is the Head.