Note 730 — Chapter II

Some of the examples of alleged invocation of saints given by Romanist writers are altogether gratuitous assumptions. Thus the letters P. T. PR. N. S. have been, without the slightest warrant, expanded thus, Pete pro nobis, “Pray for us.” Others are merely requests to be remembered by the dear departed, as ΔΙΟΝΥϹΙΝ ΕΙϹ ΜΝΙΑΝ ΕΧΕΤΕ—“Have ye in remembrance Dionysius.” The graffiti of the pilgrims at the shrines of the more celebrated martyrs, in which are occasional invocations of the dead, are no criteria of primitive belief and practice, for these are of every age down to comparatively late mediæval times. The example in the text is from Burgon.