When we read in the book of Maccabees
that sacrifice was offered for the dead. But even if it were found nowhere in
the Old Testament writings, the authority of the universal Church which is
clear on this point is of no small weight, where in the prayers of the priest
poured forth to the Lord God at His alar the commendation of the dead has its
place. (Augustine, The Care That Should Be Taken of the Dead 1.3, A.D. 421, The
Faith of the Early Fathers, 3 vols. [trans. William A. Jurgens;
Collegeville, Minn.: The Liturgical Press, 1979], 3:154)