“It came upon a midnight clear,
That glorious song of old
From angels bending near the earth
to touch their harps of gold.”
Art and popular culture tend to portray angels as blithe and benevolent spirits, yet Satan is a fallen angel. To distinguish the good angels, theorists established nine choirs of angels: seraphim, cherubim, thrones, dominations, principalities, powers, virtues, archangels and angels. The Church, however, never has issued an authoritative declaration on the hierarchy of the heavenly host.
Basis in Scripture
What knowledge we have of angels originates with the Bible, where angels are mentioned throughout both the Old and the New Testament, from Genesis to
Revelation. Sacred Scriptures contain consistent references to angels acting as messengers between divinity and humanity, ministering to God and ministering to people.
The word “angel” is derived from the Greek word for messenger. In Scriptures, angels carry out important missions. The “angel” entry in Jesuit
Father John L. McKenzie’s Dictionary of the Bible notes that angels frequently are “divine operation personified.” The Church holds that angels are spiritual and personal beings with intelligence, free will and powers of intercession.
In keeping with that definition, the Christmas angels appear both in dreams and in the waking world to deliver messages from God. The Virgin Mary is visited by Gabriel, one of only three angels named in Scripture — the other two being Michael and Raphael. Immortalized in the second most well known prayer in Catholicism, the Hail Mary, is the Advent angel’s message: “The
Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women.” (Luke 1:28)
Joseph receives messages from angels, too. Through a series of three dreams, angels relate to Joseph crucial information about the virgin birth, the flight into Egypt and why and when to depart.
“Silent night! Holy night!
Shepherds quaked at the sight;
Glories stream from heaven afar;
Heavenly host sing ‘Alleluia!”
Perhaps the most impressive mention of angels in all the Bible is when an angel, followed by what Luke described as “the multitude of the heavenly host” (Luke 2:13), appeared to the shepherds keeping night watch over their flocks. The heavenly retinue sings their swelling song, our rapturous
Christmas message, “Glory to God in high heaven, peace on earth to those on whom his favor rests” (Luke 2:14).
And what might those choirs of angels, the Lord’s entourage, have looked like? We know from Scripture that the shepherds were “very much afraid” (Luke 2:9). In fact, most biblical accounts of angels appearing to people include an element of fear. In his book Angels and Men, Ladislaus Boros wrote, “The angels of revelation are not pretty, small, or dainty creatures. They are so far above everything human that when they enter our realm of existence they tend to threaten us by the very majesty of their being.”
Our Perception of Angels
The being of angels, in our perception, tends to include wings and flight; and Boros had insight to those qualities, too: “[Angels] are the light and ardor of creation, and the essence of all feeling and emotion. They are worshippers of the most profoundly concentrated power. They are searchers of the depths of divinity. They straddle, plumb and span the whole realm of earth. In the area of human existence an angel is universally pervasive and penetrative; we conceive of this power as an angel’s ability to fly.”
Angels’ wings, in fact, are the only obvious and consistent angelic attribute corresponding to the Biblical angels. In Exodus, God’s instructions for building the Ark of the Covenant included the order to fashion two gold cherubim with outstretched wings.
The cherubim revealed to Ezekiel were beings with a human form but four faces: human, lion, ox and eagle. Ezekiel described the cherubs as having four wings with human hands underneath.
Seraphs are described in the Bible as having six wings, appearing as brazen serpents, a cross between fire and snake. In the Bible, the seraphs act as “emissaries of judgment,” notes Father McKenzie.
The popular image of angels as graceful and ethereal, lovely winged humans stems from artists’ variations on biblical themes. Renaissance painters like Titian, Michelangelo and Raphael popularize angels as slender, adult feminine creatures, again, with wings. Consequently, one can barely imagine an angel without wings.
And although we can’t be certain what an angel looks like, what seems certain is this: We will know one should we see one. That is, theologians tell us, if we look with open eyes and pure hearts.
“Sing, choirs of angels,
sing in exultation,
sing all ye citizens of heaven above.”
Contemporary devotion to “citizens of heaven” seems to have rebounded considerably, testimony to angelic glory that can rely on much more than a wing and a prayer. These days, angels have enjoyed a comeback evident by the heavenly host now adorning everything from note cards to bed sheets to coffee mugs. Angels appear as weather vanes and garden statues, as lapel pins and wind chimes. The only trouble is, much of our Catholic tradition has been lost as angels became the darlings of the New Age. We, for example, mustn’t grow confused, believing that after we die, we go to heaven to become angels. Angels are immortals. Humans are mortals. And, truth is, our faith holds that humans are actually higher spiritual beings than angels.
Angels in Tradition
Yet long before, the praises of angels were sung in prayers and exulted by prophets and saints, poets and popes. Catholic, Jewish and Islamic traditions long have revered angels. Since the 17th century, the Catholic Church has recognized and commemorated guardian angels in the liturgical year. In 1670, Pope Clement X established Oct. 2 as the memorial feast of the guardian angels.
The angels are mentioned in several Catholic prayers, among them The Angelus, The Prayer Before Confession, The Evening Prayer, the all-important
Eucharistic prayers and prayers offered at interments.
In Catholic prayer, angels and saints frequently are mentioned in the same breath. And for a good reason. Many saints, including John the Evangelist, Stanislaus Kostka, Frances of Rome and Rose of Lima, had visions of angels.
Other saints tackled the eminently ascetic and mystical subject matter of angels. St. Thomas Aquinas applied his dazzling intellect to the angels with his treatise, “De Spiritualibus Creaturis” and also addressed angels in
“Summa Theologica,” in which he wrote that angels “cooperate in all our good actions.”
Another Father of the Church, St. Augustine, wrote, “To the heavenly angels, who possess God in humility and serve him in blessedness, all material nature and all rational life are subject.”
Cardinal John Henry Newman preached on angels and proclaimed his devotion to his guardian angel and his belief in the importance of angels. Newman wrote, “Every breath of air and ray of light and heat, every beautiful prospect, is, as it were, the skirts of their garments, the waving of the robes of those whose faces see God.”
Even popes have defended the existence of “those whose faces see God” and the firm conviction that God’s angels operate among us. Pius XI had a strong devotion to his guardian angel and recommended this devotion to others. One of the people to whom Pius XI made this recommendation was Monsignor Angelo Roncalli who heeded the advice. Monsignor Roncalli later became Pope John XXIII. While pope, John XXIII continued his devotion to his guardian angel and considered such devotion essential to Catholicism.
Not only did John XXIII invoke his own guardian angel, he also appealed to the guardian angels of others. In a letter to his niece, John XXIII wrote,
“It is consoling to feel this special guardian near us, this guide of our steps, this witness of our most intimate actions.”
John XXIII has been quoted as saying,” Your guardian angel is a good advisor; he intercedes near God on our behalf; he helps us in our needs; he protects us from dangers and accidents.”
Other popes adhered to and urged devotion to the angels. In 1968, Pius XII addressed an audience of American tourists, reminding them of an invisible world peopled with angels: “When children become adults, do their guardian angels abandon them?” the pope asked. “Not at all…. Everyone, no matter how humble he may be, has angels to watch over him. They are heavenly, pure and splendid, and they have been given us to keep us company on our way; they have been given the task of keeping careful watch over you so that you do not become separated from Christ, their Lord.
“And not only do they want to protect you from the dangers which waylay you throughout your journey: they are actually by your side, helping your soul as you strive to go ever higher in your union with God through Christ.”
In closing that pastoral message Pope Pius XII exhorted his audience to “have a certain familiarity with the angels, who are forever solicitous for your salvation and your sanctification. If God wishes, you will spend a happy eternity with the angels; get to know them here, from now on.”
The Angels and Jesus
In the New Testament, Jesus mentions angels on several occasions. John’s Gospel quotes Jesus as saying, “Truly, truly I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man” (John 1:51).
Scriptures tell us that angels ministered to Christ after His temptation in the desert, fortified him during His agony, and were present at the empty tomb following His Resurrection.
Scriptures prophesy that just as angels accompanied the coming of the Son of Man, at the second coming of the Son of Man, angels will return.
“For Christ is born of Mary,
And gathered all above,
While mortals sleep the angels keep
Their watch of wondering love.”
Lecturing on angels in the modern world, theologian Johannes Wagner said, “Atomic energy has existed since the beginning of the creation of the material world, long before man ever suspected its existence. Similarly, the angels existed from the beginning of the creation of the spiritual world. And they will continue to exist, even if mankind ignores their existence for millions of years.”
Wagner continued, “The fact that modern man, even the modern Christian, is no longer aware or is not fully aware of the existence and power of angels, does not take away that existence or destroy that power. On the contrary, this ignorance impoverishes man’s spirit, even to the extent of draining it of energy. It exposes him to grave dangers and deprives him a powerful help.”
French journalist George Huber echoed this theory in his book titled My Angel Will Go Before You. Huber wrote, “There may well be a profound connection between the contemporary crisis of faith and the decline of belief in angels.”
Tobias Palmer ended his lighthearted book An Angel in My House with profound questions encouraging readers to emulate the angels. “Could you and I, like angels, learn to carry the good message? And could we, like the angels, learn to acknowledge God in all that we are doing? And reflect luminance of heaven, within ourselves and into the lives of others?”
From what we know of the heavenly host through the Scriptures, popes and saints, if we are aided by the glory of angels, the hopeful Advent answer to those questions is Yes!
“Still through the cloven skies they come,
with peaceful wings unfurled,
And still their heav’nly music floats
o’er all the weary world:
Above its sad and lowly plains
they bend on hov’ring wing
and ever o’er it’s Babel sounds
the blessed angels sing.”
