Category: Angels

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Angels

Why Are Cherubs Chubby?

Father Ray Ryland

April 30, 2022 6:37 am April 30, 2022

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3 min read

The word for “angel” in both Hebrew and Greek means “messenger.” The name we give angels thus denotes their function, not their nature. They are spiritual creatures of God, formed…

The word for “angel” in both Hebrew and Greek means “messenger.” The name we give angels thus denotes their function, not their nature. They are spiritual creatures of God, formed to serve Him.

One particular kind of angel, the cherub, appears in several places in the Old Testament. (“Cherubim” is simply the plural form of the Hebrew word cherub.) When God expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, He placed cherubim to guard the entrance of the garden to prevent them from returning and partaking again of the tree of life (see Gn 3:24). The book of the prophet Ezekiel includes an extended description of the form certain cherubim took when they appeared to him in a vision (see chapters 1, 8, 10).

The Old Testament frequently refers to God as “enthroned upon the cherubim” (Is 37:16; see also 1 Sm 4:4; 2 Kgs 19:15; Ps 80:2; Ps 99:1). This notion reflects the design of the tabernacle of the temple as commanded by God: In the Holy of Holies, the Ark of the Covenant was known as the “mercy seat,” the earthly throne of God. At each end of the mercy seat stood a wooden figure of a cherub, overlaid with gold, with outstretched wings (see Ex 25:17-22).

Such an arrangement reflected the intimate relationship between God and the cherubim. An even more striking statement of that closeness pictures a cherub as God’s chariot: “He mounted a cherub and flew” (2 Sm 22:11).

In the fourth or fifth century, the author now known as Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite wrote a book called “The Celestial Hierarchy.” Employing terms from Scripture used to describe various categories of angels (see, for example, Gn 3:24; Is 6:2-7; Rom 8:38; Eph 6:12; Col 1:16; 1 Thes 4:16; Jude 9), he arranged these into a system of “hierarchies” or “spheres” or “triads” of angels, each containing three “orders.”

In the first (highest) hierarchy he included, in order, seraphim (the plural of “seraph”), cherubim and thrones. The second hierarchy included principalities, virtues and powers. The third hierarchy was composed of dominions, archangels and angels. Cherubim were thus placed in the second-highest angelic position, lower than seraphim alone.

This hierarchical arrangement has been widely accepted in the Catholic tradition, with some variations among the Doctors of the Church. But even though the existence of angels is a part of definitive magisterial teaching, no doctrine about a specific hierarchy is de fide (“a truth of the faith”).

Why are cherubim portrayed by artists as chubby babies?It is purely artistic sentimentality, appearing only quite late in Western painting. Consider how the cherubim that Ezekiel saw took a dazzling, terrifying form, full of wings and wheels, faces and eyes, roaring and spewing forth bolts of lightning.

You may recall that whenever an angel appeared in the Old or New Testament narrative, his first message was “Do not be afraid.”Angels must be awesome creatures. I daresay artists who picture them as fat babies will have a great shock when they meet the angels in heaven. And the angels may have some sharp words of correction for the artists.

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1 min read

Angels

How Can Angels also be Called Saints?

Father Ray Ryland

January 21, 2022 6:05 am January 21, 2022

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Some have wondered how an angel can be called a saint. When we speak of a “saint,” we ordinarily refer to a person whose life reflects, or did reflect, what…

Some have wondered how an angel can be called a saint. When we speak of a “saint,” we ordinarily refer to a person whose life reflects, or did reflect, what the Church calls “heroic sanctity” — that is, a life transparent to the mercy and love of Jesus Christ. Down through the ages the lives of many such persons have come to the Church’s attention, and she has recognized them with the title of “saint.”

Half a dozen of St. Paul’s letters are addressed to Christians as “saints.” In this context, the term refers to those individuals’ status as members of Christ’s Mystical Body. We speak of the Communion of Saints to designate the entirety of those who belong to Christ. The term “saint” does apply primarily to human beings, but refers to any being in heaven.

Sacred Scripture singles out and names three great angels: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael. The Church applies the term “saint” to these particular angels because of their great significance in the history of salvation.

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Angels

Can Angels Speak or Sing?

Father Ray Ryland

August 27, 2021 7:00 am August 27, 2021

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It’s true that angels have no voice box, because they have no physical bodies. But that doesn’t prevent their communicating with human beings. Angels who serve God on earth have…

It’s true that angels have no voice box, because they have no physical bodies. But that doesn’t prevent their communicating with human beings.

Angels who serve God on earth have the capacity for assuming human form in carrying out their divine missions. We see many instances of this in the Old Testament.

Hebrews 13:2 refers to those occasions when it teaches, “Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels.”

In ways keeping with their own nature, angels indeed can speak and sing. Sacred Scripture repeatedly refers to angelic choirs around the heavenly throne. All the prefaces in our liturgy invoke the example of the angels glorifying and praising God. The Epiphany preface thus joins us with the angels’ worship: “Now, with angels and archangels, and the whole company of heaven, we sing the unending hymn of your praise.”

They in their way, we in ours. But there are hints in divine revelation that in heaven we shall have with the angels a common medium of communication.

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1 min read

Angels

Two Guardian Angels For Priests?

Msgr. Charles E. Pope

July 14, 2021 6:59 am July 14, 2021

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There is a tradition that priests have two angels, a guardian angel and an empowering angel. But this is only a tradition, not an official teaching of the Church. It…

There is a tradition that priests have two angels, a guardian angel and an empowering angel. But this is only a tradition, not an official teaching of the Church.

It makes some sense that a priest would have an empowering angel since it is attested in Scripture that God administers creation in many ways through the angels. Some angels attend to the highest heavens, others the stars and cosmos, others oversee the earth, and still others attend to us. In these ways, they carry out God’s will and providence.

Since a priest is engaged in a special and powerful work of God, it makes sense that God would assign an angel to assist in this task. The Roman Canon (Eucharistic Prayer I) points to the ministry of such an angel when it asks God that our sacrifice be “borne by the hands of your holy Angel to your altar on high, in the sight of your divine majesty.”

Hence, to surmise that a priest has an empowering angel in addition to a guardian angel is not without basis or merely pious thinking. But, that said, it is not officially taught by the Church.

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Angels

Nine Choirs of Angels?

Msgr. Charles Pope

January 3, 2021 7:32 am January 3, 2021

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St. Thomas states this himself in his Summa Theologiae: “The authority of Holy Scripture wherein they are so named. For the name ‘Seraphim’ is found in Isaiah 6:2; the name ‘Cherubim’…

St. Thomas states this himself in his Summa Theologiae: “The authority of Holy Scripture wherein they are so named. For the name ‘Seraphim’ is found in Isaiah 6:2; the name ‘Cherubim’ in Ezekiel 1 (cf. 10:15-20); ‘Thrones’ in Colossians 1:16; ‘Dominations,’ ‘Virtues,’ ‘Powers,’ and ‘Principalities’ are mentioned in Ephesians 1:21; the name ‘Archangels’ in the canonical epistle of St. Jude (9); and the name ‘Angels’ is found in many places of Scripture” (Summa Theologiae Prima Pars, Q 108, Art. 5).

Some, today, are critical of this citing from various unconnected Scriptures and wonder if the terms are not interchangeable.

But St. Thomas carefully sets forth the sensibility of the names of the nine choirs which speak to their property, eminence and participation in the divine economy. His reasoning is complex, but it has a depth that many of his merely dismissive critics lack.

In effect, St. Thomas argues as to the fittingness of the names of the ranks since they bespeak different levels and functions as well as properties. In this way, they are not simply different names used in different places of Scripture to designate the same reality.

There are real distinctions in the names of the ranks, which indicate nine divisions, or strata, if you will, which are also termed choirs, not in the sense of song, but in the sense of groups or a variety of levels of organization.

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2 min read

Angels

Should We Name Guardian Angels?

Msgr. Charles E. Pope

July 8, 2020 6:59 am July 8, 2020

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2 min read

Generally, the Church advises against the practice of naming our angels. In a document written in 2001 by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments entitled…

Generally, the Church advises against the practice of naming our angels. In a document written in 2001 by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments entitled “Directory on Popular Piety in the Liturgy: Principles and Guidelines,” it says, “The practice of assigning names to the holy angels should be discouraged, except in the cases of Gabriel, Raphael and Michael, whose names are contained in holy Scripture” (No. 127). While the congregation does not offer reasons for discouraging the practice, I would like to offer a couple.

First, there is the understanding of what a name is. For most of us in the modern Western world, a name is simply a sound we go by. But in the ancient, biblical world, and even in many places today, a name has a far deeper meaning. A name describes something of the essence of the person. This helps explain the ancient practice of the Jews to name the child on the eighth day. The delay gave the parents some time to observe something of the essence of the child, and then, noting it, they would name the child. Indeed, most biblical names are deeply meaningful and descriptive.

But it is presumptive to think that we can know enough of the essence of a particular angel in order to be able to assign a name. Hence, assigning a name seems inappropriate.

The second reason is that assigning a name indicates some superiority over the one named. Thus in the case of children, parents, who are superior over their children, rightly name them. However, in the case of angels, they are superior to us. And, even though we often speak of them as serving us, they do this on account of their superior power and as guardians. Thus God commands us to heed their voice (see Ex 23:20-21).

You are surely encouraged to speak to your angel, and the usual practice is to say something like, “Dear Guardian Angel….” or simply “Guardian Angel, please help….”

I usually get a lot of pushback when I have given this answer elsewhere, whether in print or in talks. I realize that many have strong feelings to the contrary of what the Roman congregation advises. And though I think the caution is reasonable and that we should not name angels, neither should we abandon charity among one another over this issue or allow it to loom too large as something permitted or forbidden.

The bottom line should be to avoid the practice but to preserve charity and gently correct if possible, or tolerate it with kindness where necessary.

Rev. Msgr. Charles E. Pope is a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.

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