Guardian angel (spirit)
For other uses, see Guardian angel (disambiguation)A
guardian angel is a
spirit who is believed to protect and to guide a particular person. The concept of
tutelary angels and their hierarchy was extensively developed in the
5th century by
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite.
Contemporary orthodox belief is that guardian angels protect the body and present
prayers to God. The
Roman Catholic Church calendar of saints includes a memorial for guardian angels on
October 2.
Christians believe guardian angels protect whatever person or household to whom they are assigned by God.
The belief that
God sends a spirit to watch every individual was common in
Ancient Greek philosophy, and
Plato alludes to it in
Phaedo, 108. Similarly, the belief appears in the
Old Testament, although it is not specifically articulated or delineated. In the
Book of Daniel angels seem to be assigned to certain countries.
Enoch 100:5, part of the
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church's inspired scripture, says that the just have protecting angels. In
Acts 12:15 there is another allusion to the belief. In
Matthew 18:10,
Jesus says that children are protected by guardian angels: :"Never despise one of these little ones; I tell you, they have their guardian angels in heaven, who look continually on the face of my heavenly Father." (
New English Bible)
Whether guardian angels attend each and every person is not consistently believed or upheld in patristic Christian thought. Saint
Ambrose, for example, believed that saints lose their guardian angels so that they might have a greater struggle and persevere. Saints
Jerome and
Basil of Caesarea argued that
sin drove the angels away.
The first Christian theologian to outline a specific scheme for guardian angels was
Honorius of Autun. He said that every soul was assigned a guardian angel the moment it was put into a body.
Scholastic theologians augmented and ordered the taxonomy of angelic guardians.
Thomas Aquinas agreed with Honorius and specified that it was the
lowest order of angels who served as guardians, and his view was most successful in popular thought, but
Duns Scotus said that any angel might accept the mission.
Guardian angels appear in literary works throughout the
medieval and
Renaissance periods. For example, the English
physician and
philosopher Sir Thomas Browne (
1605-
82), stated his belief in
Religio Medici (part 1, paragraph 33):
Therefore for Spirits I am so farre from denying their existence, that I could easily beeleve, that not onley whole Countries, but particular persons have their Tutelary, and Guardian Angels: It is not a new opinion of the Church of Rome, but an old one of Pythagoras and Plato; there is no heresie in it, and if not manifestly defined in Scripiture, yet is it an opinion of a good and wholesome use in the course and actions of a man's life, and would serve as an Hypothesis to salve many doubts, whereof common philosophy affordeth no solution.
This is the traditional Christian prayer to one's guardian angel.
[Beliefnet Christian Children's Prayers 07-20-2006]Angel of God, my guardian dear to whom God's love commits me here. Ever this day be at my side to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen. *
Patron saint
