Part II, Chapter III, Section 1, Article 1: Existence and Nature of the Angels

Pohle, God the Author of Nature and the Supernatural, Part II, Chapter III, §1, Article 1 (pp. 308–320)

Chapter III: Christian Angelology

Human reason may conjecture the existence of pure spirits but is unable to demonstrate it by cogent arguments.¹ What knowledge we possess of the Angels is based entirely on Divine Revelation,² and for this reason we will treat of them under the title of Christian Angelology, in contradistinction to the pagan fictions of genii and demigods.

As the history of the Angels runs parallel to, and displays many analogies with, that of the human race, we are justified in dealing with it after much the same method. Hence we shall divide this Chapter into three Sections. In the first we shall treat of the nature of the Angels; in the second, of the supernatural aspects of the angelic creation; and in the third, of the apostasy of the Angels from the supernatural order. Leaving to Scholastic speculation the deeper problems involved in the existence and activity of pure spirits, we shall confine ourselves to a reasoned exposition of the positive dogmatic teaching of the Church.

General Readings: St. Thomas, S. Theol., 1a, qu. 50 sqq., 106 sqq. Idem, Contr. Gent., II, 46 sqq. (Rickaby, Of God and His Creatures, pp. 108 sqq.). Idem, Opusc. 15, De Substantiis Separatis. Cfr. also St. Thomas’ commentators, notably Ferrariensis and the treatises De Angelis composed by Billuart, Philippus a SS. Trinitate, Gonet, Gotti, and the Salmanticenses. Suarez, De Angelis, is the opus classicum on the subject. The doctrine of the Fathers is admirably summarized by Petavius, De Angelis (Dogm. Theol., t. III). A complete and thorough monograph is Tourneley, De Angelis. Among modern theologians the student will find it profitable to consult Scheeben, Dogmatik, Vol. II, §§ 135 sqq. and §§ 181 sqq., Freiburg 1878 (Wilhelm-Scannell’s Manual, Vol. I, 2nd ed., pp. 376 sqq., London 1899); Palmieri, De Deo Creante et Elevante, thes. 17 sqq., 58 sqq., Romae 1878; Heinrich, Dogmatische Theologie, Vol. V, §§ 281–290, Mainz 1884; Oswald, Angelologie, 2nd ed., Paderborn 1889; Simar, Dogmatik, 4th ed., Vol. I, pp. 313 sqq., Freiburg 1899; L. Janssens, De Deo Creatore et de Angelis, Friburgi 1905; D. Coghlan, De Deo Uno et Trino et De Deo Creatore, pp. 493–511, Dublinii 1909; S. Hunter, Outlines of Dogmatic Theology, Vol. II, 2nd ed., pp. 265–311. See also R. O’Kennedy, The Holy Angels, London 1887, and Hugh Pope, art. “Angelus” in the Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. I. On the cultus of the Angels, see Bareille, “Le Culte des Anges à l’Époque des Pères de l’Église” in the Revue Thomiste, March 1900; J. H. Newman, An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, 12th impression, pp. 411 sqq., London 1903; Tixeront, Histoire des Dogmes, Vol. II, pp. 133 sqq., 219, 274 sqq., 372 sqq. F. Andres, Die Engellehre der griechischen Apologeten des zweiten Jahrhunderts und ihr Verhältnis zur griechisch-römischen Dämonologie, Paderborn 1914.

Section 1: Existence, Nature, Number, and Hierarchy of the Angels

Article 1: Existence and Nature of the Angels

1. The Dogma

The existence of Angels is a truth so obviously founded in Scripture, Tradition, and the teaching of the Church that it seems superfluous to undertake a formal demonstration of it. We therefore merely indicate some of the many Scriptural texts in which it is expressly taught: Ps. XC, 11; CII, 20; CXLVIII, 2; Matth. IV, 11; XVIII, 10; XXII, 30; XXV, 31; John I, 51; Heb. I, 4.

St. Augustine voices the belief of the Fathers when he says: “Quamvis non videamus apparitionem angelorum, tamen esse angelos novimus ex fide. … Spiritus autem angeli sunt; et cum spiritus sunt, non sunt angeli; cum mittuntur, fiunt angeli. Angelus enim officii nomen est, non naturae. Quaeris nomen huius naturae, spiritus est; quaeris officium, angelus est: ex eo quod est, spiritus est; ex eo quod agit, angelus est” — Although we may not see them, we know by faith that Angels exist. … The Angels are spirits, but it is not as such that they are Angels; they become Angels by being sent. For Angel denotes an office, not a nature. You ask the name of this nature. It is “spirit.” You ask its office. It is that of an angel [i.e. messenger]. In as far as he exists, an Angel is a spirit; in as far as he acts, he is an Angel.³

We know three Archangels by name, viz.: Michael, Raphael, and Gabriel.

Though it is uncertain whether the Mosaic account of the Creation,⁴ in employing the term coelum, means to include the Angels,⁵ the creation of the Angels out of nothing is undoubtedly an article of faith. St. Paul expressly teaches: “In ipso [scil. Christo] condita sunt⁶ universa in coelis et in terra, visibilia et invisibilia,⁷ sive throni sive dominationes, sive principatus, sive potestates” — In him [i.e., Christ] were all things created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominations, or principalities, or powers.⁸ The Church through her infallible teaching office has raised this truth to the rank of a formally defined dogma at the Fourth Council of the Lateran: “Creator omnium visibilium et invisibilium, spiritualium et corporalium, qui sua omnipotenti virtute simul ab initio temporis utramque de nihilo condidit naturam, spiritualem et corporalem, angelicam videlicet et mundanam, ac deinde humanam.”⁹ This definition was substantially reaffirmed by the Vatican Council: “God … created out of nothing, from the very first beginning of time, both the spiritual and the corporeal creature, to wit, the angelical and the mundane, and afterwards the human creature. …”¹⁰

When the Angels were created is not so clearly defined. The phrase “Simul ab initio temporis,” strictly interpreted, says no more than that they were created in and with time. Whether the creation of the Angels was simultaneous with that of the material universe is uncertain. Simul may be interpreted in the sense of aequaliter (κοινῇ), and in the phrase “ac deinde humanam,” deinde is not necessarily temporal, but may be illative in meaning. As St. Thomas has pointed out,¹¹ the definition of the Fourth Lateran Council was aimed at a Manichaean heresy which did not bear directly on the time of the creation of the Angels. Nevertheless many theologians regard the interpretation just suggested as artificial and hold the simultaneous creation of the Angels and the material universe to be a theologically certain doctrine, which may not be rejected without temerity. We prefer not to read into the Lateran definition something which its authors evidently did not intend to put there, and adopt the affirmative view merely for the reason that it is the common teaching of theologians.¹² It would at any rate be unreasonable to assume an immoderately long interval of time to have elapsed between the creation of the angels and that of the physical universe. The only thing we know positively is that the Angels existed at the time of Adam,¹³ whence it follows that they were created no later than the sixth “day.”

2. The Nature of the Angels

It is Catholic doctrine, though not yet an article of faith, that the Angels are incorporeal substances, i.e., pure spirits.

a) This doctrine can be more effectively demonstrated from Holy Scripture than from ancient ecclesiastical Tradition, the latter being far less clear and definite. The Bible constantly refers to the Angels as spirits (spiritus, πνεῦμα), in express contradistinction to souls.¹⁴ St. Paul, moreover, draws a direct contrast between a pure spirit¹⁵ and man, who is a compound of spirit and body. Eph. VI, 12: “Non est nobis colluctatio adversus carnem et sanguinem, sed adversus principes et potestates, adversus mundi rectores tenebrarum harum” — Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness.

That the Angels have often visibly appeared to men is no argument against their incorporeity. When they assume a body, that body is merely an outer garment, put on for a transitory purpose, not something which the bearer informs after the manner of a substantial form.¹⁶ Therefore Raphael said to Tobias: “Videbar quidem vobiscum manducare et bibere, sed ego cibo invisibili et potu, qui ab hominibus videri non potest, utor” — I seemed indeed to eat and to drink with you: but I use an invisible meat and drink, which cannot be seen by men.¹⁷ The much-discussed text, Gen. VI, 2: “The sons of God seeing the daughters of men, that they were fair, took to themselves wives,”¹⁸ which misled even some of the Fathers,¹⁹ does not refer to the Angels at all, but to the pious Sethites, who married the evil daughters of Cain.²⁰

b) As we have already noted, the Fathers do not teach this doctrine as clearly as the Bible. Several of their number ascribe to the Angels a body of ether or fire. This they were led to do by a literal interpretation of Ps. CIII, 4: “Qui facis angelos tuos spiritus et ministros tuos ignem urentem” — Who makest thy angels spirits, and thy ministers a burning fire.²¹ Some conceived Satan as clothed in an aerial body.²² It is evident from all this that belief in the incorporeity of the Angels was the result of a gradual development. To-day it is held as theologically certain.²³

c) Are the Angels composed of matter and form? This is quite a different question from the one discussed above. Granted that the Angels are pure spirits, it may be asked whether their purely spiritual nature admits of a composition of matter (determinabile) requiring for its actuation a form (determinans), or whether, like the Divine Essence, they are metaphysically simple.²⁴

Being purely spiritual substances, the Angels are physically simple, and therefore essentially immortal. “Not, indeed, that their destruction is in itself an impossibility, but because their substance and nature are such that, when once created, perpetual conservation is to them natural.”²⁵ They are indestructible also for this reason that the Creator is bound by His own wisdom, goodness, sanctity, and justice to conserve these pure spirits, in whom He has implanted an immanent craving for beatitude.²⁶

3. Intellect, Will, and Power of the Angels

Being pure spirits, the Angels must possess intellect and free-will; for no spirit is conceivable without these attributes. Hence they are called simply νόες or νοῦς by the Fathers, and intelligentiae by the Scholastics.

a) The comprehension of the angelic intellect and its mode of operation is a subject of speculation, concerning which our limited mind is at a decided disadvantage. The Schoolmen have practically exhausted the capacity of the human intellect along these lines. As of faith we need only hold that the Angels are not endowed with cardiognosis nor with a certain knowledge of the free-will acts of the future; these being exclusively divine prerogatives.²⁷ It follows that their knowledge of the thoughts and future free actions of men is purely conjectural and can at most engender moral certitude.

Can the Angels communicate their thoughts to one another? It would be unreasonable to assume that such a vast number of pure spirits, endowed with intellect and free-will, should lack the means of intercommunication. Besides, we know on the authority of Holy Scripture that the Angels do converse with one another.²⁸ But Revelation tells us nothing about the nature of their intercourse. The only thing we know for certain is that they do not converse by word of mouth. Among the six theories that have been excogitated on the subject the most plausible is that of St. Thomas. He holds that the Angels converse by a mere act of the will, which manifests the thought of the speaker to him whom he wishes to address.²⁹

b) That the Angels are endowed with free-will follows from the fact, (which is demonstrable on purely philosophic grounds), that free-will belongs to every spiritual nature as such. Indeed, if God operates freely ad extra because He is the supreme and infinite Spirit,³⁰ and if man, who occupies the lowest rank in the scale of intellectual beings, enjoys freedom of choice because the light of reason burns within him,³¹ surely the Angels, who form the connecting link between God and man, and most certainly far outrank the latter, must also be endowed with free-will. The logical force of this argument is irresistible. Free-will is either included or it is not included in the concept of spirit. If it were not included therein, then God Himself would not be free; if it is, then the Angels, too, are free, freer in fact than man, who is hampered by his senses. Sacred Scripture, moreover, tells us that the Angels rejoice,³² that they have desires,³³ that some of them sinned and were transformed into demons. The story of the Fall is the most convincing proof that the Angels enjoy freedom of choice. Cfr. 2 Pet. II, 4: “Deus angelis peccantibus non pepercit” — God spared not the Angels that sinned.

In the light of these and similar texts St. John Damascene defines an Angel as “a rational, intelligent, free nature, with a mutable will,” and he adds: “Every being that is endowed with reason, is likewise equipped with free-will. Consequently an Angel, being a nature endowed with reason and intelligence, is also equipped with freedom of choice. Being a creature, he is mutable, because free either to persevere and progress in what is good, or to turn to the bad.”³⁴

c) The Angels are by nature superior to, and more excellent than man. Cfr. 2 Pet. II, 11: “Angels … are greater in strength and power.” Gal. IV, 14: “You … received me as an angel of God, as Jesus Christ.”³⁵ The names by which the Angels are called in the Bible (Dominations, Virtues, Powers) also indicate that they enjoy superior prerogatives, though, of course, being themselves mere creatures, they can neither create nor perform miracles.³⁶

It is to be remarked, however, that Angels (and demons) by virtue of their natural faculties are able to perform actions which impress man as exceeding the powers of nature (miracula quoad nos). But such actions are not miracles in the strict and proper sense of the term unless the nature of the case or its attending circumstances make it plainly evident that the effect is one which could not be produced by any agency short of the divine omnipotence. We need not add that, with regard to the extent of their power, good and evil spirits alike depend at all times on the Divine Will, without whose command or permission they cannot interfere with the laws of nature.

Notes

Note on this transcription: this file opens Part II’s third and final chapter, so the Chapter introduction and General Readings are included above Section 1 proper. Footnote numbering runs continuously from the chapter introduction through Article 1 (1–36) rather than resetting. A handful of short Greek terms (πνεῦμα, νόες, ἐκτίσθη, τὰ ἀόρατα, κοινῇ) were reconstructed from garbled OCR with good confidence given the Latin/English glosses alongside them.