Scotus Academicus, Tomus quartus: De Angelis

Note 1. The word Hierarchy is Greek, and means a sacred principate, or a collection of persons in some way sacred under some Prince. Now St. Dionysius distinguishes a threefold Hierarchy in book 3 of The Celestial Hierarchy. The first (says Hugh of Saint-Victor in his explanation of that same book),

principal over all, and the form, and exemplar of the rest, is the supreme and ineffable power of the Trinity: simple, and one, and uniform, without grade, and difference, and comparison, supreme, and eternal, and perfect, and true, omnipotent by its own power in creating and governing all its works; receiving nothing external, losing nothing of its own. The second Hierarchy was formed in the angelic nature, by adoption, and participation, and gracious favor from the first and supreme, and, in a second similitude to the first, holds a lofty grade, and receives difference, and admits comparison: after the supreme Trinity, distinguished by a second emulation, in a threefold division. The third, and last Hierarchy was ordered in human nature: imitating the second in the first place, and the first in the second place, and receiving and referring back the supreme and superexcellent image of similitude through the participants in the midst, and by that very thing so that all may be from one, and to one, and all in all one.

Note, however, that in God there is not properly a Hierarchy, since among the three divine Persons there is neither principate, nor order, nor superiority or inferiority of dignities. Hence St. Dionysius teaches in the same place that God is outside, and above every Hierarchy; for every Hierarchy exists in imitation of, and likeness to him.

Note 2. A threefold Hierarchy of the angels is distinguished by the holy Fathers and Theologians, namely the supreme, the middle, and the lowest, each of which is made up of three distinct orders. For the first, says our own Le Petit, ch. 6, De Angelis, comprises the Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones. The Seraphim are so called from the ardor of love, and the most fervent love of God in which they surpass the others, and to which they excite those within; so that they are continually ardent, inflamed, and kindled with the fire of love with which in an excellent manner they pursue God, while they contemplate him more closely, so great and admirable is his majesty, as St. Gregory, St. Dionysius, St. Thomas, etc., write. The Cherubim are so called on account of the fullness and excess of knowledge by which they surpass the other, inferior angels, and they pour out that most splendid light upon the others like most radiant Suns. The Thrones are so called because in them God rests in a certain more placid manner in a special way; whence they are called the seat of God for receiving the divine splendors into themselves, and transfusing them into the other, inferior angels. The second Hierarchy comprises the Dominations, Principalities, and Powers. The Dominations are so called on account of the excellence of their lordship, namely because they surpass the others in commanding the things to be done. The Principalities are so called because they preside over Kingdoms and Provinces, and with respect to the inferior angels can be called princes; they instruct, illuminate, and move them in those things which pertain to the salvation of all men, according to the will of God manifested to them. The Powers are so called on account of the great power with which they are endowed, and especially for coercing the infernal Spirits, lest they inflict harms upon men. The third Hierarchy comprises the Virtues, Archangels, and Angels. The Virtues are so named because it belongs to them to accomplish miracles, and to work signs and prodigies; for although all Spirits can work miracles, this is nevertheless attributed to the Virtues in a spiritual manner: moreover they are given that name because these Spirits are prompt and ready for the divine service with a certain manly fortitude; and they also bestow aid on the other angels inferior to themselves. The Archangels announce greater things to men by the command of God, and dispatch weightier business, and guard important persons. But the Angels, because they announce lesser matters or accomplish them, since they have no particular name of their own, are given the common name shared by all the other Spirits: their office is to guard men.

Note 3. Although the aforesaid names express characters peculiar to the individual orders of angels, nevertheless they are sometimes taken as common to all, so that the proper name of one order is bestowed on the angels of another order: thus St. Chrysostom, Homily 3, Contra Anomoeos, calls all those most blessed spirits Angels indiscriminately: Hilary also takes the Virtues universally in this way, book 3: The Virtues, he says, are many in Heaven, and efficacious, and eternal, but only one is the only-begotten Son. But why the Angels, and the Virtues are thus used of all, St. Gregory sets out the cause of the former appellation in Homily 34 on the Gospels, namely that some things are announced through them; for not only Spirits of the lowest order, but sometimes also of the highest, are thought to be several in number who fulfill the office of messengers to men. But all angels are called Virtues, says St. Dionysius, ch. 11, because those blessed minds have these three things: essence or substance, power or virtue, and efficacy.

St. Gregory the Great explains this expressly in Homily 34 on the Gospel:

Very often, he says, the very orders of the blessed Spirits take on the names of the orders neighboring to them: for we said that the Thrones, that is, the seats of God, are a special order of the blessed Spirits, and yet through the Psalmist it is said of him who appears seated above the Cherubim: namely because, while in those distinctions the hosts of the Cherubim are joined to the Thrones, the Lord is also declared to sit above the Cherubim by the equality of the neighboring host. For so it is in that supreme city, that certain things are special to individuals, and yet are common to all, and what each possesses in himself in part, he possesses in the other order: but for that reason they are contained under one and the same name in common, so that that order should be called by the private name of each thing which has received it more fully in its gift.

With these things premised, it must be determined by what grounds it is established that those three hierarchies and nine orders of angels exist.

Single conclusion. — In truth there are three hierarchies, and nine distinct orders of the holy angels.

This is the common view among the holy Fathers and Theologians, and St. Dionysius weighs and explains it in the whole book De Coelesti Hierarchia, where in ch. 6 he speaks thus about those divine Intelligences:

These, he says, our divine initiator in the sacred mysteries, St. Paul, distributed and distinguished into three ternions: and first indeed he wills those to be so who always stand about God, and of whom it has been handed down that, with their whole mind and with nothing interposed before the others, they are joined to him; for he says that it has been handed down in the divine writings that the most holy Thrones, and those that have many eyes and many wings, the Cherubim and Seraphim, called so in the Hebrew tongue, stand most closely about God. This distinction, then, which consists of three, our most illustrious Teacher handed down as one, and of the same kind, and as truly the first Hierarchy, than which there is none more like God, and which is occupied above all, without interval, with the greatest zeal in the primary illuminations of the Divinity in acting. He says the second is that which the Powers, Dominations, and Virtues fill. The third is the description of the Angels, Archangels, and Principalities in the last celestial Hierarchies.

The same truth St. Bernard sets forth lucidly in book 5 of De Consideratione, ch. 4, where, having enumerated all the orders of the blessed angels, he writes:

What, then, does this gradual distinction mean? Let us suppose the Angels are so called — unless you have considered something more fitting — because single ones are believed to be given to single men: Sent forth to ministry, according to the doctrine of Paul, for the sake of those who shall inherit salvation. Of whom the Savior: Their angels always see the face of the Father. Let us suppose the Archangels preside over these, who, conscious of the divine mysteries, are sent only for outstanding and greatest causes; among whom that great Archangel Gabriel is read to have been sent to Mary; for a cause, certainly, than which there could be none greater. Let us suppose above these are the Virtues, by whose nod or work signs and prodigies made in the elements, or from the elements, appear for the admonition of mortals. Hence perhaps it is that when you read in the Gospels: There shall be signs in the Sun, and Moon, and stars, a little later you have: For the Virtues of the heavens shall be moved. These are doubtless the Spirits through whom signs are made. Let us suppose the Powers, superior to these, by whose power the power of darkness is compressed, and the malice of this air is coerced, so that it may not harm as much as it wills, nor be able to do mischief except so as to profit. Let us suppose the Principalities set over these also, by whose governance and wisdom every principality on earth is constituted, governed, limited, transferred, mutilated, changed. Let us suppose the Dominations so far surpass all the aforesaid orders, that with respect to these all the others seem ministering Spirits, and are referred to these as to Lords: the governances of the Principalities, the protections of the Powers, the operations of the Virtues, the revelations of the Archangels, the care and providence of the Angels. Let us suppose the Thrones have flown aloft even beyond these by a great retreat, who from the fact that they sit are called Thrones, and from the fact that they sit because God sits in them. For neither could he sit in them, if they did not sit. You ask what I think that session is? The highest tranquility, the most placid serenity, the peace which surpasses all understanding. Such is he who sits upon the Thrones, the Lord of hosts, judging all things with tranquility, most placid, most serene, most peaceable. And such he constituted the Thrones to himself, most like himself. Let us suppose the Cherubim drawing from the very fountain of wisdom from the mouth of the Most High, and pouring back the streams of knowledge to all their fellow citizens. And see whether he is the one of whom the Prophet spoke; the rush of the river making glad the city of God. Let us suppose the Seraphim Spirits wholly kindled with divine fire, setting all things aflame, so that each citizen may be a single lamp, burning and shining, burning with charity, and shining with knowledge.

This same truth St. Gregory the Pope proves and concludes thus from holy Scripture, Homily 34:

Nine orders of angels we have named, he says, since indeed so many there are, the sacred eloquence testifying: at once we know Angels, Archangels, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Dominations, Thrones, Cherubim, and Seraphim. For that there are Angels and Archangels almost all the pages of sacred eloquence testify. But the books of the Prophets often speak of the Cherubim and Seraphim, as is known. The Apostle Paul also enumerates the names of four orders to the Ephesians, saying: above every Principality, and Power, and Virtue, and Domination. Who again writing to the Colossians says: whether Thrones, or Dominations, or Principalities, or Powers. But the Dominations, and Principalities, and Powers he had already described speaking to the Ephesians. But about to say those things also to the Colossians, he premised the Thrones, of which he had as yet said nothing at all to the Ephesians. When, therefore, the Thrones are joined to those four which he said to the Ephesians, that is, to the Principalities, Powers, Virtues, and Dominations, there are five orders, which are expressed specially. When to these the Angels, and Archangels, Cherubim, and Seraphim are joined, without doubt nine orders of angels are found.

From these things it is evident how shamefully Erasmus, and Beza hallucinate in their Scholia on ch. 8 of the Epistle to the Romans, while they deny that those different orders of angels can be gathered from the Apostle; for from the words of St. Gregory praised above, all the holy Fathers, both Greek and Latin, teach with the fullest consensus the certain grades and orders of the angels. Above all St. Ignatius, Epistle to the Trallians: I (he says), because I am able to understand heavenly things, and the orders of angels, and the differences of angels and of hosts, and the distinctions of Virtues and Dominations, and the varieties of Thrones and Powers, the magnitudes of Aeons, the excellences of Cherubim and Seraphim... These things, I say, I know; yet am I not on that account altogether perfect, etc.

St. Irenaeus likewise numbers the same orders, if you except the Seraphim and Cherubim; for he says in book 2, ch. 54: They tell us what the nature of invisible things is, they recount the number of angels, and the orders of Archangels, they demonstrate the mysteries of the Thrones, and teach the diversities of Dominations, Principalities, Powers, and Virtues. St. Basil in his Liturgy enumerates them in this order: Thee the Angels and Archangels praise, the Thrones, Dominations, Principalities, Powers, Virtues, and the many-eyed Cherubim, the Seraphim stand about thee in a circle.

Similarly St. Athanasius teaches the same thing in several places, but especially in the book De Communi essentia:

Just as, he says, we have acknowledged a distinction among the supernal Virtues, so also of station and knowledge. The Thrones indeed, and the Seraphim, and the Cherubim learn immediately from God, as being superior to all, and nearer to God. These further teach the inferior orders, and so on, the superiors teach the inferiors. But the lowest order is that of the Angels, who are also the teachers of men.

The Latins also subscribe. St. Augustine in the book contra Priscillianistas et Origenistas, ch. 10, weighing that word of the Apostle to the Colossians 1, Whether Thrones, or Dominations, etc., says: That therefore there are seats, Principalities, Dominations, Powers in the celestial apparatuses, I most firmly believe, and that they differ in something I hold with undoubting faith. But — that you may not despise me, whom you think a great doctor — what those things are, and what they differ among themselves, I do not know. Nay, he even not obscurely condemns the inquiry into these things, saying: Rather in these things rash presumption than cautious ignorance seems to be blamed, and soon after, signifying clearly enough that they exalt themselves above the divine writers, those who think they know something about these things beyond what has been briefly touched upon and prescribed in the Scriptures. And in the Enchiridion, ch. 58, he doubts whether the Archangels are the same as those who are called virtues, and what the four words differ among themselves, by which the Apostle seems to have embraced the whole celestial society, saying: whether seats, or dominations, or principalities, or powers: let them say, he says, who can, if however they can prove it, let them say; I confess that I am ignorant of these things. And in book 2 contra Maximinum arianum, rebuking him because he had written that angels indeed can be seen by archangels, but archangels not by angels: from whom, he says, did you hear this? whence did you learn it? where did you read it? Would you not better have applied your mind to the divine Books, where we read that angels were seen by men when they willed, and in the manner they willed to appear?

St. Jerome seems to have been in the same doubtful opinion; for when in book 11 contra Iovinianum he had numbered seven orders of angels, namely the Angels, Archangels, Thrones, Dominations, Powers, Cherubim, and Seraphim, he adds: And every name that is named, not only in the present age, but also in the future; embracing the matter indefinitely, as if there were innumerable other grades of angels, and names of grades. Which he indicates more clearly in his commentary on ch. 1 of the Epistle to the Ephesians, where, when he had inquired whence Paul received that among the angels there are Principalities, Virtues, Powers, and Dominations, and had said that he had known, from what is related of Kings and Princes, and also Dukes, Tribunes, and innumerable Centurions in the books of Kingdoms, the image of other Princes and Kings, he adds:

Namely, that in the heavens there are Principalities, there are Powers, there are Dominations and Virtues, and the other names of ministries which we are not able to name; nor do I think that Paul himself, placed in so heavy a bodily frame, wished to enumerate them.

As if he said that neither had St. Paul come to know, nor could he have enumerated, all the orders of the blessed angels. — St. Cyril of Jerusalem was also in doubt in this matter, Catechesis 11 to the Illumined, where, rebuking the audacity of the Arians, who busied themselves rashly and curiously about the generation of the Son:

Tell me first, he says, most audacious man, what a throne differs from a domination, and then inquire into the things that pertain to Christ. Tell me what a principality is, what a virtue, what an angel, and then curiously search out the Maker himself.

— Into the same doubt St. Chrysostom fell. Homily 1, De incomp., where, carping at the audacity of the Heretics, who rashly inquire into the nature of God:

Consider, he says, in your mind how great is the insolence of the Heretics; we do not know even the names of the servants, and they inquire rather curiously into the substance of the Lord. For there are Angels, and Archangels, and Thrones, and Dominations, and Principalities, and Powers: but those are not the only companies in the heavens, but infinite peoples, and ineffable nations, which speech cannot unfold.

Which he proves from that word of the Apostle to the Ephesians 1, He made him sit above every Principality, and Power, and Virtue, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the future; from which he infers: You see that there are certain names which will be manifest there, when now they are unknown: for therefore he said, not only those which are named in this age, but also in the future. From these things it is established that the orders of the angels were not defined by very many of the holy Fathers.

— Which things nevertheless do not detract from the certainty of our Conclusion, since constantly the other holy Fathers teach the contrary, and we already hold it as undoubted by all Theologians, who prove the truth itself in various ways. For in the first place William of Paris expressly deduces it in part 2, part 2 of De Universo, ch. 112, a comparison having been made of the heavenly Kingdom with the Ministers, Followers of an earthly King:

It seemed to me (he says) that the closest and lateral companions of the King must necessarily constitute certain orders of men, who must assist the King himself unceasingly and at his side. The first, then, is the order of the Most Loving, that is, of those loving the King most greatly and burning with love for him above all others: and this is manifest, because this is the custom of all kings, namely, that they both wish to have, and do have, near themselves and close to them those whom they believe to be their most faithful friends. The second is the order of the Wise, with which order nothing is more fitting for a king, nothing more becoming, especially since Wisdom herself says that kings reign through me, and that King of the Hebrews, wisest of all, preferred wisdom to all other gifts, and asked for it singularly, the others being set aside. You also know how necessary the wise are for the governance of kingdoms, as that same most wise King said, that the multitude of the wise is the salvation of the world. You know also that through wisdom laws are founded, and salutary statutes enacted, most useful to men. The third order is that of Judges, namely, those who render justice, who settle controversies and disputes. The fourth order is that of the Most Eminent and the Magnates; among whom are the king's subjects and tribute-paying men of the king, or those who are usually called the nobles of the kingdom and barons, in whom consists a great part of the strength and power of the kingdom. The fifth order, governors of provinces. The sixth order, leaders of legions and instructors of wars, and captains of battle lines. The seventh order is that of centurions, namely, ministers who execute vengeance and justice. The eighth, that of great messengers, who are otherwise called Legates, namely because they announce great things, things not to be revealed to other messengers, and carry reports concerning great matters and affairs, to whomsoever the King shall command. The ninth and last order is that of lesser messengers running throughout the whole kingdom, whether horsemen or footmen, bearing the orders and commands of the King. Since, therefore, this number of orders, and their arrangement, and this whole arrangement of an earthly kingdom, is most becoming and most beautiful.... and every good king is an example and likeness of the first and highest King, who is the blessed Creator, it will necessarily follow that every well-ordered kingdom is an example and likeness of that kingdom, and the ordering of this his ordering, and the orders of these his orders. This also appears evidently in the likeness and proportionality, and in the comparisons of the parts or orders to the parts or orders of the first and noblest one himself. For the first order, namely, the order of those burning most fervently with love for the King, is assimilated and proportioned to the order of the Seraphim, as appears from its very name itself, which means wholly burning, or a conflagration of love. And the order of the Wise, which is the second order, corresponds by similitude and proportion to the order of the Cherubim, which the name of the same, interpreted from Hebrew into Latin, shows, which means fullness of knowledge, or flowing forth of wisdom. Similarly the third order, which is that of Judges, is assimilated and proportioned to the third order of that illustrious and most noble Kingdom, which is named Thrones or Seats; for in them, as it were in the kingdom of his royal excellence, sits that King and Lord of ages, and thence through them he exercises his judgments. The fourth order, of the Most Powerful, those pre-eminent in the kingdom in honor and sublimity of power, corresponds by the same ways to the fourth order of the aforementioned kingdom, which is named Dominations, because in them shines forth most of all the most supereminent dominion of the Creator, just as in the very power and glory of the Magnates the power of the earthly kingdom appears most of all. But the governors of provinces, through whom namely the provinces are ruled, are compared to the Principalities with a most fitting similitude.... To the sixth order, which is that of Powers, are most rightly compared the dukes of legions, instructors of battle lines, and Princes of armies, since through them those are brought back and reduced to the King's power who have withdrawn from his authority or rebel against it. The seventh order, which is of those exercising vengeance and executing justices or judgments, such as Centurions usually are: is fitted to the order of Virtues, which ought to be so hostile to vices as to appear sworn to their death, and seem to oppose vices so far as to be worthy to be called not only Virtuous men, but even Virtues. But the last two orders, namely those > of the greater and lesser messengers, have a most evident proportion and similitude to the Angels and Archangels.

Some prove the diversity of Hierarchies among the angels from the hierarchic operations, which are to purify and be purified, to illuminate and be illuminated, to perfect and be perfected, as St. Dionysius says in chapter 3.; for according to this threefold office the angels are rightly distributed into three Hierarchies. For the first Hierarchy is purified, illuminated, and perfected by God alone, and in turn purifies, illuminates, and perfects the middle one. But the middle, having been purified, illuminated, and perfected by the superior, bestows those same divine effects upon the inferior. The first is purified, illuminated, and perfected by no other superior Hierarchy, but purifies, illuminates, and perfects the inferiors; the second is purified by the superior, illuminated, and perfected, and purifies, illuminates, and perfects the third: the third and last perfects, illuminates, and purifies no other except the human.

This purification, however, is not to be understood as if it were made from sin, or from error, or from ignorance; for these can have no place in the most holy angels, who see God clearly and intuitively; but it is made from a lack of knowledge (nescientia), which is found in them. Indeed, they do not know all supernatural truths through the activity of their natural powers, nor through the beatific vision itself, which is terminated only to the object of beatitude, namely, to the divine essence and its divine excellencies: but not to external things, whether those pertaining to the disposition of the universe, or to the governance of the Church, or to the mysteries of grace, which the lower angels can learn from the higher, and the Higher from God himself, as William of Paris, in the second part of the first part de Universo chapter 198., expounds this point learnedly very nearly in this manner:

Among the angels some are more resplendent than others, and nearer to the divine light, and therefore purer, not because they have less filth, or none at all, but because from the inexhaustible fountain of light they receive larger and clearer draughts of truth: just as if several crystals, or mirrors, were set before the Sun, which are not placed in the same position, but one catches his rays more fully and more directly than another; so since some angels contemplate God more perfectly than the rest, they are flooded with a more abundant light than those others, and on that account are purer than they, and illumine them by the abundance of their own light: which communication of more copious light is called purification; not that there is anything of darkness and gloom in them which would be extinguished by the approach of greater light, but because, as I said, there comes about an addition of light to light. For the remission of light does not consist in an admixture of darkness; just as neither the slowing of motion consists in rest, nor dullness of sight in blindness — from which examples the second applies most of all to the matter at hand: since the heavenly orbs are not all revolved with equal swiftness, but the highest among them, which is called the primum mobile, is stirred with a swifter motion, and the rest thereafter, each according as it is nearer or farther, are moved more quickly or more slowly. But if that lesser swiftness consisted in any part of rest, there would nowhere be true and simple motion; since even beyond that supreme and swiftest revolution, a swifter one could either be feigned by us, or created by God: wherefore one motion is slower than another without any admixture of contrary rest; likewise one light more splendid than another, tempered by no part of gloom. After that manner, therefore, an angel is said to be purified when he receives some new light of knowledge which he lacked before: and that very thing which was wanting is like a kind of privation, which the incoming knowledge drives away; whence the name of purification has been given to it.

You will ask first. Do individual angels have proper names?

I answer. It seems more probable that proper names were assigned by God to individual angels severally; not indeed so that they might be known by them among the other Blessed, as St. Gregory teaches, Homily on the hundred sheep, but so that the Blessed may use them when conversing with them, for after the day of judgment the various Blessed will speak of one another, and of the angels; therefore it is necessary that they make use of their names, and now both blessed souls and angels, whenever they speak of anyone, need names for that same reason. And what we say of the good angels must be judged the same of the evil ones, otherwise Christ would have questioned a certain demon in vain as to what his name was.

But there are only seven holy angels whose names are recalled by Catholic writers, and they are Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Salathiel, or Sealtiel, Iehudiel, and Barachiel, as Serarius proves in chapter 12 of Tobias, and Salmeron tom. 3. They are designated by Sacred Scripture under several mystical appellations; for Apocal. 4. they are called seven lamps before the throne of God; because they shine with the highest brightness, and illumine with a certain remarkable splendor those to whom they are sent, a symbol of which thing the angel exhibited who stood beside Peter, A light shone in the dwelling, Act. 12. And in the same Apocalypse St. John says: I saw the lamb standing as though slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent into all the earth. They are called horns, because they are most mighty for routing demons, for protecting the Church, for working miracles, for defending the just, and for the punishment of the impious: they are likewise called eyes, because they are most perspicacious and most vigilant for knowing and fulfilling the will of God, for procuring the salvation of the Church and of men; whence of these it is said in Zach. 4. These seven eyes are the Lord's, which run to and fro through the whole earth: of these also we have it in the same Apocalypse c. 8. And I saw seven angels standing in the sight of God. And elsewhere in the same book seven angels are mentioned as having, as it were, care of the whole earth.

Hence in Tobiae 12.¹ Raphael said of himself that he was one of those seven: I am, he says, Raphael the angel, one of the seven, who stand before the Lord. They are said to stand before the Lord, or in the sight of God, metaphorically, after the manner in which ministers are present to a Prince, and ready to receive and carry out his commands; and this also indicates how familiar they are with God, for to stand seems to signify a certain familiarity, for of the familiars of Solomon the Queen of Sheba says in lib. Reg. 3. cap. 10.: Happy are thy servants, because they stand always before thee; for it is the property of familiars and attendants to stand before a Prince, while Princes sit.

All these things Clement of Alexandria confirms, lib. 6. Strom. toward the end. There are seven, he says, who hold the greatest power, the firstborn Princes of the angels, bearing with them, because of their offices, the name of God.

The peculiar meaning of their names is drawn out thus: Michael is interpreted, Who is like God? which name was given him after he conquered Lucifer with a generous spirit, and drove him out of the empyrean heaven with his wicked followers, and fights against him daily on behalf of men, and because he also defends and guards the honor of God and his greatest glory, nor permits anything whatsoever concerning it, however small, to be detracted.

Some others add that he presides over the prayers and oblations of the faithful, and for that reason is called Michael, that is, Who is like God? as if to say: to God alone belongs the hearing of the prayers of penitents, and being propitious to their sins, and also their justification and salvation.

— Gabriel, that is, the strength of God, because he announced the mighty deeds and wars of God to Daniel, to the blessed Virgin, etc. Again Gabriel is said in Hebrew Geberel, that is, man-God, as if to say: God will become incarnate, and will be man as to nature and progress of age and body: yet he will remain vir (man), because from the first instant of conception his soul will be full of all knowledge, grace, fortitude, etc., according to that saying of Jeremiah 31. A woman shall compass a man.

— Raphael, that is, Physician, or medicine of God, because he presides over the health of bodies. Whence he cured the blindness of Tobias, and can obtain for us spiritual and bodily remedy.

— Uriel, that is, light, or fire of God, because he illumines men with the knowledge of God and inflames them with love.

— Salathiel, or Sealtiel, that is, prayer of God, because he prays for men and stirs them up to adoration.

— Iehudiel, that is, Confession, or praise of God, because he exhorts men to confession and the praise of God.

— Barachiel, that is, blessing of God, because he procures the benefits of God for us and urges us toward the blessing of God and thanksgiving.

— The three last are noted by no tradition, but have come down to us from the Hebrew. There is mention of Uriel in Esdras lib. 4., but this book is not reckoned among the Canonical books; Salathiel, Iehudiel, and Barachiel are celebrated by Antonio Duca, a distinguished man who flourished in the time of Paul III Supreme Pontiff, in the Hymn on the seven assisting Angels. But whether they are to be addressed by those names or by others, it is most certainly certain that they are the seven chief angels of the celestial court, who stand in the sight of God, and to whom the care of the whole earth is entrusted.

Furthermore, these holy angels stir us up to embrace the seven virtues opposed to the seven capital sins in equal number, which are: humility, patience, liberality, chastity, temperance, diligence, and charity; and since those seven pre-eminent angels are of the order of Seraphim, as we shall say presently; therefore their special task and office is to restrain the seven chief demons fallen from heaven, who by continual suggestions induce us to commit those seven capital sins, and alas! often make us succumb to them.

But who are those chief evil angels deputed by Lucifer to suggest so many evils? St. Bernard, in sermon 13. on the Psalm qui habitat, enumerates them:

The first, he says, is Leviathan, the Prince of pride: the second Beerith, the Prince of anger: the third Mammon, the Prince of avarice: the fourth Beelzebuth, the Prince of envy: the fifth Asmodaeus, the Prince of lust: the sixth Beelphegor, the Prince of gluttony, and the seventh Astaroth, the Prince of sloth, or laziness.

Since, therefore, these things are so, God, who by his kindness and ineffable goodness wills the salvation of us all, willed to choose and appoint just as many Princes from among the good angels, that they might blunt the impious assaults of these seven demons against us.

To these add, that beyond the four first angels out of the seven named above, venerable Bede in his Collectanea makes mention of two others, namely Rumiel and Phaniel, and commends himself to them in these words: Gabriel be unto me logic; Michael be unto me a girdle; Raphael be unto me a shield; Uriel be unto me protector; Rumiel be unto me defender, Phaniel be unto me security. Besides these names, moreover, some add Nuriel, Zamael, Zadkiel, and Caphziel. There are also some of the aforementioned, as well as other names, in the second book of the Sybilline verses, which are related in the second tome of the Bibliotheca Sanctorum Patrum:

Then Eromiel, Uriel, Samiel, and Azael, Knowing beforehand what evil each of men has wrought, Shall bring all souls from the lands before the shadowy gloom To judgment, before the dreadful throne of the immortal Great Father.

But since these names are neither inferred from the Scriptures, nor reported by the Holy Fathers, therefore they are neither to be used nor invoked; especially since the holy Apostle has proscribed novelties of words, and the Roman Council held in the year of our Lord 745., under Pope Zachary, condemned the prayer of a certain Aldebert, in which, invoking eight names of angels, he said: I pray you, and conjure you, and supplicate myself to you, Angel Uriel, Angel Raguel, Angel Tabuel, Angel Michael, Angel Adimis, Angel Tubuas, Angel Subaoth, Angel Limihel. When this prayer had been read, Pope Zachary said:

these names, besides Michael's, are all names of demons. What else should be done but that all that has been read be committed to the fire? And all the Bishops agreed, saying, we acknowledge the names of no more than three angels, that is, Gabriel, Michael, Raphael.

So we read in the Acts of the Council. And hence Baronius infers clearly understands that the fourth book of Esdras published under that name, in which mention of the angel Uriel frequently occurs, has been proscribed by the Roman Church and rejected utterly.

To a similar kind of flour must be reckoned those things which Rabbi Benidior relates in the preface which he prefixed to his commentary on the book Ietsira, i. e. On creation, where he sets forth the names of those angels whom the Thalmudists fable to have been the masters and teachers of the Patriarchs. For they say that the angel Raziel was the teacher and preceptor of Adam, Iophiel of Shem, Zaclekiel of Abraham, Raphael of Isaac, Peliel of Jacob, Gabriel of Joseph, Metraton of Moses, Malathiel of Elias. The same author adds that each of these teachers and doctors taught his disciple the Cabbala, or tradition, by voice or in writing, from whom it was propagated among the people of God. Thus, e.g., the angel Raziel, Adam's tutor, consigned to him on behalf of God a book in which the secrets of loftier and more hidden wisdom were contained, mention of which marvelous book is found in the Zohar on Genesis. But all these things are rabbinical trifles, to which no credence is due.