A Few Guardian Angel Questions

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Are Guardian Angels only assigned to 1 human being ever?

Or

Are Guardian Angels assigned to multiple human beings at the same time?

Or

Are Guardian Angels assigned to a human being at conception through death and then reassigned to another human being?

Also, do Guardian Angels remain with us during our time in Purgatory? And what about during our time in Heaven?
 
ComeHome2Rome said:
Are Guardian Angels only assigned to 1 human being ever?

Or

Are Guardian Angels assigned to multiple human beings at the same time?

Or

Are Guardian Angels assigned to a human being at conception through death and then reassigned to another human being?

Also, do Guardian Angels remain with us during our time in Purgatory? And what about during our time in Heaven?
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So far as I know, we don’t have all the answers to those questions. However, we do know that we each have our own Guardian Angel. Padre Pio, we know, saw and conversed with his angel frequently. He sent his angel on different missions. And, he advises us to make use of our angel’s services, as that is part of the reason they were assigned to us. They also protect us and carry our prayers to God. I’m looking forward to being escorted to heaven by my angel, on my passing from this earth.
 
Someone must love his/her guardian angel 🙂

As far as I recall reading at some time (but without sources please take this as a mere personal comment): every human being is assigned a guardian angel at conception and for eternity. There are angels who are assigned to communities (ex. a family, a Parrish, a diocese, a country).
 
We just had a presentation on angels at our parish not too long ago. Most of the source material was St Thomas Aquinas’ “Summa Theologica,” which the church pretty much adopted in its entirety to answer a lot of questions that fall under Tradition.

ccel.org/a/aquinas/summa/FP.html

About halfway down the page is his Treatise on angels and #113 is specifically about guardian angels… interesting, but a bit difficult.
 
I believe tradition has it that yes, they are only assigned to one individual, ever. Likewise, it’s not a random pairing, but I want to say that their personalities match… for example, if you had never Fallen, your personality would have been very similar to the personality of your guardian angel. I can’t remember where I read that, though, so take it with a large grain of salt.

Another thing in tradition is that there are guardian angels not just for individuals, but for groups-of-people (ie, an angel for a country, or an angel that watches a family.)

As far as the timeframe goes, this is what catholicculture.org says:
Each person on earth has a guardian angel who watches over him and helps him to attain his salvation. Angelical guardianship begins at the moment of birth; prior to this, the child is protected by the mother’s guardian angel. This protection continues throughout our whole life and ceases only when our probation on earth ends, namely, at the moment of death. Our guardian angel accompanies our soul to purgatory or heaven, and becomes our coheir in the heavenly kingdom.
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One link you might enjoy.
 
Hello all, I believe that a guardian angel is with you always and tries to guide you to do the right thing but sometimes the demon that also is with us trying to get us to fall sometimes influence us to do wrong .As we grow older and wiser we learn to ignore the demon and follow the feeling we get from our guardian , this makes us do things when we are older that we never thought we would do when we were young.
 
I can suggest to you an excellent book on the topic and pretty easy to read. Peter Kreeft’s book Angels (and Demons): What Do We Really Know About Them? is in a question and answer format and it answers many of these questions and more. 🙂
 
ComeHome2Rome said:
Are Guardian Angels only assigned to 1 human being ever?

Or

Are Guardian Angels assigned to multiple human beings at the same time?

Or

Are Guardian Angels assigned to a human being at conception through death and then reassigned to another human being?

Also, do Guardian Angels remain with us during our time in Purgatory? And what about during our time in Heaven?
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We know that every human has a guardian angel because that is a Church teaching.

CCC 336 From its beginning until death, human life is surrounded by their watchful care and intercession. “Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life.” Already here on earth the Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and men united in God.

What we don’t know and the Church does not teach is if there is one guardian angel to one person or if one guardian angel covers several or many people. Frankly, it does not matter if its one to one or one to many.

We only need a guardian angel while we are alive (see CCC 336). When we are saved we don’t need one.
 
I understand we all have one guardian angel and Priests have two.
 
thistle said:
That is not a Church teaching.
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Well that’s why we are here. To get down to the truth and get rid of our misconceptions. Anyhow, I read that at some point in my life as a devine revelation someone received. Books I read dealing with the Catholic faith besides the Holy Bible are written by the Saints, Priests, or Religious and are at the very least approved by thre Catholic Church as benifitcial reading for the public. If I remember correctly the supposed revelation stated that Priests are attacked and tempted so much that they are given two angels for their aid.
 
I’d like to share this. One fine afternoon I was taking my final exam in college and set of questions were randomly selected by the computer. I was already on my 30th question and I wasn’t sure about any of my answers. I will flunk my exam and consequently not graduate and will be indebted in the thousands$ for nothing. I talked to my guardian angel and I told him that I know he always watches over me but I never asked him any favour. I obliged and dared him to help me at that time no matter what it takes. Suddenly there was a loud thud in the building, the power fluctuated and all the computers reset so I got a new set of questions and I got a perfect score. Yes, that was my guardian angel, believe it or not. Everyday, I pray to my guardian angel. Remember the guardian angel prayer that we used to pray when we were children? They love that prayer.
 
DavidWJackson said:
Well that’s why we are here. To get down to the truth and get rid of our misconceptions. Anyhow, I read that at some point in my life as a devine revelation someone received. Books I read dealing with the Catholic faith besides the Holy Bible are written by the Saints, Priests, or Religious and are at the very least approved by thre Catholic Church as benifitcial reading for the public. If I remember correctly the supposed revelation stated that Priests are attacked and tempted so much that they are given two angels for their aid.
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Divine public revelation ceased upon the death of the last apostle and nothing that came after that is a Church teaching. All Church teachings are from Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition through the Magesterium.
Private revelations are not part of the Deposit of faith and even those recognised by the Church do not have to be believed by Catholics and do not form any Church teaching.
 
ComeHome2Rome said:
Are Guardian Angels only assigned to 1 human being ever?

Or

Are Guardian Angels assigned to multiple human beings at the same time?

Or

Are Guardian Angels assigned to a human being at conception through death and then reassigned to another human being?

Also, do Guardian Angels remain with us during our time in Purgatory? And what about during our time in Heaven?
Click to expand...
I hate to answer it this way, but with the exception of your third question: we don’t know.

There are a lot of theories out there but almost all of them are just speculation.

That being said, I found it interesting that at Fatima, the Angel of Portugal was also the Angel of Peace. If the angel of a country can also be the angel of peace (presuming there is only one Angel of Peace), perhaps one guardian angel could have more than one assignment?

Anyone’s guess, really.
 
thistle said:
Divine public revelation ceased upon the death of the last apostle and nothing that came after that is a Church teaching. All Church teachings are from Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition through the Magesterium.
Private revelations are not part of the Deposit of faith and even those recognised by the Church do not have to be believed by Catholics and do not form any Church teaching.
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It’s refreshing to see someone spell out Church teaching so directly. But, you are saying we can ignore the Rosary given us by St. Dominic? Tell our Bishops and Priests we would like them to discontinue this practice because it simply comes from personal revelation and not the teachings of the first Apostles? I’m not trying to be funny or attack you. I’m simply trying to wrap my mind around this. What good is the guidence of the Holy Sprit, if we are not to accept His guidence as a true teacher since the death of the last original apostle?
I think we need to start a new thread. This is opening a whole new can of worms.
 
DavidWJackson said:
It’s refreshing to see someone spell out Church teaching so directly. But, you are saying we can ignore the Rosary given us by St. Dominic? Tell our Bishops and Priests we would like them to discontinue this practice because it simply comes from personal revelation and not the teachings of the first Apostles? I’m not trying to be funny or attack you. I’m simply trying to wrap my mind around this. What good is the guidence of the Holy Sprit, if we are not to accept His guidence as a true teacher since the death of the last original apostle?
I think we need to start a new thread. This is opening a whole new can of worms.
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There is no can of worms to open.

The Church is very clear on this. Private revelations, even those recognised by the Church, do not have to be believed by Catholics. They do not change or add to the Church teachings.

On the Rosary, while I personally like praying the Rosary, it is a private devotion and a Catholic could go their whole life never praying the Rosary and not be less a Catholic for that.
 
thistle said:
There is no can of worms to open.

The Church is very clear on this. Private revelations, even those recognised by the Church, do not have to be believed by Catholics. They do not change or add to the Church teachings.

On the Rosary, while I personally like praying the Rosary, it is a private devotion and a Catholic could go their whole life never praying the Rosary and not be less a Catholic for that.
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OK, I will accept what you say. No Saint or Pope that has lived since the last original apostle past away has had a revelation that must be accepted by a Catholic to remain in full union with the Catholic Church. I also agree with you and will continue to pray the Rosary. I always knew the Rosary was a devotion and not a mandate of the Catholic Church.
However, back to the original thread. I now understand, we all have a guardian angel. But, we don’t know if it is one personal angel, or an angel assigned to watch over many at one time or if different angels at different times watch over and protect us.
I also might take a small pole. To see how many Catholics around me acknowege, no Saint or Pope has ever received any revelation since the passing of the last original apostle that must be believed to remain in full union with the Catholic Church. If the results are not good, I’ll let our Priest know.
 
DavidWJackson said:
However, back to the original thread. I now understand, we all have a guardian angel. But, we don’t know if it is one personal angel, or an angel assigned to watch over many at one time or if different angels at different times watch over and protect us.
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CCC 336 as it was pointed out seems to imply we have our individual ones, unless if I’m misreading this.

Angels are important but rather ambiguous. I bet God made it that way for a reason. What it is, I don’t know, but we’ll find everything out in the end.
 
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