Archangels

[lenni]

i was just wondering why St. Michael the Archangel is given that name when he is clearly an angel?? I thought a saint had to be human. So why does he have St. in front of his name??

 

[tobinatorstark]

i was just wondering why St. Michael the Archangel is given that name when he is clearly an angel?? I thought a saint had to be human. So why does he have St. in front of his name??

All 3 archangels mentioned in the Bible are saints. As far as I know they are the only 3 that weren’t men. Only archangels have appeared to man. There are 9 types Angels in 3 different spheres. There specific duties deal with human I believe. He is clearly an angel, but also an archangel by his characteristics.

 

[Penitant]

i was just wondering why St. Michael the Archangel is given that name when he is clearly an angel?? I thought a saint had to be human. So why does he have St. in front of his name??

Actually, we do give Sts. Gabriel and Raphael that title.

The question that needs to be answered is “what exactly is a Saint”. A Saint is someone whom we know partakes in the Beatific vision. Of course, those Archangels do (since otherwise they would be demons), so we call them Saints.

Pax Tecum,
Zach

 

[Marsha_Adams]

Saint means holy.

Nobody gets much holier than angels.

 

[lenni]

i have always had the perception of saints being human people who have died etc. I just didnt think that an angel could be classed in the category…

 

[patrick457]

i was just wondering why St. Michael the Archangel is given that name when he is clearly an angel?? I thought a saint had to be human. So why does he have St. in front of his name??

Saints are, by definition, ‘holy’. Since Michael, the other angels who serve God, and just about every ‘inhabitant’ of Heaven are by default, holy beings who partake of the Beatific Vision, we append ‘saint’ (i.e. ‘holy’) in front of their names.

 

[patrick457]

All 3 archangels mentioned in the Bible are saints. As far as I know they are the only 3 that weren’t men. Only archangels have appeared to man.

Source please? As far as I know, there are quite a lot of angelic apparitions in the Bible, and most of those angels do not reveal their names.

 

[tobinatorstark]

I could be wrong, but I’ll double check

 

[Husker_Catholic]

Source please? As far as I know, there are quite a lot of angelic apparitions in the Bible, and most of those angels do not reveal their names.

Agreed, did 3 angels appear to Lot(?) in the form of travelers before Sodom was destroyed?

 

[patrick457]

Agreed, did 3 angels appear to Lot(?) in the form of travelers before Sodom was destroyed?

According to Genesis, three travelers (God and two Angels) visited Abraham and Sarah to tell them they would have a son, with the two Angels later going down to where Lot is and eventually giving the Cities of the Plain their just deserts.