Is St Uriel recognised by Catholics, or not?

[Uriel1]

Thank you for that; there are in total twenty-three Eastern Rite Christian churches in full communion with Rome, as part of the worldwide Catholic Church. Led by various patriarchs, metropolitans,etc., the Eastern Catholic Churches are governed in accordance with the Canonical Code of the Eastern Churches. Each church additionally may have additional local canons and traditions. The total membership of the various Eastern Catholic churches is about 16 million, [Annuario Pontificio] or some 1.3% of the worldwide Catholic Church.

It is somewhat bizarre that in 23 Catholic Churches they can venerate Uriel while the 98.7% in the bigger one cannot; and yet we can have new stained glass windows to that same Uriel

 

[Uriel1]

I don’t know. I just listened to Ask Your Father yesterday on Relevant Radio, and Msgr Stuart Swetland said that we should not be praying to the other archangels besides Michael, Gabriel, and Rafael, because their names are not officially recognized in the Catholic Church. I can’t speak to any Eastern Catholic or Orthodox Churches, but the Roman Catholic Church doesn’t recognize the names of the other archangels as inspired or proper for devotion.

If you’re going to ask a question like this, you should be prepared to give some context.

Hi, I’m new to the site, and from the UK/ so please forgive my lack of understanding/clarity within my question. Uriel is in at least two Roman Catholic Church Windows, Illinois and Hampshire England, while appearing to be banned by the same curia. I asked a priest in the English diocese who didn’t know and so I tried here.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Uriel is in a whole boatload of Catholic churches, including both old ones and recent ones. There’s a church back in Ohio with a window of him too. He is also in churches all over Europe (although many of them are much older than the churches in USA) and in the Philippines.

He’s not officially recognized by the Church as either an archangel or a saint. He’s just popular and I guess the Church doesn’t think it’s important enough to quibble over him.

I believe the Anglican Church does recognize him, so if you’re an RC church in UK seeking to get Anglicans to come to your RC Church of the Angels, I can see a motivation for having him on the window.

Edited to add, I’m not sure if windows are that restricted as to what can be on them. I know of a church that has a window featuring four people who, to my knowledge, aren’t even on the path to canonization right now.
Catholics don’t typically pray in front of the windows.

 

[TheLittleLady]

Names like Uriel, Raguel, Sariel, and Jeremiel are not found in the canonical books of Sacred Scripture, but in the apocryphal book of Enoch, fourth book of Esdras,[1] and in rabbinical literature. The Church does not permit proper names of Angels that are not found in the canonical books of the Bible. All such names that were taken from apocryphal writings were rejected under Pope Zachary, in 745. There must have been danger of serious abuses in this regard during that century, because a similar step was taken in a synod held at Aix-la-Chapelle in 789.

http://www.ewtn.com/library/mary/angel6.htm

Article by Peter Kreeft:

"Though Uriel is often offered as the name of a fourth archangel, his name doesn’t appear in canonical Scriptures."

What's the Deal with Angels?

Since we can't see angels, some people choose not to believe in them. This doesn't mean that they're not real, or that we can't know or understand something about them.

www.ncregister.com

I’m guessing someone who did not know any better approved the window.

 

[Dovekin]

In most traditions, there are seven archangels. These include the 3 mentioned in scripture: Gabriel (Luke), Michael (Daniel, Jude?) and Raphael (Tobit). Outside the canon of scripture, some books like Enoch I mention all 7, with Uriel as the most often named after M, G, & R.

Angelology took on a definitive form with the work of Dionysius the Pseudo Areopagite. He list seven archangels, including Uriel and the scriptural angels. This became a standard part of most people’s beliefs, including most Eastern churches.

In the west, anfelology was often considered superstitious. It settled into a pattern of we believe in 7 but only know the names of 3. We know about the missions of the three, why they were sent, so it probably is better to address them in prayer. But there 4 more, at least, so it is not entirely inappropriate to address the other 4 as long as it is not supertitious.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

But there 4 more, at least, so it is not entirely inappropriate to address the other 4 as long as it is not supertitious.

The Catholic Church permits us to pray collectively to the Holy Angels as a group, or to the Holy Archangels, the Cherubim, the Seraphim, etc. as a group. We just aren’t allowed to pray using any specific names of angels beyond Sts. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. (And of course, we should never be superstitious, whether using names or not.)

 

[BartholomewB]

At the Council (or Synod) of Rome in 745, Uriel was named as one of the seven alleged angels condemned as “demons” by the assembled bishops:

And as he was reading from beginning to end, he came to the passage where it said: “I pray and entreat and beseech you, angel [115] Uriel, Raguel, Tubuel, Michael, Adinus, Tubuas, Sabaoc, Sirniel. … .”

When he had read this sacrilegious prayer to the end, Zacharias, the Pope, said: " What is your comment upon this, dear brethren? 11 The holy bishops and venerable priests replied: " What else can we do except consign these writings, which have been read out to us, to the flames and to strike their authors with anathema? The names of the eight angels whom Aldebert invokes in his prayer are, with the exception of Michael, not angels but demons whom he has called to his aid. As we know from the teaching of the Apostolic See and divine authority, there are only three angels, Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. He has introduced demons under the guise of angels."

Was Uriel ever rehabilitated under the terms of a later Church ruling? I haven’t found any documentary evidence to that effect. The OP’s question is certainly an interesting one, but I think @TechieGuy has already given the only satisfactory answer: In every case where Uriel is honored with a window or image of any kind, it would up to the parish or diocesan authority to explain why the 745 ruling is being disregarded.

The “Acta” of the Council of Rome, including the excerpt quoted here, can be read online in St. Boniface’s Letter #29 :

https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/boniface-letters.asp

 

[Wampa]

In every case where Uriel is honored with a window or image of any kind, it would up to the parish or diocesan authority to explain why the 745 ruling is being disregarded.

The OP mentioned Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Chicago. Hoping maybe a parish might explain online, I checked out their website and they have a page about their windows plus some explanatory text, but it doesn’t go deeper than just saying:

“The four archangels (Uriel, Gabriel, Michael, and Raphael) set high in the apse of the church are particularly noteworthy because their style, composition, and color work together to evoke striking images depicting the apocryphal and biblical stories of the archangels in their ambassadorial roles.”

Stained Glass Windows - Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.77″ custom_padding=”41px|0px|12px|0px”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.78″ make_fullwidth=”on”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.0.77″] Stained Glass Windows...

ourlmc.org

 

[Uriel1]

Uriel is in a whole boatload of Catholic churches, including both old ones and recent ones. There’s a church back in Ohio with a window of him too. He is also in churches all over Europe (although many of them are much older than the churches in USA) and in the Philippines.

He’s not officially recognized by the Church as either an archangel or a saint. He’s just popular and I guess the Church doesn’t think it’s important enough to quibble over him.

I believe the Anglican Church does recognize him, so if you’re an RC church in UK seeking to get Anglicans to come to your RC Church of the Angels, I can see a motivation for having him on the window.

Edited to add, I’m not sure if windows are that restricted as to what can be on them. I know of a church that has a window featuring four people who, to my knowledge, aren’t even on the path to canonization right now.
Catholics don’t typically pray in front of the windows.

Archangels
The four archangels (Uriel, Gabriel, Michael, and Raphael) set high in the apse of the church Uriel window in Our Lady of Mount Carmel Roman Catholic Church in Chicago, USA and are particularly noteworthy because their style, composition, and color work together to evoke striking images depicting the apocryphal and biblical stories of the archangels in their ambassadorial roles. All stained glass windows in the Church, designed by the Chicago firm of John J. Kinsella, were composed to enhance the prayer life of the people. However, they are also artistic compositions in and of themselves. (from the webpage of the church)

Check out this great artwork of the angel Uriel in Chicago

 

[Cruciferi]

Blasphemy!

 

[babochka]

In every case where Uriel is honored with a window or image of any kind, it would up to the parish or diocesan authority to explain why the 745 ruling is being disregarded.

I would assume it is because the decrees of a local council, held more than a thousand years ago, are not binding in all places for all time.

This Synod dealt with specific issues that were particular to the Diocese of Rome in that time. It is not necessarily applicable to England or Chicago in the 21st century or any prior time.

 

[BartholomewB]

I would assume it is because the decrees of a local council, held more than a thousand years ago, are not binding in all places for all time.

This Synod dealt with specific issues that were particular to the Diocese of Rome in that time. It is not necessarily applicable to England or Chicago in the 21st century or any prior time.

The 745 Council of Rome was not quite as inconsequential as all that. Two bishops were anathematized at that Council, a Gaul named Aldebert and an Irishman called Clement. The “Uriel is a demon” business was in connection with Aldebert, while this is what the “Acta” say about the other one:

… "The other heretic, whose name is Clement, is opposed to the Church, denies and refuses to acknowledge the sacred canons and rejects the teaching of the holy Fathers St. Jerome, St. Augustine and St. Gregory. … Contrary to the teaching of the Fathers, he affirms that Christ descended into hell to deliver all those, believers and unbelievers, servants of Christ as well as worshippers of idols, who were confined there.

… In the same way let Clement, who in his foolhardiness rejected the decrees of the Fathers, accepted the Old Testament regulations in so far as he allowed a man to marry his brother’s widow, and furthermore affirmed that our Lord Jesus Christ descended into hell to deliver all the godly and the ungodly, let him, we say, be stripped of his episcopal office, excommunicated and condemned by the everlasting judgment of God. This applies also to anyone who agrees with his sacrilegious teaching."

Many years later, the passages about Clement found their way into Pope John Paul II’s Catechism of the Catholic Church, in the form of footnote 482 serving as the source of this doctrine, expressed succinctly in just ten words in paragraph #633:

Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, …
http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P1R.HTM

 

[Uriel1]

Just back from Mass for Sts Peter and Paul and the bible in the church (RC had a deuterocanonical section which included 2 Esdras in which 4:1-2 names Uriel

So how come he’s banned when he’s in there?

 

[Tis_Bearself]

2 Esdras is considered Biblical apocrypha even though it’s included in the appendix to some RC Bibles like the Douay-Rheims.
So it’s not officially part of Scripture.

I wonder however whether Uriel being named in there creates just enough of a basis to allow him to be shown on a Church window. I have never seen a statue of him in a US church though there are figures of him in European and Filipino churches.

 

[Maximilian75]

Reminder: Catholics Should NOT Venerate These Angels

September 29th is the Feast of the Archangels, a day when Catholics are called to remember and venerate these special creatures used by God in salvation history. But Catholics should beware: there are only three angels we should venerate by name. Any other names of angels you’ve heard – such

www.churchpop.com

this may help…