Question about ANGELS

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MarieVeronica

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I have a question about angels.

My sister (who is a practicing Catholic, as am I)… claims that there are different “species” of angels. This is an idea which is very foreign to me… I’ve never heard of this, in Catholic theology. I find it very odd… and so I looked up the exact meaning of the word “species”… and found this: “Species: a group of living organisms consisting of similar individuals capable of exchanging genes or interbreeding. The species is the principal natural taxonomic unit, ranking below a genus and denoted by a Latin binomial.” That doesn’t sound like angels to me.

When she first made this claim, that there are different “species” of angels… I attempted to share with her, my own understanding of what the Church teaches, about groups of angels. That they exist in “Choirs”. Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominations, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels and Angels. But they are all ANGELS… and not different species. Angels, on different levels… is more my understanding. But she was adamant about it (that there ARE different “species” of angels)… and in fact, became a little bit irritated with me, for trying to share what I had read on the subject.

Can anyone shed some light on where my sister may have gotten this idea about angels? I feel, in the pit of my stomach… that her belief is incorrect. But before I attempt to share more information with her… I’d like to find out where she got this idea from. Thanks in advance!
 
You have limited the definition of “species” to it’s biological use. Here is the Merriam Webster definition, and also scroll down and note the synonyms:

merriam-webster.com/dictionary/species

It is quite proper to call the different classification of angels as “species”, as well as “choirs”, and it has appeared this way in religious literature. It is differentiating the types of angels, or their functions.

Also, it is quite common to call the Eucharistic bread and wine the “species” of the Eucharist. Another definition of the word, and it does not quite fit the biological definition you have given.

Always remember to look up allthe definitions of a word, as you know that many words have several definitions. Hope this helps. You both win this argument.
 
CB_Catholic said:
You have limited the definition of “species” to it’s biological use. Here is the Merriam Webster definition, and also scroll down and note the synonyms:

merriam-webster.com/dictionary/species

It is quite proper to call the different classification of angels as “species”, as well as “choirs”, and it has appeared this way in religious literature. It is differentiating the types of angels, or their functions.

Also, it is quite common to call the Eucharistic bread and wine the “species” of the Eucharist. Another definition of the word, and it does not quite fit the biological definition you have given.

Always remember to look up allthe definitions of a word, as you know that many words have several definitions. Hope this helps. You both win this argument.
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Thank you, Carolyn! God bless! 🙂
 
Hi MarieVeronica,

A big part of this question hinges on the important distinction that angels are purely spiritual beings, unlike God’s other creatures. Among animals, plants, etc., members of a species have both an individual identity (e.g., this cat, “Bob”), and a species identity (e.g., the fact that it is a member of the species: cat.) The Greek philosopher Aristotle would have said that the catness of Bob comes from his “form” (the form of cat), while the “Bobness” comes from “matter”, the principle of individuation among things that share the same form. St. Thomas Aquinas took these Aristotelian principles and expanded upon them and applied them to many things, including, often, angels. This is why he is known as the “Angelic Doctor”. St. Thomas posited that angels don’t work the same way as material creatures, like cats, because they are not composed of matter. The principle that individuates them (their essence) makes them wholly unique:
For such things as agree in species but differ in number, agree in form, but are distinguished materially. If, therefore, the angels be not composed of matter and form, as was said above (Article 2), it follows that it is impossible for two angels to be of one species; just as it would be impossible for there to be several whitenesses apart, or several humanities, since whitenesses are not several, except in so far as they are in several substances.
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newadvent.org/summa/1050.htm#article4
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Hope this helps!
 
MarieVeronica said:
I have a question about angels.

My sister (who is a practicing Catholic, as am I)… claims that there are different “species” of angels. This is an idea which is very foreign to me… I’ve never heard of this, in Catholic theology. I find it very odd… and so I looked up the exact meaning of the word “species”… and found this: “Species: a group of living organisms consisting of similar individuals capable of exchanging genes or interbreeding. The species is the principal natural taxonomic unit, ranking below a genus and denoted by a Latin binomial.” That doesn’t sound like angels to me.

When she first made this claim, that there are different “species” of angels… I attempted to share with her, my own understanding of what the Church teaches, about groups of angels. That they exist in “Choirs”. Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Dominations, Virtues, Powers, Principalities, Archangels and Angels. But they are all ANGELS… and not different species. Angels, on different levels… is more my understanding. But she was adamant about it (that there ARE different “species” of angels)… and in fact, became a little bit irritated with me, for trying to share what I had read on the subject.

Can anyone shed some light on where my sister may have gotten this idea about angels? I feel, in the pit of my stomach… that her belief is incorrect. But before I attempt to share more information with her… I’d like to find out where she got this idea from. Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
St Thomas Aquinas taught that no two angels are of the same species. Consider the dog family, there are many kinds of dogs such as collies, St Bernard’s, german shephard’s, etc. Even among one of these species or breeds of dogs such as collies there are many individual collies. St Thomas taught that each individual angel is its own species. Considering the dog family and then the breed or species of collies, this would be like, analogously, if we think of the angels that there would be only one individual collie, not many individual collies. Philosophically, matter is the principle of individuation among species that are composed of matter, but angels are pure spiritual creatures without matter and a body. They are individualized from each other by their form and essence alone. All collies and human beings have the same essence, nature, or form; they are individualized by their matter or bodies.

All angels are of one genus as it were, they are purely spiritual creatures with intelligence and will, they are persons. But each individual angel is its own species unlike human beings. Human beings are all of the same species, i.e., rational, as well as of the same genus, i.e., animal. Traditionally, human beings are defined as a rational animal; they are individualized from each other by having their own matter or bodies. Of course, God also bestows certain gifts of nature pertaining to the souls of human beings such as one human having more intelligence, or being more inclined to intellectual or philosophical thought, than another.

The angels are ordered under three hierarchies and in each hierarchy there are three orders or choirs of angels. Though each individual angel is its own species, depending on which order or choir it is in, it shares similar gifts of grace and gifts of nature, that is, gifts of nature pertaining to the angelic nature, with other angels in the same choir.

Recommended reading: Summa Theologica of St Thomas Aquinas which can be found online. Go to the treatise on the angels and more specifically, Part 1, Q. 50, art. 4 (Whether the angels differ in species?). Also, Part 1, Q. 108 - Of the Angelic Degrees of Hierarchies and Orders.
 
Thank you all for your excellent replies and information. Much appreciated! This has helped me to understand more, the meaning of species… and how it can apply to angels.

God bless! 🙂
 
MarieVeronica said:
Can anyone shed some light on where my sister may have gotten this idea about angels?
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From St. Thomas Aquinas, who said that each angel is so utterly unique that they might as well be considered a unique species unto themselves.
 
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