Saints' Discussion Forums

“I was sitting at St. John Neumann’s Shrine on his feast day in the church upstairs,” she says. “There were hundreds of people there, waiting to attend mass, and the choir boys were lining up in the back,” she says. Suddenly Fran got the urge to go to confession before Mass, but there were no lights on in any of the confessionals. (Lights on means a priest is hearing confession inside.) However, she did see a priest coming down the aisle toward her, AWAY from the confessionals. Fran has a deep friendship with her guardian angel, so what happened next was not unusual.

“Angel,” Fran began, “would you please go to the guardian angel of that priest that just passed me? Ask him to go to Our Lady’s Chapel on the side of the church. Oh, and let there be no one there but him, and me.” This was a challenge, she realized. With a crowd like this, many would want to go to confession.

Then, as Fran watched, the priest—who had appeared to be leaving the church—-turned, went up the side aisle to Our Lady’s Chapel, and went in. Quickly, Fran followed him up the aisle, and into the Chapel, where he was standing, looking a bit perplexed.

When he saw her, he smiled. “Hello,” he said. “Are you the woman who asked my angel to tell me to come here for a confession?”

Joy raced through Fran. She was never surprised at what her angel would do for her, but she was always thrilled at how things worked out. “Yes, Father, that’s me,” she said. In complete understanding, priest and penitent celebrated the sacred ritual. “It was a wonderful confession,” Fran says. “And no one came into the Chapel the entire time.”

Start asking your angel for small favors, and be sure to say thank you. Then watch what happens!

Nice story. It would be good to hear more experiences with Guardian angels.

Yes, it certainly would.

So would I. I found this from a post on another forum. I know I have a book about angels by Fr. Paul O'Sullivan that has many. :) I will have to open it up.

I wish I had my book on St. Gemma Galgani. I sent it to India.  I would have copied some of her experiences here. She was so pure and holy she actually had conversations with her angel and even sent him on holy errands. :angelblue:

I have that book! :)

The little autobiography? I will try and quote it too, God permitting.


A Bernardine Sister was shown in spirit the vast desolation caused by the devil throughout the world, and at the same time she heard the Blessed Virgin telling her that it was true, hell had been let loose upon the earth; and that the time had come to pray to her as Queen of the Angels and to ask of her the assistance of the heavenly legions to fight against these deadly foes of God and of men.

"But my good Mother," she replied, "you who are so kind, could you not send them [to hell] without our asking?" "No," Our Lady answered, "because prayer is one of the conditions required by God Himself in obtaining favors."

The Prayer Given by the Blessed Mother to the Bernardine Sister

August Queen of Heaven!  Sovereign Mistress of the Angels!  Thou who from the beginning hast received from God the power and mission to crush the head of Satan; we humbly beseech thee to send thy Holy Legions that under thy command and by thy power they may pursue the evil spirits; encounter them on every side; resist their bold attacks and drive them hence into the abyss of eternal woe.  Amen.


Another thing I found elsewhere. :) Deo gratias. Let me bring only the good here, O Lord.

A Bernardine Sister was shown in spirit the vast desolation caused by the devil throughout the world, and at the same time she heard the Blessed Virgin telling her that it was true, hell had been let loose upon the earth; and that the time had come to pray to her as Queen of the Angels and to ask of her the assistance of the heavenly legions to fight against these deadly foes of God and of men.
Posted by Shin:

When did this happen, Shin?

In 1863!

Hmm.. Sounds like it ties in with the vision of Pope Leo XIII. Good you asked!

Shin, it does look like that, doesn't it. Do you feel that Our Lady 'uses' St. Michael to help implement her/His Will?

Hmm, the way you say that it makes me feel like I've read something about it in the past that my mind can't quite get ahold of. Yes. :)

The Queen of the Angels and the General of the Angels, her loyal servant.  :D The angels in Heaven, I know, vie to please her and do her honor.

That makes sense, I wonder that she didn't mention anything about St. Michael at Fatima. Or did she? Or what of more recent approved apparitions?

Sorry, I can't resist jumping in when there is any mention of Fatima. I really don't know the reason why. But the following is what I found.



       St. Michael appeared three times to the children and called himself the Angel of Portugal. He is also known as the Angel of the Eucharist as he gave the children Holy Communion. The third name he called himself was the Angel of Peace.

       The first time he came was in 1916, and when he came his presence was very different from that of the Blessed Virgin Mary. When the Blessed Virgin appeared, the children were filled with joy and exuberance and could hardly hold themselves back from talking about it. When St. Michael appeared, they were more solemn and intense and less inclined to talk about it.
Spring 1916

       At the first apparition of the Angel, in the spring of 1916, St. Michael appeared as a young man of fourteen or fifteen, whiter than snow. The children were surprised and did not say a word. The Angel told them, "Do not fear! I am the Angel of Peace. Pray with me."

       St. Michael then knelt down and bent his forehead to the ground. The children imitated him and repeated the prayer he taught them: "My God, I believe in Thee, I adore Thee, I hope in Thee and I love Thee. I ask pardon for all those who do not believe in Thee, do not adore Thee, do not hope in Thee and do not love Thee."

       They repeated this prayer three times, then St. Michael got up and said, "Pray in this way. The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are attentive to the voice of your supplications."
Summer 1916

       In the summer of 1916, St. Michael appeared again and announced himself as the Angel of Portugal. The children, aged 6, 8 and 9, were playing by the well, and as children will, after some months had not continued so frequently and fervently to say the prayer the Angel had taught them in the spring.

       The Angel, however, rebuked them for this and said: "What are you doing? Pray, pray a great deal! The Holy Hearts of Jesus and Mary have designs of mercy on you. Offer prayers and sacrifice yourselves unceasingly to the Most High."

       And he added, "Make of everything you can a sacrifice and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and in supplication, for the conversion of sinners.

       "In this way, you will draw peace upon your country. I am its Guardian Angel, the Angel of Portugal.

       "Above all, accept and bear with submission the sufferings which the Lord will send you."
Autumn 1916

       St. Michael appeared a third time in the fall of 1916, this time as the Angel of the Eucharist. He came with a Chalice and the Sacred Host. He then left the Chalice and the Host suspended in the air and lay prostrate on the ground while repeating this prayer:

       "Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, I adore Thee profoundly, and I offer Thee the Most Precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ, present in all the tabernacles of the world, in reparation for the outrages, sacrileges and indifference by which He, Himself is offended. And by the infinite merits of His Most Sacred Heart and of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I beg of Thee the conversion of poor sinners."

       St. Michael taught the children to also adore the Blessed Sacrament with their foreheads touching the ground as he, himself was doing. The children noticed that from the Sacred Host drops of the Precious Blood flowed into the Chalice.

       He then gave the children Holy Communion, saying at the same time: "Eat and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, horribly outraged by ungrateful men. Make reparation for their crimes and console your God."

       He and the children then prostrated themselves on the ground, repeating the Most Holy Trinity prayer three times and disappeared.

       The children remained in this position of adoration praying so intensely and long that they were surprised when they opened their eyes to find it was dark.

Jump in any ole' time.

So that angel was St. Michael, was it. I didn't realize that!

Patricia, you're our resident helper of Our Lady of Fatima.  :D

Oh thanks, that's an honor. :)

:angelblue:

"Make of everything you can a sacrifice and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended, and in supplication, for the conversion of sinners.

This is so important! And he reminds the children too. . .

Those are such beautiful quotes!

I wish I could find out more about the source of the Bernardine sister quotation. :) It's just something I've found on some traditional Catholic sites.

This is helping me to ask my angel and others' angels to be of help, to greet them and pray to them more often.

Do not forget to give a greeting to my guardian angels! And good day to yours! May they help you all the more in their care of you! Deo gratias et Mariae semper Virgini!

I didn't know I could do that. How do you address or greet them? I have given a name to my angel . Can you do that? It is a male name. But aren't angels neither male nor female, but pure spirit? :littlewings:

Well, we often give a name to anything we want, I know I've read at least one devout pamphlet encouraging doing it with angels and it may even have been a pious practice of the past, I know my aunts have done it and believe they know their guardian angels' names, but I know there was an instruction out from an office in the Vatican discouraging it because of possible abuse of it, i.e. people using irreverent names, or choosing a name that was in fact quite wrongly inspired. Horrible thought but quite possible. So the practice is discouraged at least, I would have to look up the documents to find out how much so or if it is forbidden directly in some other document. Generally the Church is in favor of us using the three scriptural names for the three archangels and forbids using any others found in the apocrypha, and I wonder if a document mentioning this might cover the subject of our personal angels too. 

For someone like you I think you'd probably do fine at choosing a name, and not make a mistake but what do I know?  :D I will try to look up the documents.

As for how to address or greet them? I never know how myself.. I just try to be reverent. There are guardian angels of people (some people have more than one, priests for example, and since other angels may not be the assigned guardians but still be often helping, I often leave room for that their may be more than one to greet). There are guardian angels of places.. churches.. countries.. as you know with St. Michael and Portugal..

When I would go down to the ocean in the past I would greet the angel of the ocean and say a short prayer. Generally I assume for distinct places that could use administration, there's an angel assigned to it.

Fr. Paul O'Sullivan's book 'All About Angels' I have, and I should find it and quote from it. The first page says, that the great Pope St. Leo says, "Make friends with the angels."

I think it's important with angels not to presume too much, but at the same time to be reverent and ask for their assistance.

Ah, I found at least these references:

"Popular devotion to the holy angels, which is legitimate and good, can, however, also give rise to possible deviations . . . [such as the] practice of assigning names to the holy angels [which] should be discouraged, except in the cases of Gabriel, Raphael, and Michael whose names are contained in Holy Scripture"

Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy 217

"The Sacred Scriptures have revealed the proper names of only three Angels, all of whom belong to the Choir of the Archangels. The names are well known to all, namely: Michael, Gabriel, Raphael. Ancient apocryphal literature of the Old Testament contains several other names of Archangels in addition to the three just mentioned. Like the sources themselves, these other names are spurious. 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."

Fr. Pascal P. Parente

Okay that is nearly all I know or have read on this subject of names and the archangels so far, for what little it is worth.

'Remember daughter, that whoever truly loves Jesus speaks little and bears all things. I command thee, on behalf of Jesus, to always refrain from giving your own opinion, unless it is asked; always to prefer silence to upholding your own views. Whenever you have committed a fault, accuse yourself of it at once, and do not wait for others to accuse thee. Give full obedience to your confessor, and to those whom he commands thee to obey; and be always sincere with them. Remember to guard your eyes, and be assured that the eyes that are mortified, shall behold the beauties of heaven.'

St. Gemma Galgani's Guardian Angel

My thought is this.. when you meet a new person.. or when you want to influence a person to do something good..

Greet the angel, and ask that person's guardian angel for help!!! The guardian angel knows better than near any other person how to help and how the person under his care thinks and acts! What better companion in prayer for a person than that person's guardian angel?

May our guardian angels help us to learn to collaborate with them in their work for God! Deo gratias et Mariae semper Virgini, and all the saints and holy souls, guardian angels!  :D

This is such a wonderful idea, Shin. I've never thought of that.

Litany of the Holy Guardian Angel
Lord, have mercy on us.
Christ, have mercy on us.
Lord, have mercy on us.

Jesus, hear us.
Jesus, graciously hear us.

God the Father of Heaven,
Have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world,
Have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit,
Have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God,
Have mercy on us.

Holy Mary, Queen of Angels,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who art my guardian,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who dost give me charitable counsel,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who dost give me wise direction,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who dost love me tenderly,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who art my consoler,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who art attached to me as a good brother,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who dost instruct me in the duties
and truth of salvation,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who art to me a charitable shepherd,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven who art witness of all my actions,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who dost help me in all my undertakings,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who dost continually watch over me,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who dost intercede for me,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who dost carry me in thy hand,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who dost direct me in all my ways,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who dost defend me with zeal,
pray for me.
Angel of heaven, who dost conduct me with wisdom,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who dost guard me from all danger,
pray for me.
Angel of Heaven, who dost dissipate the darkness and
enlighten the mind,
pray for me.
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world,
Spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world,
Graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takes away the sins of the world,
Have mercy on us, O Lord.

Jesus, hear us.
Jesus, graciously hear us.

Pray for us, O Guardian Angel,
That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let Us Pray.
Almighty and eternal God, Who by an effect of Thine ineffable bounty hast given to each of the faithful an angel to be the guardian of body and soul, grant that I may have for him whom Thou hast given me in Thy mercy so much respect and love, that, protected by the gifts of Thy graces and by his help, I may merit to go to Thee in Heaven, there to contemplate Thee with him and the other happy spirits in the brightness of Thy glory. Amen.

Amen!

Thanks, Shin, for Bernadine Sister quote highlighting the importance of prayer.  I now see more clearly how very important prayer is, seeing our Lady has said it is a condition required by God Himself in obtaining favors.

And who does not God give the grace to pray?  :D

This brings us back to a previous thread on reverence for the Eucharist.
St Michael has given us the example to follow in this regard and below is an extract from an interview with the papal master of ceremonies, Monsignor Guido Marini.

The papal master of ceremonies, Monsignor Guido Marini, commented that kneeling and receiving Communion on the tongue helps to emphasize “the truth of the Real Presence [of Christ] in the Eucharist, helps the devotion of the faithful, and introduces the sense of mystery more easily”. In the same June 26 interview with the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, Monsignor Marini said that he believes that this practice will become the norm at all future papal celebrations.

Indeed, at large public Masses, kneeling to receive Communion from the principal celebrant is likely to become the norm. At a recent Mass celebrated by Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith, Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments (CDW), people knelt on kneelers to receive.

Last February, in an interview by Bruno Volpe for Petrus, Archbishop Ranjith said that he believes receiving Communion on the tongue would help people to recover a greater sense of the sacred, “reinforcing thereby that in the Eucharist there is really Jesus and that everyone must receive Him with devotion, love and respect”.
“Why be ashamed of God?” the archbishop asked. “Kneeling at the moment of Communion would be an act of humility and recognition of our nature as children of God”.

Also, in a July 31 interview with La Repubblica, Archbishop Ranjith again emphasized the importance of a recovery of the sacred and a sense of transcendence to which the gesture of kneeling to receive Communion contributes.

Archbishop Ranjith also wrote the preface to Dominus Est, a book on the Real Presence in the Eucharist by Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Karaganda, Kazakhstan, that reportedly analyzes receiving Communion on the tongue while kneeling. The book was published in January by the Vatican’s Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Here Archbishop Ranjith wrote, “The best way to express our sense of reverence to the Lord in Mass is to follow the example of Peter, who as the Gospel tells us, threw himself on his knees before the Lord and said, ‘Lord, depart from me, for I am a sinner’”. (Luke 5:8)

Told you I wasn't finished yet Baily  ;D  Even if I've got it wrong surely St Michael hasn't  :principalities:

Yes!  Everyday I spend a long time in prayer but today I made sure I asked for more things.  A lot of times I spend my prayer time adoring without asking for all sorts of things but I now am going to cover more territory with my prayers and pray for more things.

Prayer by St. Charles Borromeo

Recommendation to one's Guardian Angel for a happy last hour of death:

My good Angel :  I know not when or how I shall die.  It is possible I may be carried off suddenly and that before my last sigh I may be deprived of all intelligence.  Yet how many things I would wish to say to God on the threshold of eternity.  In the full freedom of my will today, I come to charge you to speak for me at that fearful moment.
You will say to Him then, O my Good Angel :   
That I wish to die in the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church in which all the saints, since Jesus Christ have died, and out of which there is no salvation. 
That I ask the grace of sharing in the infinite merits of my Redeemer and that I desire to die pressing to my lips the cross that was bathed in His Blood !
That I detest my sins because they displease Him,  and that I pardon through love of Him all my enemies as I wish myself to be pardoned.
That I die willingly because He orders it and that I throw myself with confidence into His adorable Heart awaiting all His Mercy.
That in my inexpressible desire to go to Heaven I am disposed to suffer everything it may please His Sovereign Justice to inflict on me. 
That I love Him before all things, above all things and for His own sake;   that I wish and hope to love Him with the Elect, His Angels and the Blessed Mother during all eternity. 
 Do not refuse O my Angel to be my interpreter with God and to protest to Him that these are my sentiments and my will.  AMEN.

What a powerful prayer!   :+: