7/31/2022

Last week, a friend asked me a question: Do priests receive a Guardian Angel when they are ordained?

There is a tradition that priests have two angels, a guardian angel and an empowering angel. But this is only a tradition, not an official teaching of the Church.

It makes some sense that a priest would have an empowering angel since Scripture talks about how God administers creation in many ways through the angels. Some angels attend to the highest heavens, others the stars and cosmos, others oversee the earth, and still others attend to us. In these ways, they carry out God’s will and providence.

Since a priest is engaged in a special and powerful work of God, it makes sense that God would assign an angel to assist in this task. Eucharistic Prayer I in the Roman Missal used at Mass points to the ministry of such an angel when it asks God that our sacrifice be “borne by the hands of your holy Angel to your altar on high, in the sight of your divine majesty.”

So, to suppose that a priest has an empowering angel in addition to a guardian angel is not without basis or merely pious thinking. But, that said, it is not officially taught by the Church.

I couldn’t find anything about deacons receiving a Guardian Angel when they are ordained, but maybe that’s what our wives are for. Have a Blessed Week!

Deacon John

- Adapted from SimplyCatholic.com