UNDER WHAT FORM HAVE GOOD ANGELS APPEARED?
The most usual form in which good angels appear, both in the Old
Testament and the New, is the human form. It was in that shape they
showed themselves to Abraham, Lot, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Manoah the
father of Samson, to David, Tobit, the Prophets; and in the New
Testament they appeared in the same form to the Holy Virgin, to
Zachariah the father of John the Baptist, to Jesus Christ after his
fast of forty days, and to him again in his agony in the Garden of
Olives. They showed themselves in the same form to the holy women
after the resurrection of the Saviour. The one who appeared to
Joshua[40] on the plain of Jericho appeared apparently in the guise of
a warrior, since Joshua asks him, "Art thou for us, or for our
adversaries?"
Sometimes they hide themselves under some form which has resemblance
to the human shape, like him who appeared to Moses in the burning
bush,[41] and who led the Israelites in the desert in the form of a
cloud, dense and dark during the day, but luminous at night.[42] The
Psalmist tells us that God makes his angels serve as a piercing wind
and a burning fire, to execute his orders.[43]
The cherubim, so often spoken of in the Scriptures, and who are
described as serving for a throne to the majesty of God, were
hieroglyphical figures, something like the sphinx of the Egyptians;
those which are described in Ezekiel[44] are like animals composed of
the figure of a man, having the wings of an eagle, the feet of an ox;
their heads were composed of the face of a man, an ox, a lion, and an
eagle, two of their wings were spread towards their fellows, and two
others covered their body; they were brilliant as burning coals, as
lighted lamps, as the fiery heavens when they send forth the
lightning's flash--they were terrible to look upon.
The one who appeared to Daniel[45] was different from those we have
just described; he was in the shape of a man, covered with a linen
garment, and round his loins a girdle of very fine gold; his body was
shining as a chrysolite, his face as a flash of lightning; his eyes
darted fire like a lamp; his arms and all the lower part of his body
was like brass melted in the furnace; his voice was loud as that of a
multitude of people.
St. John, in the Apocalypse,[46] saw around the throne of the Most
High four animals, which doubtless were four angels; they were covered
with eyes before and behind. The first resembled a lion, the second an
ox, the third had the form of a man, and the fourth was like an eagle
with outspread wings; each of them had six wings, and they never
ceased to cry night and day, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who
was, and is, and is to come."
The angel who was placed at the entrance of the terrestrial paradise
was armed with a shining sword,[47] as well as the one who appeared to
Balaam,[48] and who threatened, or was near killing both himself and
his ass; and so, apparently, was the one who showed himself to Joshua
in the plain of Jericho,[49] and the angel who appeared to David,
ready to smite all Israel. The angel Raphael guided the young Tobias
to Rages under the human form of a traveler.[50] The angel who was
seen by the holy woman at the sepulchre of the Saviour, who overthrew
the large stone which closed the mouth of the tomb, and who was seated
upon it, had a countenance which shone like lightning, and garments
white as snow.[51]
In the Acts of the Apostles,[52] the angel who extricated them from
prison, and told them to go boldly and preach Jesus Christ in the
temple, also appeared to them in a human form. The manner in which he
delivered them from the dungeon is quite miraculous; for the chief
priests having commanded that they should appear before them, those
who were sent found the prison securely closed, the guards wide awake;
but having caused the doors to be opened, they found the dungeon
empty. How could an angel without opening, or any fracture of the
doors, thus extricate men from prison without either the guards or the
jailer perceiving anything of the matter? The thing is beyond any
known powers of nature; but it is no more impossible than to see our
Saviour, after his resurrection, invested with flesh and bones, as he
himself says, come forth from his sepulchre, without opening it, and
without breaking the seals,[53] enter the chamber wherein were the
apostles without opening the doors,[54] and speak to the disciples
going to Emmaus without making himself known to them; then, after
having opened their eyes, disappear and become invisible.[55] During
the forty days that he remained upon earth till his ascension, he
drank and ate with them, he spoke to them, he appeared to them; but he
showed himself only to those witnesses who were pre-ordained by the
eternal Father to bear testimony to his resurrection.
The angel who appeared to the centurion Cornelius, a pagan, but
fearing God, answered his questions, and discovered to him unknown
things, which things came to pass.
Sometimes the angels, without assuming any visible shape, give proofs
of their presence by intelligible voices, by inspirations, by sensible
effects, by dreams, or by revelations of things unknown, whether
future or past. Sometimes by striking with blindness, or infusing a
spirit of uncertainty or stupidity in the minds of those whom God
wills should feel the effects of his wrath; for instance, it is said
in the Scriptures that the Israelites heard no distinct speech, and
beheld no form on Horeb when God spoke to Moses and gave him the
Law.[56]
The angel who might have killed Balaam's ass was not at first
perceived by the prophet;[57] Daniel was the only one who beheld the
angel Gabriel, who revealed to him the mystery of the great empires
which were to succeed each other.[58]
When the Lord spoke for the first time to Samuel, and predicted to him
the evils which he would inflict on the family of the high-priest Eli,
the young prophet saw no visible form; he only heard a voice, which he
at first mistook for that of the high-priest Eli, not being yet
accustomed to distinguish the voice of God from that of a man.
The angels who guided Lot and his family from Sodom and Gomorrah were
at first perceived under a human form by the inhabitants of the city;
but afterwards these same angels struck the men with blindness, and
thus prevented them from finding the door of Lot's house, into which
they would have entered by force.
Thus, then, angels do not always appear under a visible or sensible
form, nor in a figure uniformly the same; but they give proofs of
their presence by an infinity of different ways--by inspirations, by
voices, by prodigies, by miraculous effects, by predictions of the
future, and other things hidden and impenetrable to the human mind.
St. Cyprian relates that an African bishop, falling ill during the
persecution, earnestly requested to have the viaticum administered to
him; at the same time he saw, as it were, a young man, with a majestic
air, and shining with such extraordinary lustre that the eyes of
mortals could not have beheld him without terror; nevertheless, the
bishop was not alarmed. This angel said to him, angrily, and in a
menacing tone, "You fear to suffer. You do not wish to leave this
world. What would you have me do for you?" (or "What can I do for
you?") The good bishop comprehended that these words alike regarded
him and the other Christians who feared persecution and death. The
bishop talked to them, encouraged them, and exhorted them to arm
themselves with patience to support the tortures with which they were
threatened. He received the communion, and died in peace. We shall
find in different histories an infinite number of other apparitions of
angels under a human form.
Footnotes:
[40] Josh. v. 29.
[41] Exod. iii. 3, 44.
[42] Exod. xiii. xiv.
[43] Psalm civ. 4.
[44] Ezek. i. 4, 6.
[45] Dan. x. 5.
[46] Rev. iv. 7, 8.
[47] Gen. iii. 24.
[48] Numb. xxii. 22, 23.
[49] 1 Chron. xxi. 16.
[50] Tobit v. 5.
[51] Matt. xxviii. 3.
[52] Acts ii.
[53] Matt. xxviii. 1, 2.
[54] John xix. 20.
[55] Luke xxiii. 15-17, &c.
[56] Deut. iv. 15.
[57] Numb. xii. 22, 23.
[58] Dan. x. 7, 8.