Day 3: The Nine Choirs — Angels in Catholic Teaching

A city named for angels deserves a deeper understanding of who the angels are. They are not the chubby-cheeked cherubs of Renaissance greeting cards. They are not metaphors for good feelings. They are persons—immortal, intelligent, powerful, and terrifyingly real. They are the army of God, and Los Angeles is named for their Queen.

What the Church Teaches About Angels

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that angels are spiritual, non-corporeal beings created by God before the material world. They possess intellect and will. They are, in the words of St. Augustine, "spirits who have been made God's messengers." The very word "angel" comes from the Greek angelos, meaning messenger.

Sacred Tradition, drawing from Scripture and the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (c. 5th–6th century), organizes the angels into nine choirs arranged in three hierarchies. The first hierarchy—closest to God—comprises the Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones. The Seraphim burn with love for God. The Cherubim overflow with divine knowledge. The Thrones embody divine justice and authority.

The second hierarchy—the Dominations, Virtues, and Powers—governs the cosmos and the spiritual order. The Dominations regulate the duties of other angels. The Virtues work miracles and bestow grace. The Powers guard against the stratagems of the demons.

The third hierarchy—the Principalities, Archangels, and Angels—interacts most directly with humanity. The Principalities watch over nations and peoples. The Archangels deliver God's most important messages. And the Angels—our guardian angels—walk beside each of us from the moment of our conception to the moment of our death.

Angels and the California Missions

The Franciscan missionaries lived in conscious relationship with the angelic world. Their missions bore the names of archangels and angels: San Gabriel Arcángel (the Archangel Gabriel), San Rafael Arcángel (the Archangel Raphael), San Miguel Arcángel (the Archangel Michael). The mission bells—cast and named for individual saints—rang out across the valleys as calls to prayer, labor, and worship, their tones mixing with what the friars believed were the songs of unseen choirs.

St. Francis himself was deeply devoted to the angels. He chose to make his home at the Chapel of Our Lady of the Angels precisely because, as his biographer Thomas of Celano recorded, he "sensed that angels often visited there." The Franciscan tradition holds that the angels are not distant beings in a remote heaven. They are here. They are active. They are fighting alongside us in the great spiritual battle that every human life represents.

When Father Serra limped along the Camino Real on his ulcerated leg, the Franciscan tradition assured him that guardian angels walked beside him. When the settlers processed from San Gabriel to found Los Angeles, they did not walk alone. The nine choirs marched with them, invisible but more real than the dust beneath their feet.

Reflection for Today

You live in the company of angels. Your guardian angel was assigned to you by God Himself, not as a poetic metaphor, but as a personal protector, guide, and intercessor. The same angelic host that the Franciscans honored in naming their missions and their city stands ready to assist you today—in your work, your family, your struggles, your prayers.

As you pray your City of Angels Rosary, invite the angels into your meditation. Ask your guardian angel to help you pray with greater focus, deeper love, and more fervent faith. Ask the Archangel Gabriel—patron of the mission that gave birth to Los Angeles—to announce God's will in your life as he once announced it to Mary.

Prayer

Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God's love commits me here, ever this day be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide. St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. St. Gabriel the Archangel, announce to us the will of God. St. Raphael the Archangel, heal our blindness and guide our journey. All nine choirs of angels, pray for us. Amen.