Angels are pure, created spirits. The name "angel" means servant or messenger of God. Angels are celestial or heavenly beings, on a higher order than human beings. Angels have no bodies and do not depend on matter for their existence or activity.
They are distinct from saints, which men can become. Angels have intellect and will, and are immortal. They are a vast multitude, but each is an individual person.
Archangels are one of the nine choirs of angels listed in the Bible. In ascending order, the choirs or classes are 1) Angels, 2) Archangels, 3) Principalities, 4) Powers, 5) Virtues, 6) Dominations, 7) Thrones, 8) Cherubim, and 9) Seraphim.
The Catholic Church teaches that angels are purely spiritual creatures. They do not possess material bodies as human beings do. The Catechism says that angels are “spiritual, non-corporeal beings” and that their existence is affirmed throughout Scripture and Tradition.
When Catholic art gives an angel a human body, it is normally symbolic or representational, rather than making any assertion that angels literally have flesh and bones.
The Bible often presents angels in a form recognizable as human. For example, when three mysterious visitors come to Abraham: “The LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre…” (Genesis 18:1). Abraham sees three men, and one of them is identified with the Lord, while the others are understood in the narrative as angelic visitors. They eat, converse, and walk with Abraham.
Similarly, two angels come to Lot: “The two angels came to Sodom in the evening…” (Genesis 19:1). Yet the people of Sodom perceive them as men. The angel Raphael in the Book of Tobit is particularly significant. Raphael accompanies Tobias on his journey while appearing as a human traveler. Only later does he reveal his true identity: “I am Raphael, one of the seven angels who stand ready and enter before the glory of the Lord.” (Tobit 12:15).
The New Testament continues this pattern. At the empty tomb, Luke says: “Two men stood by them in dazzling apparel.” (Luke 24:4). Matthew and Mark describe angelic figures in similar terms. In Acts 1:10–11, after Christ's Ascension, two men in white robes appear to the apostles and speak to them. As a result, Christian artists have strong biblical precedent for representing angels as beautiful, radiant human figures.
Depictions of angels most often include wings, but Scripture does not say that every angel has wings.Some heavenly beings are explicitly described as winged. The seraphim in Isaiah 6 have six wings, while the cherubim described by Ezekiel have wings. Revelation likewise uses highly symbolic imagery for heavenly beings.
Christian art eventually combined these biblical descriptions with the human appearance of angels. Wings became an artistic shorthand communicating their heavenly origin, supernatural movement, service as God's messengers, and transcendence of earthly limitations. So the familiar picture of angels with a human form, wings, and radiant appearance, is a visual synthesis of several biblical traditions, rather than a literal anatomical description.
Why does God allow angels to appear at times in human form? Actually, there is an important theological reason; namely, that God accommodates Himself to human beings. Since we ordinarily perceive the world through our senses, Scripture frequently describes spiritual realities through visible manifestations. An angel appearing as a man communicates something about the angel's personhood and mission. Angels are not impersonal forces or abstract energies. They possess intellect and will, speak, act, worship God, and carry out His commands.
The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews calls them “ministering spirits sent forth to serve, for the sake of those who are to obtain salvation.” (Hebrews 1:14).
So when we see human-looking angels, it should be understood much like other sacred artistic representations. The artist is attempting to make an invisible spiritual reality intelligible to the human imagination.
The human body communicates personhood; wings communicate heavenly nature; light communicates glory; and sometimes particular attributes identify an angel's mission—for example, Michael with a sword, Gabriel with a lily or scroll, and Raphael with a staff or Tobias.
In art, then the angel's human appearance does not mean that “angels are humans with wings.” Rather, it means that this invisible spiritual person has manifested himself in a form that human beings can perceive and understand.
The Catholic Church teaches that angels are purely spiritual creatures. They do not possess material bodies as human beings do. The Catechism says that angels are “spiritual, non-corporeal beings” and that their existence is affirmed throughout Scripture and Tradition.
When Catholic art gives an angel a human body, it is normally symbolic or representational, rather than making any assertion that angels literally have flesh and bones.
The Bible often presents angels in a form recognizable as human. For example, when three mysterious visitors come to Abraham: “The LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre…” (Genesis 18:1). Abraham sees three men, and one of them is identified with the Lord, while the others are understood in the narrative as angelic visitors. They eat, converse, and walk with Abraham.
Similarly, two angels come to Lot: “The two angels came to Sodom in the evening…” (Genesis 19:1). Yet the people of Sodom perceive them as men. The angel Raphael in the Book of Tobit is particularly significant. Raphael accompanies Tobias on his journey while appearing as a human traveler. Only later does he reveal his true identity: “I am Raphael, one of the seven angels who stand ready and enter before the glory of the Lord.” (Tobit 12:15).
The New Testament continues this pattern. At the empty tomb, Luke says: “Two men stood by them in dazzling apparel.” (Luke 24:4). Matthew and Mark describe angelic figures in similar terms. In Acts 1:10–11, after Christ's Ascension, two men in white robes appear to the apostles and speak to them. As a result, Christian artists have strong biblical precedent for representing angels as beautiful, radiant human figures.
Depictions of angels most often include wings, but Scripture does not say that every angel has wings.Some heavenly beings are explicitly described as winged. The seraphim in Isaiah 6 have six wings, while the cherubim described by Ezekiel have wings. Revelation likewise uses highly symbolic imagery for heavenly beings.
Christian art eventually combined these biblical descriptions with the human appearance of angels. Wings became an artistic shorthand communicating their heavenly origin, supernatural movement, service as God's messengers, and transcendence of earthly limitations. So the familiar picture of angels with a human form, wings, and radiant appearance, is a visual synthesis of several biblical traditions, rather than a literal anatomical description.
Why does God allow angels to appear at times in human form? Actually, there is an important theological reason; namely, that God accommodates Himself to human beings. Since we ordinarily perceive the world through our senses, Scripture frequently describes spiritual realities through visible manifestations. An angel appearing as a man communicates something about the angel's personhood and mission. Angels are not impersonal forces or abstract energies. They possess intellect and will, speak, act, worship God, and carry out His commands.
The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews calls them “ministering spirits sent forth to serve, for the sake of those who are to obtain salvation.” (Hebrews 1:14).
So when we see human-looking angels, it should be understood much like other sacred artistic representations. The artist is attempting to make an invisible spiritual reality intelligible to the human imagination.
The human body communicates personhood; wings communicate heavenly nature; light communicates glory; and sometimes particular attributes identify an angel's mission—for example, Michael with a sword, Gabriel with a lily or scroll, and Raphael with a staff or Tobias.
In art, then the angel's human appearance does not mean that “angels are humans with wings.” Rather, it means that this invisible spiritual person has manifested himself in a form that human beings can perceive and understand.
__________________________
On this feast day, known popularly as Michaelmas, we recall especially three Holy Archangels:
St. Michael
The name of the archangel Michael means, in Hebrew, “who is like unto God?” and he is also known as "the prince of the heavenly host." He is usually pictured as a strong warrior, dressed in armor. His name appears in Scripture four times, twice in the Book of Daniel, and once each in the Epistle of St. Jude and the Book of Revelation. From Revelation we learn of the battle in heaven, with St. Michael and his angels combatting Lucifer and the other fallen angels (or devils). We invoke St. Michael to help us in our fight against Satan; to rescue souls from Satan, especially at the hour of death; to be the champion of the Jews in the Old Testament and now Christians; and to bring souls to judgment.
St. Gabriel
St. Gabriel's name means "God is my strength". Biblically he appears three times as a messenger. He had been sent to Daniel to explain a vision concerning the Messiah. He appeared to Zachariah when he was offering incense in the Temple, to foretell the birth of his son, St. John the Baptist. St. Gabriel is most known as the angel chosen by God to be the messenger of the Annunciation, to announce to mankind the mystery of the Incarnation. The angel's salutation to our Lady, so simple and yet so full of meaning, “Hail Mary, full of grace,” has become the constant and familiar prayer of all Christian people.
St. Raphael
Our knowledge of the Archangel Raphael comes to us from the book of Tobit. His mission as wonderful healer and fellow traveler with the youthful Tobias has caused him to be invoked for journeys and at critical moments in life. Tradition also holds that Raphael is the angel that stirred the waters at the healing sheep pool in Bethesda. "God has healed" is the meaning of his name.
O Everlasting God, who hast ordained and constituted the services of Angels and men in a wonderful order: mercifully grant that as thy holy Angels alway do thee service in heaven; so by thy appointment they may succour and defend us on earth; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.