In the movies, paratroopers loudly shout "Geronimo!" as
they leap into the night sky. Before that dramatic moment, however, it is
likely that Catholic troopers mutter a little prayer to invoke the
protection of "St. Michael," patron saint of paratroopers, police,
mariners grocers and those suffering from sickness.
St. Michael is known to Christians as Michael, the
archangel who led angels loyal to God in the heavenly war of Lucifer's
insurrection. Though Lucifer has been cast out of Heaven, he and his band
of rebel angels apparently still have access (cf. Job 1:6; 2:1) and a
state of war exists even now (cf. Rev. 12:4; cf. Dan. 10:13; Jude 9). Some
unspecified event is going to trigger a mighty angelic battle (Rev. 12:7)
and Michael, whose name signifies "Who is like God?," will lead the Lord's
host to victory.
The Bible refers to Michael as "archangel" and "one of
the chief princes," but the early Greek fathers and others consider him
the most senior of all the angels, or "Prince of the Seraphim."
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, tradition
assigns four offices to Michael:
1) To fight against Satan.
2) To rescue the souls of the faithful from the power
of the enemy, especially at the hour of death.
3) To be the champion of God's people, the Jews in
the Old Law, the Christians in the New Testament
4) To call away from earth and bring men's souls to
judgment
In the imagery of Catholicism, Michael usually is
depicted as a fully armed warrior standing over the body of a slain
dragon. Often, he is shown to be holding a pair of scales (to weigh the
souls of the dead) or the Book of Life (to indicate that he participates
in the judgment).
Michael is a created being, yet how many of the
responsibilities and offices ascribed to him by tradition intrude upon the
authority of the Christ and the Holy Spirit?
He is a created being and, as such, not to be
worshipped:
I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out
of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no
other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or
any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the
earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not
bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a
jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto
the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;--Exodus 20:2-5
NOT TO BE WORSHIPPED, yet Catholicism indeed does
render worship to St. Michael and to other angels. In fact, until the
custom died a couple of hundred years ago, the Saint's Day of Michael
(Sept. 29) was a holy day of obligation, requiring the Catholic faithful
to attend Mass in his honor. When the warlike Germans embraced
Catholicism, the church morphed Wotan, chief of their pagan gods, into
Michael, the chief of the warrior angels. Another easy adaptation of pagan
beliefs and practices into Romish orthodoxy. Now, throughout the lands
once walked by the German hordes we see not the ancient hilltop temples of
Wotan, but churches and shrines dedicated to angel Michael.
Every Catholic saint worth his salt can claim a string
of miracles, preferably miraculous deliveries, and the best of them make
the occasional earthly visitation. Those who venerate Michael can point to
both:
According to an (apocryphal?) legend of the tenth
century he appeared over the Moles Hadriani (Castel di S. Angelo), in
950, during the procession which St. Gregory held against the
pestilence, putting an end to the plague. Boniface IV (608-15) built on
the Moles Hadriani in honour of him, a church, which was styled St.
Michaelis inter nubes (in summitate circi).
Well known is the apparition of St. Michael (a. 494
or 530-40), as related in the Roman Breviary, 8 May, at his renowned
sanctuary on Monte Gargano, where his original glory as patron in war
was restored to him. To his intercession the Lombards of Sipontum (Manfredonia)
attributed their victory over the Greek Neapolitans, 8 May, 663. In
commemoration of this victory the church of Sipontum instituted a
special feast in honour of the archangel, on 8 May, which has spread
over the entire Latin Church and is now called (since the time of Pius
V) "Apparitio S. Michaelis", although it originally did not commemorate
the apparition, but the victory.--Catholic Encyclopedia,
copyright © 1913 by the Encyclopedia Press, Inc. Electronic version
copyright © 1996 by New Advent, Inc.
How did Michael the archangel, one of the chief
princes of God's angelic host (Dan. 10:13), become St. Michael, patron
of paratroopers and police? There are those who would suggest the process
was nothing more than apotheosis, or god-making, so well known to
the ancients and to those who today makes deities of sports figures,
matinee idols and rock stars. Rome, of course, denies such an idea,
claiming instead that those she canonizes are nothing more than friends
and servants of God whose holy lives merit His special love:
"The true origin of canonization and beatification
must be sought in the Catholic doctrine of the worship (cultus),
invocation, and intercession of the saints. As was taught by St.
Augustine (Quaest. in Heptateuch., lib. II, n. 94; Contra Faustum, lib.
XX, xxi), Catholics, while giving to God alone adoration strictly
so-called, honour the saints because of the Divine supernatural gifts
which have earned them eternal life, and through which they reign with
God in the heavenly fatherland as His chosen friends and faithful
servants. In other words, Catholics honour God in His saints as the
loving distributor of supernatural gifts. The worship of latria (latreia),
or strict adoration, is given to God alone; the worship of dulia (douleia),
or honour and humble reverence, is paid the saints; the worship of
hyperdulia (hyperdouleia), a higher form of dulia, belongs, on account
of her greater excellence, to the Blessed Virgin Mary.--Catholic
Encyclopedia, Op. cit.
DULIA, HYPERDULIA, LATRIA. Call it what you
will, worship is worship and worship is to be rendered to the Creator, not
created things or beings. Playing word games and inventing new meanings
for what is represented by the practice of kneeling before an image,
praying and sacrificing to a created being and holding special rites to
honor such beings is idolatry, clear and simple. If it looks like a duck,
walks like a duck and quacks like a duck -–it is a duck!! When it comes to
worshipping created beings and things – you can call it dulia or
hyperdulia, but it still is idolatry.
Scripture particularly warns us against being beguiled
into worshipping angels.
Let no man beguile you of your reward in a
voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those
things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind,--Colossians
2:18,
Angel worship was becoming a big thing in the area
around Colosse, where the practice continued for centuries. In it's
worship (dulia) of Michael, Gabriel, etc., Roman Catholicism is in clear
violation of God's commandment against idolatry. The proscription against
worshipping (or rendering obsequious honors to) angels may be seen also in
Matthew 4:10, Revelation 19:10 and Revelation 22:8,9.
There are similarities between the teachings and
practice of the Roman church as concerns angels and those of the heretics
who were proselytizing angelic worship in Paul's time. The Colossian
heretics based their teaching on visions and revelations they claimed to
have received. This of course, sounds a lot like the apparitions and
"developing" traditions of the Roman church. These false teachers claimed
to have secret wisdom and transcendent knowledge which only is available
to the spiritually elite, similar to the Roman Magisterium. Like those of
the Magisterium, their claims are false. The Scriptures are clear: Jesus
Christ is God's final and complete revelation to man (Hebrews 1:1,2)
In writing to the Colossians, Paul stressed that all
the truth necessary for salvation, sanctification and glorification is
available in Christ, who is God revealed. (John 1:14; Rom. 11:33-36; 1 Cor.
1:24, 2:6-8; Eph. 1:8-9, 3:8-9) In the first two chapters of his letter,
the Apostle stressed Christ's deity and his sufficiency to save believers
and to bring them to spiritual maturity. There is no reason to worship or
seek the assistance of Michael or any other created being. Christ is
enough!
The Catholic Encyclopedia provides an alternate
point of view:
It is objected that the invocation of saints is
opposed to the unique mediatorship of Christ Jesus. There is indeed "one
mediator of God and man, the man Christ Jesus". But He is our mediator
in His quality of our common Redeemer; He is not our sole intercessor
nor advocate, nor our sole mediator by way of supplication." --Catholic
Encyclopedia, Op. cit.
Is it God who promotes angels and selected dead people
to the status of sainthood? Not at all. It is the pope, the Vicarius
Filii Dei, who determines just who are the particular friends of God
who merit His "special" love. And, by golly, he does so infallibly. At
least, that is the consensus of a lot of the good ole boys who, in their
fantasies, determined the Pontifex Maximus to have such powers.
Is the pope infallible in issuing a decree of
canonization? Most theologians answer in the affirmative. It is the
opinion of St. Antoninus, Melchior Cano, Suarez, Bellarmine, Bañez,
Vasquez, and, among the canonists, of Gonzales Tellez, Fagnanus,
Schmalzgrüber, Barbosa, Reiffenstül, Covarruvias (Variar. resol., I, x,
no 13), Albitius (De Inconstantiâ in fide, xi, no 205), Petra (Comm. in
Const. Apost., I, in notes to Const. I, Alex., III, no 17 sqq.), Joannes
a S. Thomâ (on II-II, Q. I, disp. 9, a. 2), Silvester (Summa, s. v.
Canonizatio), Del Bene (De Officio Inquisit. II, dub. 253), and many
others. In Quodlib. IX, a. 16, St. Thomas says: "Since the honour we pay
the saints is in a certain sense a profession of faith, i.e., a belief
in the glory of the Saints [quâ sanctorum gloriam credimus] we must
piously believe that in this matter also the judgment of the Church is
not liable to error." These words of St. Thomas, as is evident from the
authorities just cited, all favouring a positive infallibility, have
been interpreted by his school in favour of papal infallibility in the
matter of canonization, and this interpretation is supported by several
other passages in the same Quodlibet. This infallibility, however
according to the holy doctor, is only a point of pious belief.
Theologians generally agree as to the fact of papal infallibility in
this matter of canonization, but disagree as to the quality of certitude
due to a papal decree in such matter. In the opinion of some it is of
faith (Arriaga, De fide, disp. 9, p. 5, no 27); others hold that to
refuse assent to such a judgment of the Holy See would be both impious
and rash, as Suarez (De fide, disp. 5 p. 8, no 8); many more (and this
is the general view) hold such a pronouncement to be theologically
certain, not being of Divine Faith as its purport has not been
immediately revealed, nor of ecclesiastical Faith as having thus far not
been defined by the Church. "---Ibid.
Did you know there is a "Chaplet to St. Michael?"
According to one Antonia d'Arsonac, the archangel visited her one day and
taught her about the chaplet. He promised her that anyone who recited this
chaplet before receiving communion would be escorted to the communion rail
by a corps of nine angels, one from each of the nine angel choirs. To make
things even better, Michael promised that those who recited his chaplet
every day could count on his help and that of all the angels for so long
as he lived. Sigh!
To give the reader some idea of what this chaplet
involves, in addition to the usual multiplied Hail Maries and Our Fathers,
here are a couple of the chaplet's concluding prayers:
O glorious prince St. Michael, chief and commander
of the heavenly hosts, guardian of souls, vanquisher of rebel spirits,
servant in the house of the Divine King and our admirable conductor, you
who shine with excellence and superhuman virtue deliver us from all
evil, who turn to you with confidence and enable us by your gracious
protection to serve God more and more faithfully every day.
Pray for us, O glorious St. Michael, Prince of the
Church of Jesus Christ, that we may be made worthy of His promises.
This is the law of the Roman Catholic Church:
Can. 1186 To foster the sanctification of the
people of God, the Church commends to the special and filial veneration
of Christ's faithful the Blessed Mary ever-Virgin, the Mother of God,
whom Christ constituted the Mother of all. The Church also promotes the
true and authentic cult of the other Saints, by whose example the
faithful are edified and by whose intercession they are supported.
Can. 1187 Only those servants of God may be venerated
by public cult who have been numbered by ecclesiastical authority among
the Saints or the Blessed.
Can. 1188 The practice of exposing sacred images in
churches for the veneration of the faithful is to be retained. However,
these images are to be displayed in moderate numbers and in suitable
fashion, so that the christian people are not disturbed, nor is occasion
given for less than appropriate devotion.--Code of Canon Law
This is the Law of God:
I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out
of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no
other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or
any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the
earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not
bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a
jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto
the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;--Exodus 20:2-5
When the time comes for the sheep to be separated from
the goats, do YOU want to stand before the Great White Throne and try to
explain to the Perfect Judge that when you were praying to one of His
angels, or to Mary or some other dead person, you were not really
worshipping with latria – merely dulia or hyperdulia? Do you honestly
believe that Christ's judgment will be based upon Roman Catholic dogma and
doctrine?
Think about it. Get right with the Lord while you still
have breath.
