Happy Michaelmas!
This dreary, foggy Monday is the “Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, Archangels” or, in the old calendar, the “Dedication of the Basilica of Saint Michael the Archangel”.
Whatever you call it, the most common name is Michaelmas. It is one of several harvest festivals celebrated throughout Christian Europe.
In England this is one of the “quarter days”, which was marked by hiring servants, electing magistrates, and beginning of legal and university terms. This day also marks the opening of the deer and other large game hunting season.
In some parts of Europe, especially Germany, Denmark, and Austria, a special wine called “Saint Michael’s Love” (Michelsminne) is drunk on this day.
The foods for this day vary depending on nationality. In the British Isles, for example, goose was the traditional meal for Michaelmas, eaten for prosperity, France has waffles or Gaufres and the traditional fare in Scotland used to be St. Michael’s Bannock (Struan Micheil) — a large, scone-like cake. In Italy, gnocchi is the traditional fare.
Sounds good to me!
Today we celebrate not just one, but three archangels mentioned in scripture. Even on the older calendar, which only mentions St. Michael, all three appear in the Office antiphons.
Michael (whose name means “who is like unto God?”) appears in Daniel (ch. 10 & 12), Jude (v. 9), and Revelation (12:7). He is often depicted armed and in armour, the “prince of the heavenly host” and “the angel of judgment”.
Gabriel (“God is my strength”) appears in Daniel (ch. 8 & 9), and the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel, where he appears to Zacharias to foretell the birth of John the Baptist (Luke 1:1-25) and to the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38). He is the honoured messenger of the Annunciation and “the angel of mercy”.
Raphael (“God has healed”) is the healing angel of the book of Tobit, and tradition holds that he is the “angel of the Lord” who stirred the waters at the healing sheep pool in Bethesda in John 5. He is the healer and the fellow pilgrim who appears at time of critical need.
But what, actually, is an angel?
As always, our first recourse is the trusty Catechism of the Catholic Church, where we find this:
328 The existence of the spiritual, non-corporeal beings that Sacred Scripture usually calls “angels” is a truth of faith. The witness of Scripture is as clear as the unanimity of Tradition.
329 St. Augustine says: “‘Angel’ is the name of their office, not of their nature. If you seek the name of their nature, it is ‘spirit’; if you seek the name of their office, it is ‘angel’: from what they are, ‘spirit’, from what they do, ‘angel.’ ” With their whole beings the angels are servants and messengers of God. Because they “always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven” they are the “mighty ones who do his word, hearkening to the voice of his word”.
330 As purely spiritual creatures angels have intelligence and will: they are personal and immortal creatures, surpassing in perfection all visible creatures, as the splendor of their glory bears witness.
There’s quite a bit more, of course, but this is pretty much the basics. If you’re interested in more, I encourage you to read the rest in the Catechism or in Fr. Hardon’s comprehensive Catholic Catechism on the Angels.
There’s quite a lot there to mull over.
For all their other traits, angels are also a magnificent source of prayer. After all, Gabriel in his angelic salutation gives us the core of the “Hail Mary”, and then there’s the Saint Michael prayer that Pope Leo XIII gave the Church in 1886. In my parish, as in many others around the world, we pray this prayer :
Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle;
be our protection against
the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray:
and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host,
by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan
and all the evil spirits
who prowl about the world
seeking the ruin of souls.Amen.
(reprint, with edits)