Why do we call angels "Saints"?

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For example St. Michael the Archangel, St. Raphael. The reason for my question is that I've always thought angels were higher than saints in heaven. So isn't this kind of a "demotion" so to speak?

Also, this is a stupid question, but how many angels' names do we know? How many angels are there all together, and do we know what "kind" of angels our guardian angels are?

Also, in the bible, does the mention of Saints mean the dead that have already gone to heaven, or does it mean the holy people on earth. I think I'm thinking about in Apocalypse where it talks about the "prayers of the saints".

-- Lydia Byrd (oiseaumouche@aol.com), July 08, 2004

Answers

Angel is their job description (messenger), saint designates their holiness "sanctos" = holy in Latin.

-- joe (joestong@yahoo.com), July 09, 2004.

"how many angels' names do we know?"

A: Three. Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. Other angels names are mentioned in some religious writings, but not in anything regarded as authoritative by the Church.

"How many angels are there all together"

A: Heaven knows! And we don't! It's a finite number though, since angels are created beings.

"do we know what "kind" of angels our guardian angels are?"

A: Our guardian angels are believed to be of the lowest of the 9 "choirs" of angels, the group known simply as "angels".

"Also, in the bible, does the mention of Saints mean the dead that have already gone to heaven, or does it mean the holy people on earth. I think I'm thinking about in Apocalypse where it talks about the "prayers of the saints". "

A: Both. The early Church didn't emphasize any real distinction between the saints on earth and the saints in heaven (otherwise known as the Church militant and the Church triumphant). Jesus had said that His followers would never die (John 11:26), and the Church took Him at His word. The saints in heaven were just the same people they had known as the saints on earth. Most of the uses of the word "saints" in the New Testament are clearly references to the saints on earth. However, the term was also used to describe those saints who had passed on to their heavenly reward, as in 1 Thes 3:13 ... "so that He may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints".

-- Paul M. (PaulCyp@cox.net), July 09, 2004.


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