Michael, Gabriel and Raphael | Saint of the Day

Home

Catholic News

RSS Feeds

Daily Features

St. Anthony Messenger

Books

Catholic e-Greetings

Parish Newsletters/Services

Free E-NewslettersSaint of the DayFriar Jack's E-spirationsCatholic SAMPlerCatholic GreetingsMore e-newsletters

Sign-up for a FREE E-Newsletters From St. Anthony Messenger Press
Free e-mail newsletters for Catholics about spirituality, Catholic e-cards, Catholic saints, free Catholic product samples, Catholic catechetics and Catholics on the Internet.

Enter your email address:

Enter your full name:

Saint of the Day	Catholic Greetings Premiere	Minute Meditations
Friar Jack's E-spirations	Faith Formation Update
Franciscan Radio	Catholic Sampler

Minute Meditations
Peaceful, spiritual reflection that comes to your inbox at no cost. Drawing upon short, inspired thoughts from the popular books and periodicals of St. Anthony Messenger Press, the online edition of Minute Meditations brings directly to you a chance to take a moment from the daily hurry and worry to focus on the place of God in your life. Sign up!

Franciscan Radio
A radio ministry of the U.S. Bishops' Catholic Communication Campaign and the Franciscans, designed to help Catholics know their faith and grow in their faith, American Catholic Radio airs weekly throughout the country on Catholic radio stations. It also can be found at www.FranciscanRadio.org. Our bi-weekly e-newsletter highlights content from coming shows, two weeks out. Host Father Greg Friedman discusses his topics in his blog and alerts listeners and radio station staff to future projects. The e-newsletter is free and comes to your inbox every other week. Sign up!

Faith Formation Update
Help plan your religious-education and RCIA classes with our monthly free e-newsletter aimed at religious educators. Timed to work within the liturgical calendar, this newsletter will bring you ideas gleaned from experienced teachers. Sign up!

Web Catholic
Improve your Web ministry with this free monthly e-newsletter exploring how Catholics use the Internet. Webmasters and communications professionals can keep up with what's new on the Web for Catholics and learn from their colleagues whose sites are featured. View past "Sites of the Month."

Saint of the Day | By Name | By Date | Patron Saints | FAQ

Saint of the Day
Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives. Each saint the Church honors responded to God's invitation to use his or her unique gifts. God calls each one of us to be a saint. Click here to receive Saint of the Day in your email.

September 29
Michael, Gabriel and Raphael

Size: A A

Angels—messengers from God—appear frequently in Scripture, but only Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are named.

Michael appears in Daniel's vision as "the great prince" who defends Israel against its enemies; in the Book of Revelation, he leads God's armies to final victory over the forces of evil. Devotion to Michael is the oldest angelic devotion, rising in the East in the fourth century. The Church in the West began to observe a feast honoring Michael and the angels in the fifth century.

Gabriel also makes an appearance in Daniel's visions, announcing Michael's role in God's plan. His best-known appearance is an encounter with a young Jewish girl named Mary, who consents to bear the Messiah.

Raphael's activity is confined to the Old Testament story of Tobit. There he appears to guide Tobit's son Tobiah through a series of fantastic adventures which lead to a threefold happy ending: Tobiah's marriage to Sarah, the healing of Tobit's blindness and the restoration of the family fortune.

The memorials of Gabriel (March 24) and Raphael (October 24) were added to the Roman calendar in 1921. The 1970 revision of the calendar joined their feasts to Michael's.

Comment:

Each of these archangels performs a different mission in Scripture: Michael protects; Gabriel announces; Raphael guides. Earlier belief that inexplicable events were due to the actions of spiritual beings has given way to a scientific world-view and a different sense of cause and effect. Yet believers still experience God's protection, communication and guidance in ways which defy description. We cannot dismiss angels too lightly.

Quote:

"The question of how many angels could dance on the point of a pin no longer is absurd in molecular physics, with its discovery of how broad that point actually is, and what part invisible electronic 'messengers' play in the dance of life" (Lewis Mumford).

Patron Saint of:

Death
Germany
Grocers
Police officers
Radiologists

Saint of the Day
Lives, Lessons and Feast
By Leonard Foley, O.F.M.; revised by Pat McCloskey, O.F.M.

Listen to "Saint of the Day":

Subscribe to "Saint of the Day":

John Ogilvie: John Ogilvie's noble Scottish family was partly Catholic and partly Presbyterian. His father raised him as a Calvinist, sending him to the continent to be educated. There John became interested in the popular debates going on between Catholic and Calvinist scholars. Confused by the arguments of Catholic scholars whom he sought out, he turned to Scripture. Two texts particularly struck him: "God wills all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth," and "Come to me all you who are weary and find life burdensome, and I will refresh you."<p>Slowly, John came to see that the Catholic Church could embrace all kinds of people. Among these, he noted, were many martyrs. He decided to become Catholic and was received into the Church at Louvain, Belgium, in 1596 at the age of 17.<p>John continued his studies, first with the Benedictines, then as a student at the Jesuit College at Olmutz. He joined the Jesuits and for the next 10 years underwent their rigorous intellectual and spiritual training. Ordained a priest in France in 1610, he met two Jesuits who had just returned from Scotland after suffering arrest and imprisonment. They saw little hope for any successful work there in view of the tightening of the penal laws. But a fire had been lit within John. For the next two and a half years he pleaded to be missioned there.<p>Sent by his superiors, he secretly entered Scotland posing as a horse trader or a soldier returning from the wars in Europe. Unable to do significant work among the relatively few Catholics in Scotland, John made his way back to Paris to consult his superiors. Rebuked for having left his assignment in Scotland, he was sent back. He warmed to the task before him and had some success in making converts and in secretly serving Scottish Catholics. But he was soon betrayed, arrested and brought before the court. His trial dragged on until he had been without food for 26 hours. He was imprisoned and deprived of sleep. For eight days and nights he was dragged around, prodded with sharp sticks, his hair pulled out. Still, he refused to reveal the names of Catholics or to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the king in spiritual affairs. He underwent a second and third trial but held firm. At his final trial he assured his judges: "In all that concerns the king, I will be slavishly obedient; if any attack his temporal power, I will shed my last drop of blood for him. But in the things of spiritual jurisdiction which a king unjustly seizes I cannot and must not obey."<p>Condemned to death as a traitor, he was faithful to the end, even when on the scaffold he was offered his freedom and a fine living if he would deny his faith. His courage in prison and in his martyrdom was reported throughout Scotland.<p>John Ogilvie was canonized in 1976, becoming the first Scottish saint since 1250.

How do I cope with an unreasonable relative?

The family is the great catechism God has given the world. The work of our lifetime is to learn how to read it and then study it prayerfully.

PICK OF THE DAY

	New Book! Unlikely Spiritual Heroes
	Brennan Hill profiles eight unlikely heroes, including Thomas Merton, Pope John Paul II and Sister Helen Prejean (Dead Man Walking).