English 
Chinese 
Dutch 
Arabic 
Spanish 
Portuguese 
Russian 
French 
Italian 
German 
Japanese 
Continue reading with a subscription
Get unlimited access to all our premium content and exclusive features.
Enjoy unlimited access, cancel anytime.
Summary
- The traditional guardian angel prayer is the Catholic “Angel of God, my guardian dear,” printed with “His love” in the 1888 Baltimore Manual of Prayers; current Catholic books say “God’s love.”
- The prayer comes from the Latin Angele Dei, once credited to St. Anselm and now linked to a verse prayer by Reginald of Canterbury, who died after 1109.
- Catholic teaching draws on Matthew 18:10, Psalm 91:11, Acts 12:15 and Hebrews 1:14, but the Church has never defined that every person has a guardian angel as an article of faith.
- Catholics and Orthodox Christians pray to their guardian angels; Luther and Calvin rejected prayer addressed to angels and asked God to send them instead.
- Traditional prayers asking God for his angels’ protection include Luther’s morning prayer, the 1928 Prayer Book collect for St. Michael and All Angels, and an Orthodox prayer from the First Hour.
- The Catholic feast of the Holy Guardian Angels falls on October 2, the first free day after St. Michael’s feast on September 29.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (1611), text of Project Gutenberg eBook no. 10 (Psalm 4:8; 91:11; Matthew 18:10; Acts 12:15; 1 Corinthians 10:13; Hebrews 1:14; Revelation 22:9). https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10
- A Manual of Prayers for the Use of the Catholic Laity, prepared and published by order of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore. New York: Catholic Publication Society, 1888. Prayer to the Guardian Angel, p. 54. https://archive.org/details/AManualOfPrayers1888/page/54/mode/1up
- A Catechism of Christian Doctrine No. 2 (Baltimore Catechism), text approved 1885. Question 36 and Morning Prayers. Project Gutenberg eBook no. 14552. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14552
- Lasance, Francis Xavier. With God: A Book of Prayers and Reflections. New York: Benziger Brothers, 1911. “Prayer to the Angel Guardian,” with its versicle, prayer and indulgence note, and Mgr. Dupanloup’s prayer for travelers: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/With_God/Various_Other_Devotions ; “To my Angel” and the days of the week: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/With_God/Devotion_and_Devotions
- Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2005. Questions 61 and 446; Appendix, “Angel of God” and “Angele Dei.” https://www.vatican.va/archive/compendium_ccc/documents/archive_2005_compendium-ccc_en.html
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1997. Paragraphs 328–336. https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P1A.HTM
- Pope, Hugh. “Guardian Angel.” The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07049c.htm
- Gilmartin, Thomas. “Feast of Guardian Angels.” The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07050a.htm
- Martin, Michael. “Angele Dei” and “Angele, qui meus es custos pietate superna.” Thesaurus Precum Latinarum. https://www.preces-latinae.org/thesaurus/Basics/AngeleDei.html ; https://www.preces-latinae.org/thesaurus/Angeli/AngeleQuiMeusEsCustos.html
- “Who composed the ‘Angel of God’ prayer?” Aleteia, October 2, 2017. https://aleteia.org/2017/10/02/who-composed-the-angel-of-god-prayer/
- Luther, Martin. Small Catechism, Appendix: Morning and Evening Prayer; Smalcald Articles, Part II, Article II, 26. In Concordia Triglotta, trans. F. Bente and W. H. T. Dau. St. Louis: Concordia, 1921. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Concordia_Triglotta/The_Small_Catechism ; https://bookofconcord.org/smalcald-articles/part-ii/article-ii/
- Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 1, chapter 14, sections 7, 10 and 12. Trans. Henry Beveridge. Christian Classics Ethereal Library. https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/institutes.iii.xv.html
- The Book of Common Prayer (Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A.), 1928. Saint Michael and all Angels, collect and Gospel, pp. 251–252. https://www.artisticdailyprayers.org/uploads/3/0/1/6/30164961/bcp1928std.pdf
- Hapgood, Isabel Florence, trans. Service Book of the Holy Orthodox-Catholic Apostolic (Greco-Russian) Church. Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin, 1906. Matins, p. 36; The First Hour, p. 41; preparation for the Divine Liturgy, p. 65. https://www.ponomar.net/data/hapgood.pdf
