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On Mon, 30 Sep 1996, Nicolette wrote: > The whole idea of an angel, albeit an archangel, being venerated like a > saint has *always* bothered me. A large part of the appeal of the cult of > the saints was, to my mind, that because they had been mortal folks once, > that they would have more sympathy for your problems. Not really. The whole point of the rise of the cult of saints was that martyrs were known to be in God's presence and therefore could be invoked as patrons before God's thrones. Of course this is > a gross symplification, but the adoption of an angel seems to reflect a > rather different attitude. Actually, angels would fit very nicely, since they were in God's presence and surrounding God's throne from the beginning of creation. Moreover, their entire purpose is as God's messengers, so who could be more fitting as intercessors for mortals on earth before God? In addition to Michael and Gabriel, mentioned in other posts, the Catholic liturgical calendar includes a Feast of Guardian Angels -- coming up the day after tomorrow (Oct. 2). Raphael, the third archangel mentioned by name in Scripture, is venerated with Michael and Gabriel on Sept. 29. I think it fair to say that veneration of angels as intercessors predates the veneration of human beings as saints. Dennis Martin %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%