Catholic Dictionary

Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

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GUARDIAN ANGEL

A celestial spirit assigned by God to watch over each individual during life. This general doctrine of an angel's care for each person is part of the Church's constant tradition, based on Sacred Scripture and the teaching of the Fathers of the Church. The role of the guardian spirit is both to guide and to guard; to guide as a messenger of God's will to our minds, and to guard as an instrument of God's goodness in protecting us from evil. This protection from evil is mainly from the evil of sin and the malice of the devil. But it is also protection from physical evil insofar as this is useful or necessary to guard the soul from spiritual harm. A feast honoring the guardian angels has been celebrated in October, throughout the universal Church, since the seventeenth century. It now occurs on October 2.