The Angels, Their Intimate Lives
The writings of St. Thomas Aquinas offer accurate and clear teachings on the holy angels who are our guardians.
In this month of October dedicated to the holy guardian angels, FSSPX.News proposes to its readers the treatise on the angels developed in the Catechism of the Summa Theologica by Fr. Thomas Pègues, OP. Published in 1918, this work explains the teachings of the Angelic Doctor on a level that anyone can grasp.
In what does the life of the angels according to their nature as pure spirits consist?
The life of the angels, according to their nature as pure spirits, consists in knowing and loving.
What kind of knowledge do the angels have?
The angels have intellectual knowledge (q. 54).
Do the angels not have sensitive knowledge like we do?
No, the angels do not have sensitive knowledge like we do (q. 54, a. 5).
Why do the angels not have sensitive knowledge like we do?
Because sensitive knowledge requires the intermediary of a body and the angels have no body (Ibid.).
Is the intellectual knowledge of the angels more perfect than our intellectual knowledge?
Yes, the intellectual knowledge of the angels is more perfect than our intellectual knowledge.
Why do you say that the intellectual knowledge of the angels is more perfect than our intellectual knowledge?
Because they do not receive their knowledge from the exterior world like we do, and because they grasp the entire truth with one glance of their spirit without needing to reason like we do (q. 55, a. 2; q. 58, a. 3-4).
Sources: FSSPX / FSSPX.News – 10/3/2018
