A guardian angel is an angel appointed to protect and guide a particular person. Whether there is one angel for each person, one angel for several people or several angels for one person is open to question. The belief in guardian angels can be traced throughout history and can be found in many cultures and religions; from the ancient Greeks, to Islam, to Judaism, to Christianity. Belief in both the East and the West is that guardian angels protect the person to whom they are assigned and present prayers to God on that person’s behalf. The Catholic Church’s calendar of saints includes a memorial for the guardian angels on October 2 every year.
According to “Encounters of the Angelic Kind” at Future365 (now defunct), “they intercept at many junctures in our lives and help wherever they can to make our lives run smoothly. Sometimes this is by inspiring a thought to spur us into action, at others it is to lend us super-human strength, such as in the case of a woman being able to lift a car long enough to free her trapped child. Or we hear of a runaway truck, with an unconscious driver at the wheel, inexplicably swerving sharply at the last moment to avoid a bus stop queue of people. In fact, there are many instances, which are often put down to luck, coincidence or even a miracle, but which have the touch of a hand of light behind it.”
The only “evidence” we have for the existence of guardian angels is the long religious tradition such as stories from the Bible and the many personal anecdotes from people who believe these protectors have affected their lives. Fundamentally, angels are most often a matter of faith.
This is the traditional Catholic prayer to one’s guardian angel.
- Angel of God, my guardian dear
- to whom God’s love commits me here.
- Ever this day/night be at my side
- to light, to guard, to rule and guide.
Guardian angels are rarely known to make a physical appearance, however there are ways that they may make their presence known. “Some people say that they hear angelic sounds totally beyond human description,” according to the article “Angels” at Future365. “Others have a feeling of sudden warmth or comfort, or, in times of sadness or grief, a gentle cloak of feathered wings wrapping softly around them. Sometimes angel energy may feel entirely different – like a sudden rush of air created by the passing by of an ‘angel on a mission’ at the speed of light. This is often noticed at times of impending disaster. At other times, simply an inexplicable presence is felt.”
Some individuals also believe that guardian angels may be the spirits of close family members or of people who were close to you while in life. I first heard this theory after recounting an event that happened to me in 2008.
I was living in my parent’s house in Ballydehob, Cork. The house is a farm house of between 100-200 years of age, which has ‘sheds’ attached to it which are in fact the remains of the much older original farmhouse. The house feels generally comfortable, but I had often felt ‘watched’ by an unseen presence at night and felt uncomfortable in the room designated as my bedroom.
One night I was asleep in bed when I woke briefly to see a very tall, thin man with white hair standing beside my bed. He was wearing an old fashioned grey suit, perhaps in the style of the 1940s/ 1950s. Next to him was a small boy in even older style dress. I then calmly just slipped back to sleep. I woke the next day not knowing if this was a dream or an actual waking event.
A few months later I had the exact same experience, except all I saw was the tall elderly man beside my bed. I once again felt calm and slipped back to sleep. I woke and once again was unsure as to if this had all been a dream, although I found it unusual that the man should look exactly the same in both dreams. I put it down to being either a dream or perhaps a spirit, as I had felt uneasy while alone in some parts of the house previous to this.
However, since then I have told only a handful of people about the experience and several of those who I did tell mentioned that these could have been visits from my guardian angel. I was asked if I had any close family members who had died who it could have been and, luckily, I have very few. This did get me to thinking about the appearance of the man beside the bed and it does remind me very much of my great great grandfather. However, I did not know him in life as he died well before I was born and he would have had no link with this location in Cork, having been born in Kilkenny and dying in the north of England.
There have been times in my life where I believe a guardian angel could have been smiling down on me and protecting me, so I wonder if this was in fact my great great grandfather? Perhaps it was he who was visiting me, maybe with the spirit of a child inhabiting the house, and keeping watch over me? I will never know unless I see this while fully conscious. Until then it is all a matter of faith.