Acts 12:15
But they said to her: Thou art mad. But she affirmed that it was so. Then said they: It is his angel.
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- At illi dixerunt ad eam : Insanis. Illa autem affirmabat sic se habere. Illi autem dicebant : Angelus ejus est.
- Greek New Testament (SBLGNT)
- οἱ δὲ πρὸς αὐτὴν εἶπαν· Μαίνῃ. ἡ δὲ διϊσχυρίζετο οὕτως ἔχειν. οἱ δὲ ἔλεγον· Ὁ ἄγγελός ἐστιν αὐτοῦ.
Haydock's commentary
Thou art mad, or talkest idly.
Then said they, it is his Angel. It seems ridiculous to translate here a messenger. Does a messenger speak with the very voice of him that sends him? St. Chrysostom2 and others on this place observe, that they believed that every one, at least of the faithful, hath a good Angel. (Witham)
"If proper Angels," saith St. Chrysostom, (T. iii. hom. 7. in laud. Paul.) "be deputed by our Lord to such as have only charge of their own existence, (as Israel said, Genesis xlviii. 16. the Angel that delivereth me from all evils, bless these boys) much more are super-human spirits at hand to help those unto whom the charge and burden of the world is committed." Such persons as can believe that God permits evil spirits to tempt us, can find no difficulty surely in believing that the same good, just, and merciful Creator will permit good spirits to guide, protect, and assist us. Repeated proofs of both are found in holy writ. The learned Protestant commentator, Polus, on this text, says: Hujusmodi visis assueverat eo tempore Ecclesia, quæ etiam novit fideles præsidio angelorum esse circumseptos. The Church at that period had been accustomed to similar apparitions, nor is she ignorant that the faithful are secured by the protection of Angels. (T. iv. p. 1494.)
2 It is his Angel. St. Chrysostom on these words, hom. xxvi. Ex hoc verum est quod unusquisque Angelum habet; alethes oti ekastos Aggelon echei.
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
Origen Origen's Commentary on Matthew, Chapter XXVIII
With reference to the words, “ When through the laver I became a child in Christ, ” it may be said, that there is no holy angel present with those who are still in wickedness, but that during the period of unbelief they are under the angels of Satan; but, after the regeneration, He who has redeemed us with His own blood consigns us to a holy angel, who also, because of his purity, beholds the face of God. And a third exposition of this passage might be something like the following, which would say, that as it is possible for a man to change from unbelief to faith, and from intemperance to temperance, and generally from wickedness to virtue, so also it is possible that the angel, to whom any soul has been entrusted at birth, may be wicked at the first, but afterwards may at some time believe in proportion as the man believes, and may make such advance that he may become one of the angels …
St John Chrysostom A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, Homily XXVI on Acts xii. 1, 2
“ At that time,” of course meaning the time immediately following: for this is the custom of Scripture. And he well says that Herod “the king” (did this): this was not he of Christ’s time. Lo, a different sort of trial, and mark what I said in the beginning, how things are blended, how rest and trouble alternate in the whole texture of the history, not now the Jews, nor the Sanhedrim, but the king. Greater the power, the warfare more severe, the more it was done to obtain favor with the Jews. “And,” it says, “he slew James the brother of John with the sword:” (taking him) at random and without selection. …
St John Chrysostom A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles, Homily XXVI on Acts xii. 1, 2
(Recapitulation.) “At that time,” it says, “Herod the king stretched forth his hands to afflict certain of the Church.” ( v. 1 .) Like a wild beast, he attacked all indiscriminately and without consideration. This is what Christ said: “My cup indeed ye shall drink, and with the baptism wherewith I am baptized, shall ye be baptized.” ( Mark x. 39 .) ( b ) “And he killed James the brother of John.” ( v. 2 .) For there was also another James, the brother of the Lord: therefore to distinguish him, he says, “The brother of John.” Do you mark that the sum of affairs rested in these three, especially Peter and James? ( a ) And how was it he did not kill Peter immediately? It mentions the reason: “it was the day of unleavened bread:” and he wished rather to make a display ( ἐκπομπεὕσαι ) with the killing of him. “And when he saw it pleased the Jews.” ( v. …
St John Cassian The Conferences of John Cassian. Part I. Containing Conferences I-X, Chapter XVII. Of the fact that two angels always cling to every man
For Holy Scripture bears witness that two angels, a good and a bad one, cling to each one of us. And of the good ones the Saviour says: “Do not despise one of these little ones; for I say unto you that their angels in heaven do always behold the face of thy Father which is in heaven:” and this also: “the angel of the Lord shall encamp round about them that fear Him, and deliver them.” Moreover this also which is said in the Acts of the Apostles, of Peter, that “it is his angel.” But of both sorts the book of the Shepherd teaches us very fully. But if we consider about him who attacked the blessed Job we shall clearly learn that it was he who always plotted against him but never could entice him to sin, and that therefore he asked for power from the Lord, as he was worsted not by his (Job’s) virtue but by the Lord’s protection which ever shielded him. …
The Fathers are given as they wrote. Where a passage lays the Passion on the Jewish people, the Church teaches that it cannot be charged against all the Jews then living, nor against the Jews of today, and that all sinners were its authors (CCC 597, 598).