SAINT MICHAEL
Archangel
(Feast)
St. Michael the Archangel cast down Satan from heaven with a cry, "Mikha'el;" meaning, "Who is like God?" St. Michael is a crucial intercessor - the defender of beleaguered souls. His loyalty to Christ is unparalleled; hence his fealty to humanity, among whom Christ is the First Born.
Thus he appears in Holy Scripture as the guardian of the children of Israel, their comfort and protector in times of sorrow or conflict. He prepares for their return from the Persian captivity, leads the valiant Maccabees to victory, and rescues the body of Moses from the envious grasp of the Evil One.
And since Christ's coming, the Church venerates St. Michael as her special patron and protector. She invokes him by name in her confession of sin, summons him to her children's side in the agony of death, and chooses him as their escort from the chastening flames of purgatory to the realms of holy light.
When the Antichrist sets up a kingdom on earth, St. Michael will unfurl the standard of the Cross, sound the last trumpet, bind together the false prophet and the beast, and hurl them into the burning pool for eternity.
Saint Gabriel
Archangel
(Feast)
Saint Gabriel, whose name means "God's strength," is mentioned four times in the Bible.
In Daniel 8, he explains the vision of the horned ram as portending the destruction of the Persian Empire by the Macedonian Alexander the Great, after whose death the kingdom will be divided up among his generals, from one of whom will spring Antiochus Epiphanes.
In chapter 9, after Daniel had prayed for Israel, we read that "the man Gabriel . . . flying swiftly touched me" and he communicated to him the mysterious prophecy of the "seventy weeks" of years which should elapse before the coming of Christ.
Most significant are Gabriel's two mentions in the New Testament: to announce the birth of John the Baptist to his father Zacharias, and to foretell to Mary the Incarnation of the Word in her womb.
Saint Raphael
Archangel
(Feast)
St. Raphael the Archangel is venerated in the Book of Tobit for miracles of healing, protection, and holy encounters. For these reasons, he is invoked by the Christian faithful, espcially for encounters leading to marraige. Raphael's name means "God has healed."
In the Book of Tobit, St. Raphael appears disguised in human form as the travelling companion of the younger Tobias, calling himself "Azarias, the son of the great Ananias." During the journey, the protective influence of St. Raphael is shown in many ways, including the binding "in the desert of upper Egypt" of the demon who had previously slain seven husbands of Sara, daughter of Raguel.
After their return, and the healing of the blindness of the elder Tobias, Azarias makes himself known as "the angel Raphael, one of the seven, who stand before the Lord" (Tobit 12:15).
His intercession is for everyone who calls out to him in faith.