Page 146 - 聖母軍團員手冊（英文版，2014年5月-2022年1月更新版）

Legion HANDBOOK D10944_1 26/02/2014 15:53 Page 141

CHAPTER 24 THE PATRONS OF THE LEGION 141

7. THE HEAVENLY POWERS, MARY’S LEGION
OF ANGELS

“Regina Angelorum! Queen of the Angels! What enchant -
ment, what a foretaste of heaven it is to think thus of Mary
our mother ceaselessly accompanied by legions of angels!” (Bl.
John XXIII.)
“Mary is the general of the armies of God. The angels form
the most glorious troops of her who is terrible as an army set
in battle array!” (Boudon: The Angels.)
From the first, the angels were invoked in the Legion
prayers. The form followed was:

St. Michael, Archangel, pray for us.
Our Holy Guardian Angels, pray for us.
In this one must suppose that the Legion was guided, for
the closeness of the angels’ relation to the Legion was not then
so clearly seen. As time went on, the appropriateness of the
recourse to the angels became more and more evident. It was
realised that the angels are a heavenly counterpart of the
legionary campaign. This alliance has different aspects. Every
legionary, active and auxiliary, has a guardian angel who fights
blow for blow at his side. In a sense that battle means more to
the angel than to the legionary, for the angel perceives vividly
the issues at stake: God’s glory and the value of the immortal
soul. So the interest of the angel is most intense, and his
support unfailing. But all the other angels are likewise
concerned in this warfare. For instance, all those for whom the
Legion works have their guardian angels who lend their help.
In addition, the entire angelic army hastens to the scene.
For our battle is part of the main struggle which from the first
they have maintained against Satan and his minions.
An impressive place is assigned to the angels in both the
Old and the New Testaments where there are several hundred
references to them. They are represented as paralleling the
human warfare and as having an intimate protective office in
regard to men. They inter vene at important junctures. The