The Three Archangels: Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael

People are often surprised to learn how few angels Scripture actually names. There are countless angels in the Bible — “ten thousand times ten thousand” (Daniel 7:10) — but only three are given names in the Christian tradition. Three. And each one is named in connection with a particular work of God among us. Let me introduce you to them the way my grandmother introduced them to me, around her kitchen table, with the Bible open.

Michael — the one who protects

Michael is the warrior. He is named as “the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people” (Daniel 12:1), and in Revelation 12:7 it is “Michael and his angels” who fight the dragon and cast him down. In Jude 9 he contends with the devil himself — and even there, he claims no power of his own, but says “The Lord rebuke thee.”

Michael is the archangel the Church reaches for in the hour of fear and spiritual battle, and the one at the center of the famous prayer to Saint Michael. I have written at length about who Saint Michael is and why he stands against the chain.

Gabriel — the one who announces

Gabriel is the messenger. Where Michael fights, Gabriel speaks — he is sent to carry God’s most important words. He explains visions to Daniel (Daniel 8 and 9). He announces the birth of John the Baptist to Zacharias (Luke 1:19). And it is Gabriel who stands before Mary with the announcement that changed the world: “thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS” (Luke 1:31). When God has something that must be heard, Gabriel is the one who carries it.

Raphael — the one who heals

Raphael is named in the Book of Tobit, kept in the Catholic tradition my grandmother lived by. There he is sent to accompany a young man on a dangerous journey and to bring healing — his very name means “God heals.” He reveals himself as “one of the seven holy angels, which present the prayers of the saints” (Tobit 12:15). Raphael is associated with healing, safe travel, and the carrying of our prayers before God.

What they have in common — and the line never to cross

Notice the pattern: protection, the Word, healing. Three of the great needs of every human life, and an archangel named with each. But notice too what is true of all three — none of them acts on his own authority. Michael says “the Lord rebuke thee.” Gabriel carries God’s message. Raphael presents prayers to God; he does not answer them himself.

This is why the Church honors the archangels but does not pray to them as if they were gods. We thank God for them and ask Him for their help — the same line I draw in what the Bible says about guardian angels. Honor, yes. Worship, never. That belongs to God alone.

Their feast day

In the Western Church, the three archangels share a single feast — September 29, called Michaelmas. It is a good day to pray the prayer to Saint Michael, to give thanks for God’s messengers and healers, and to ask His protection over your home for the season ahead.

Walking under their protection

You do not command an archangel and you cannot summon one. You ask God, humbly, for the protection and help He sends through them:

1. Pray to God, naming the need — protection, a word, healing.
2. Keep a reminder near you. Many keep a Seal of Saint Michael close, the way my grandmother kept her crucifix — not a charm, a reminder of the prayer being prayed.
3. Honor the feast on September 29.

“What you carry was never yours. The chain ends here.”

And if, under all the prayer and protection, something still pulls at your family across the generations — that is the work I do at the Three-Gate Reading: naming the chain so the protection of God, carried by His angels, has somewhere to take hold.