The Angelic Mind and Mode of Expression

As pure spirits the Angels are created intelligences, altogether above matter and free from any essential relation to it, both in their existence and their operation. In this respect the Angels are specifically above the human soul which, even though of a spiritual nature, is not a pure spirit and a complete nature, but is naturally ordained to inform a human body and to constitute one individual substance with it. Even though spiritual and immortal by nature, the human soul, in this life, depends in a very large measure on the human body for its operations.
All the Angels are endowed with intellect and free will. No pure spirit is conceivable without these natural faculties. The Angels are commonly called "minds," "intelligences" by theologians and philosophers. Dionysius calls them "celestial intelligences," "intellectual beings," "supercelestial beings," etc. Exalted knowledge and intelligence are the most outstanding qualities of an Angel according to human standards. Thus, in praising David's wisdom, the woman from Thecua could not find a similar intelligence here on earth and compared it to that of an Angelic mind: "Thou, my lord, O King, art wise, according to the wisdom of an Angel of God."[1]
In calling the Angels "minds" and "intelligences" we do not mean to limit the Angelic nature to the intellect but we rather wish to stress the power of the Angelic perception, superior by far to our own both in itself and in its mode of operation. We speak here of the natural knowledge of the Angels, the one which is proportioned to their condition of pure spirits; and we abstract, for the time being, from their present condition of comprehensors in which a Godlike, more sublime knowledge is imparted to them through the light of glory. The natural intelligence of an Angel is common to both the good and the fallen angels, the demons. "Although an Angel's intellect is not his own substance, just as our intellects are not our own substances, yet he possesses such penetration, that he is able, at one glance, to take in the whole field of science lying open to his perception, just as we, at a glance, can take in the entire field of vision lying exposed to our eyes."[2]
Our human mind comes into possession of knowledge by a gradual and laborious process. It requires first of all a number of years of physical development for the proper operation. It rises slowly from single sensible perceptions to general ideas of things and finally to abstract truth. The Angelic intellect, entirely free and independent from matter and senses, needs no such development. It is in the full possession of its power from the very beginning of its existence. There is no need of gathering elements of knowledge bit by bit, of adding ideas to ideas in order to discover truth, as is the case with us. Having been created in the full perfection of its nature, the Angelic mind neither develops by gradual growth nor does it suffer any decay; its knowledge does not pass by consecutive steps from the haze of the morning to the splendor of the noonday brightness. From the beginning of its existence it was able to grasp the objects within its own sphere and advert to them without any fatigue in the process, moving in the dazzling light of the purely spiritual world as in its proper element. Its light is not subject to waning into twilight or disappearing into darkness, as is the case, unfortunately, with the human mind in this life.
Being by nature higher than man and much closer to God, the Angels receive more of His light, that is, a greater power of understanding, infused ideas, mind-pictures representing external objects, the spiritual and material creatures of this universe.
The process of Angelic knowing and understanding seems to consist in a placid gazing on these ideas or mind-pictures existing within its intellect from the beginning, actuated either by the Angelic will, or the need of the moment.
There is no room for obscurity or error in the Angelic process of understanding. Obscurity and doubts often cloud human knowledge and understanding because of human passions and the senses. Even though enriched with all the necessary ideas from the beginning, the Angelic mind is capable of advancing in knowledge and able to learn about new events, as they occur, either through Divine Revelation or through illumination from Angels of a superior Order, or even through men.[3]
We must admit that what we have laid down about Angelic knowledge and similar questions of the Angelic life are no more than pure conjectures based on theological and philosophical principles and a few data of Revelation. "The comprehension of the Angelic intellect and its mode of operation is a subject of speculation, concerning which our limited mind is at a decided disadvantage. The Schoolmen have practically exhausted the capacity of the human intellect along these lines. As of faith we need only hold that the Angels are not endowed with cardiognosis [knowledge of the secrets of the heart] nor with a certain knowledge of future acts of the free will; these being exclusively divine prerogatives. It follows that their knowledge of the thoughts and future free actions of men is purely conjectural and can at most engender only moral certitude."[4]