REGINA ANGELORUM is dedicated to Our Lady of Angels — nine choirs of Angels, distributed into three hierarchies. They are the Seraphim (Isaias vi. 2), the Cherubim (Gen. iii. 24), the Thrones; Dominations, Principalities, Powers (Coloss. i. 6); the Virtues, Archangels, and Angels (Eph. i. 2).
The devotion to the Holy Angels —that hierarchy, with its nine glorious choirs distinctly named in Holy Writ—of which so many masterpieces of art are magnificent exponents, is nourished as a household virtue by the lovely Sodality of the Guardian Angels, by which our youths and maidens are initiated into the spirit of more advanced devotion and practices.
THE meaning of the word Angel is messenger. That name is given to those pure spirits because such is the relation they bear to God and us. Their principal duty, however, is the same as the office of the blessed in heaven to see, love, bless, and enjoy God for ever and ever.