as regards the number of orders, as six administer and three assist.

Dionysius, however, (Coel. Hier. xiv) declares that the multitude of
angels surpasses all the multitude of material things; so that, as the
superior bodies exceed the inferior in magnitude to an immeasurable
degree, so the superior incorporeal natures surpass all corporeal
natures in multitude; because whatever is better is more intended and
more multiplied by God. Hence, as the assistants are superior to the
ministers there will be more assistants than ministers. In this way,
the words "thousands of thousands" are taken by way of multiplication,
to signify "a thousand times a thousand." And because ten times a
hundred is a thousand, if it were said "ten times a hundred thousand"
it would mean that there are as many assistants as ministers: but
since it is written "ten thousand times a hundred thousand," we are
given to understand that the assistants are much more numerous than
the ministers. Nor is this said to signify that this is the precise
number of angels, but rather that it is much greater, in that it
exceeds all material multitude. This is signified by the
multiplication together of all the greatest numbers, namely ten, a
hundred, and a thousand, as Dionysius remarks in the same passage.
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QUESTION 113

OF THE GUARDIANSHIP OF THE GOOD ANGELS
(In Eight Articles)

We next consider the guardianship exercised by the good angels; and
their warfare against the bad angels. Under the first head eight
points of inquiry arise:

(1) Whether men are guarded by the angels?

(2) Whether to each man is assigned a single guardian angel?

(3) Whether the guardianship belongs only to the lowest order of
angels?

(4) Whether it is fitting for each man to have an angel guardian?

(5) When does an angel's guardianship of a man begin?

(6) Whether the angel guardians always watch over men?

(7) Whether the angel grieves over the loss of the one guarded?

(8) Whether rivalry exists among the angels as regards their
guardianship?
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FIRST ARTICLE [I, Q. 113, Art. 1]

Whether Men Are Guarded by the Angels?

Objection 1: It would seem that men are not guarded by the angels.
For guardians are deputed to some because they either know not how,
or are not able, to guard themselves, as children and the sick. But
man is able to guard himself by his free-will; and knows how by his
natural knowledge of natural