cover the
proper methods to make perfect the good of virtue; this the
Philosopher (Ethic. vi) attributes to prudence. As regards the first,
God guards man immediately by infusing into him grace and virtues; as
regards the second, God guards man as his universal instructor, Whose
precepts reach man by the medium of the angels, as above stated (Q.
111, A. 1).

Reply Obj. 3: As men depart from the natural instinct of good by
reason of a sinful passion, so also do they depart from the
instigation of the good angels, which takes place invisibly when they
enlighten man that he may do what is right. Hence that men perish is
not to be imputed to the negligence of the angels but to the malice
of men. That they sometimes appear to men visibly outside the
ordinary course of nature comes from a special grace of God, as
likewise that miracles occur outside the order of nature.
_______________________

SECOND ARTICLE [I, Q. 113, Art. 2]

Whether Each Man Is Guarded by an Angel?

Objection 1: It would seem that each man is not guarded by an angel.
For an angel is stronger than a man. But one man suffices to guard
many men. Therefore much more can one angel guard many men.

Obj. 2: Further, the lower things are brought to God through the
medium of the higher, as Dionysius says (Coel. Hier. iv, xiii). But
as all the angels are unequal (Q. 50, A. 4), there is only one angel
between whom and men there is no medium. Therefore there is only one
angel who immediately keeps men.

Obj. 3: Further, the greater angels are deputed to the greater
offices. But it is not a greater office to keep one man more than
another; since all men are naturally equal. Since therefore of all
the angels one is greater than another, as Dionysius says (Coel.
Hier. x), it seems that different men are not guarded by different
angels.

_On the contrary,_ On the text, "Their angels in heaven," etc. (Matt.
8:10), Jerome says: "Great is the dignity of souls, for each one to
have an angel deputed to guard it from its birth."

_I answer that,_ Each man has an angel guardian appointed to him.
This rests upon the fact that the guardianship of angels belongs to
the execution of Divine providence concerning men. But God's
providence acts differently as regards men and as regards other
corruptible creatures, for they are related differently to
incorruptibility. For men are not only incorruptible in the common
species, but also in the proper forms of each individual,