Angels Don’t Sing! Or at least that is my proposition. When I say this to people they usually respond. “Of course angels sing, you are just plain wrong.” I would like to challenge you to find that I am wrong. Perhaps I am. But why do I say that angels don’t sing? A number of reasons:
1. There is no Scriptural verse that I have ever read that describes them as singing. Even in the classic Christmas scene where we depict them as singing “Glory to God in the Highest,” the text says that they SAY the song not that they sing it (cf. Luke 2:13). If you can find a Scripture text that shows the angels singing please share it, but I’ve looked for years and can’t find it. Here too I state this humbly and may be wrong. If so you will help me.
2. The catechism never says that angels sing.
3. The liturgy of the Church does not seem to indicate that angels sing. Perhaps the closest that we come are the prefaces. There is reference to the “song of the angels” (the Holy, Holy, Holy) but they are said to “say” this song. The most common ways of describing what they do regarding the heavenly hymn and what we join in with are phrases such as: Sine fine dicentes (saying, without end), Clamantes (shouting), in gaudio confitentes (declaring in joy), Concinunt – This is about as close as the Latin gets to saying they sing. It can be translated “they sing” but can also be translated “they agree in saying” or “they say together.” There is also a phrase that comes up in the prefaces which says, cumque omni militia caelestis exercitus hymnum gloriae tuae canimus (and with all the heavenly hosts we sing the hymn of your glory). But the we who sing is us. That the angels are referred to as singing is not clear. It may well be a gloss on Psalm 137:1 In the sight of the angels I will sing your praises Lord.
4. I cannot say I have comprehensive knowledge of the Fathers of the Church so here I cannot definitively declare they never indicate that angels sing. Perhaps you can assist in this regard?
5. Though there are references to nine “choirs” of angels, the word choir here means “order” or “group.”
6. It would also seem that, having no bodies, they cannot sing. For to sing is to cause the vocal cords to vibrate, causing the air to vibrate as well. While it is true that angels are said to talk, and do other things such as blow trumpets, it is unclear if this is meant literally or analogously. It is possible that humans hearing or seeing angels were enabled to do this through a temporary grace which was not hearing or seeing in the conventual sense as though the angels had actual physical bodies. (However, St. Thomas effectively argues that angels do sometimes assume bodies, (Pars Prima, 51.1)). Even if this is the case, they are still never said to sing.
So here is my proposition, “Angels don’t sing.” I will further state that singing is a particular glory of the human person. The capacity is unique to us, a very special gift. In the heavenly liturgy I propose to you that it is we who will sing, and not the angels.
This is only a proposition! I have thought about it for years. I do not declare it with pride as though I am certain I am right. But for the reasons stated I want to propose this for your consideration. How say you?
Spoil sport!
Of course they sing – just ’cause I want them to!
Jania locuta, Causa finitia ??
Yes! Very kind of you to acknowledge it!
Scripture is replete with references to angels speaking … if angels can speak, why can’t they sing?
Well, I don’t know. We might ask the same of some people
More seriously, I can’t answer the question. I am just pondering why angels are not said to sing as far as I can see. And I don’t know why this is so but I think it is just fascinating that one of the main things we associate with angels is not from what I can tell, said of them. Again, perhaps someone will prove me wrong. These comments have already proposed two scripture quotes but alas, they do not seem to tip the argument.
So, when people don’t sing at Mass, they’re being angels?
LOL!
Rev.4
[8] And the four living creatures(Seraphim), each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all round and within, and day and night they never cease to sing, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!”
Here is the verse from the CRSV that states they SING
“LaLaLa”
April,
Yes, I have seen the passage before and pondered that a few translations render it “sing” However, the usually reliabale RSV seems to take libertes with the Greek here translating the Greek word legontes (lego) as sing. Lego is quite plainly translated as “say or speak” . Further, my understanding of the four living creatures is that they represent all creation. They may or may not be angels per se, that is a matter of some debate. At any rate I am grateful for your contribution. It comes close but I don’t think it really resolves the puzzlement that biblically the verb “sing” does not have an angel or angels for its subject!
The Douay-Rheims translates it as follows “And the four living creatures had each of them six wings; and round about and within they are full of eyes. And they rested not day and night, saying: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come.”
Msgr –
Interesting that it is never mentioned that angels sing…
As far as sound, though: Isaiah 6:4 (in my New Jerusalem Bible) states that the sound shook door posts (those were the seraphs, though)-interesting that they used tongs to pick up fire (aren’t they they “burning ones.”
I am not a big singer in Mass, but if angels do not, then I probably need to.
Always a joy to read your blog.
Pax -
Seraphs are angels. Though the text does not say they sing but rather that they shout or cry out to one another Holy, Holy, Holy. Your point is that there is a physical sound that is able to shake the door etc. This may thus indicate as you say that they, though spirits are able to make physical sound. It also depends on whether Isaiah is speaking analogously or not. In other words does heaven have physical door posts etc It’s a fun debate that usually has no real resolution. I think it must be true to say that Heaven is a physical place and not just a “state of mind” as some modernists think. Even if some could argue that God and the angels are pure spirits who need no space to exist, nevertheless, Jesus’ physical and glorified body is there, so is Mary’s. So possibly is Enoch’s and Elijah’s body. So too will our be one day after the last trumpet. So we surely don’t want to spiritualize all of heaven and render it purely immaterial.
I had made the comment about the seraphs only because they would of course have the most powerful voice of the angels. Poorly worded, for I know they are angels.
I had read the Temple as being the physical Temple, not the heavenly. Re-reading I can see my error. That will teach me to try to make an interpretation of the Old Testament…
Pax -
Just to help stir the pot and murk the waters.
Perhaps it is not that angels sing per se, but that they have “angelic” voices. By angelic, we usually mean pure and true, resonating most beautifully (perhaps as the truth of what the angels so beautifully say resonates in our hearts.) When men do hear the words of the angels, perhaps it is so beautiful and “melodic” that we have dubbed it singing, but only in a round about way, never actually saying angels sing. Several times in the Bible men mistake angels for gods. By way of analogy we compare that which the angels do (how they communicate) to the most intelegent and beautiful mode in which man comunicates truth.
Yes, quite interesting thoughts here. It doesn’t exactly answer my question but recasts it well in a way that is less polar and more inclusive.
Whew…asking a Baptist their opinion sometimes has some very vehiment reponses. He wanted me to mention that Job 38:7 tells us that during the creation of the world, it was “to the joyful concert of the morning stars and unanimous acclaim of the sons of God.” He explained that the belief that stars at the time were “heavenly powers,” which sounds like the description of a power.
I also saw that Revelation reference was made. However, I am not sure what type of angel that would be (or even if an angel). It sounds like a cross between the seraphs and cherubs.
Pax -
Job 38:7 may be good evidence. It’s not a slam dunk though. I am NOT a Hebrew scholar however the Hebrew word “brn” is translated in my Hebrew interlinear as “they made jubilation” However it is also true that most modern translations render it “sang” and I would suppose that they are surely better at Hebrew than I
The Douay Rheims however renders it “they praised” as do a few other translations indicating to me that there is some ambiguity in the verb.
As to the morning stars referring to angels, this too is a widely held opinion and I would not tend to doubt it. But again there are some who do.
So in the end we may have a text that refers to angels singing here. I wish it were stronger and less open to interpretation at at least two levels. However, let’s put it on the board and hope a Hebrew scholar might chime in.
As luck would have it, I read the book by Peter Kreeft once again over Lent, “Angels and Demons.” It is great food for thought. As angels are pure spirit and can “assume” or “take on” the essence of material beings, they are able to eat, speak, wrestle (!), and so on. I too meditate that Guardian angels can “disobey” the laws of physics as they are not bound by our rules (bi-location, for example). As Kreeft says, they are truly “aliens” in the sense of physical presence and are almost always said to be “awesome” and often begin their conversations with us by saying, “Fear not” (indicating an astonishing presence!).
I had not thought of your point. However, if they are allowed to take on physical presence, and as no two angels are identical (see Kreeft for a fuller discussion; each angel is in essence a unique being), I can’t see why they can’t sing. It just may be that they are not recorded in Scripture specifically as singing.
By the way, Monsignor, I get a lot of searches for “Guardian angels.” That indicates to me that the spiritual warfare going on now is reaching astonishing proportions. That is not solely my view; it is taken from Kreeft who says the same thing in his book. And, the battle is violent. See “The New Theological Movement” blog today for a discussion on Saint Michael.
Love your blog!
Pax tecum!
D.v.
Yes, as I point out the St. Thomas indicates that they can and do assume physical form at times. I would not assert that they cannot sing, but propose that they do not sing. I propose this only due to the apparent silence of scripture on this point with the possible exception of the Job text above which is not exactly clear.
If Angels don’t sing, then we need to change the Exultet
Rejoice, heavenly powers! Sing, choirs of angels!
Exult, all creation around God’s throne!
Jesus Christ, our King, is risen!
Sound the trumpet of salvation!
Peace and Blessings
Well not exactly. The Latin does not indicate that they sing but says they exsult: Exsúltet iam angélica turba cælórum: exsúltent divína mystéria:et pro tanti Regis victória tuba ínsonet salutáris. (Rejoice now, heavenly crowds of angels, let them rejoice in the divine mystery and for the King of so great a victory let the trumpet sound salvation). So exsultation yes, but not singing per se. Just another example of the poor ICEL translation we use.
I will go ahead and contest No. 3: The Roman Rite may make no reference to singing angels, but the Byzantine Rite surely does:
“Let us give thanks to the Lord.
R. It is proper and just to worship the Father, and the Son and the Holy spirit, the Trinity, one in substance and undivided.
V. It is proper and just to sing hymns to You, to bless You, to praise You, to thank You, to worship You in every place of Your kingdom; for You are God ineffable, inconceivable, invisible, incomprehensible, ever existing, yet ever thesame, You and Your only-begotten Son and Your Holy Spirit; you brought us forth from nonexistence into being and raise us up again when we had fallen, and left nothing undone, until You brought us to heaven and bestowed upon us Your fur\ture kingdom. For all this we give thanks to You, and to Your only-begotten Son, and to Your Holy Spirit, for all that we know and that we do not know, the manifest and the hidden benefits bestowed upon us. We thank You also for this liturgy, which You have willed to accept from our hands, even though there stand before You thousands of archangels, tens of thousands of angels, Cherubim and Seraphim, six-winged, many-eyed, soaring aloft on their wings
Singing, shouting crying out and saying the triumphal hymn:
Holy, Holy Holy [etc.] . . .”
Fair enough. Only question, would the English translation you are referring to reflect the Greek. I am just not sure where the official text of the Eastern Church’s come from. I see so many different translations and don’t know what is considered authoritative. For example I have a recording of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom that renders it: “Though there stand by Thee thousands of Angels……(et al.) singing the triumphant hymn: shouting proclaiming and saying: Holy …..” Now this could mean that the way they “sing” the triumphant hymn is by shouting , proclaiming and saying it.
At any rate I realize I may sound arugmentative here in this but I do puzzle over what is being said here and wonder if there is an official rendering of the Greek Text.
But nevertheless chalk up another chink in the armor of my proposition that can use further study!
How could you be in God’s glory and not?!
I once read a book about Angels by Billy Graham and I remember him saying something that stuck with me. Whether Angels can sing or not, there is one song they’ll never be able to sing because it belongs to us: the song of those who have been redeemed.
Yes, I had thought to mention the song of the 144,000 in heaven.
What about in the liturgy prior to the “Holy, Holy” — “and so with all the choirs of angels in heaven, we proclaim your glory and join in their unending hymn of praise. . . ” ?
I asked my guardian angel not to let me oversleep one morning years ago and after I had hit the snooze button and gone back to sleep I was awakened by this very pleasant male voice singing a hymn to the guardian angels I had learned in grade school: “Dear Angel ever at my side. How loving must thou be to leave thy home in heaven to guide a little child like me. . . . ” I believe they sing.
That there is a hymn in heaven is not in dispute. But the angels say or procalim that hymn. The wording of the prefaces wherein your quote comes from indicate that. I too would tend to believe that angels can sing. I just remain a little surprised at how threadbare the evidence that they sing is.
Actually, Monsignor, I never noticed any of this until reading your blog — it is something to think about. Maybe the proclaiming that the angels do in heaven is something even better than saying or singing and we just can’t conceive of it yet. In Gabrielle Bossis’ account of Jesus’ words to her in the book “He and I” (again private revelation) Jesus says something about the colors of Heaven and billions of harmonies unknown to us in this life — something else to look forward to!
Not sure about this one….are the watchmen the angels or the prophets who are raising their voices?
Isaiah 52:8 – “The voice of thy watchmen: they have lifted up their voice, they shall praise together: for they shall see eye to eye when the Lord shall convert Sion”
I see someone already pointed out Job 38. It uses the word melody in my translation DRB. The sons of God in the Old Testament were the angels I think.
“When the morning stars praised me together, and all the sons of God made a joyful melody?”
Hark, the herald angels say…
Here’s my 2 cents piece:
As a wise man once said, sadly on earth, all is subject to finite human interpretation. Whether one interprets angelic voices as singing, which is more pleasant to human ears than just speaking, or not is irrelevant. The only things that matter in this world are those God’s gifts that lifts our souls closer to God and to us, many humans, singing does. I believe that God must have given the same, perhaps even a higher degree, of singing gift to the angels, if not for His sake but for us, humans, whom He loves to make happy. For now, I’ll just concentrate on loving God with my own sometimes-off-key-singing and getting to heaven, where I will or will not hear the angels sing.
I was listening to the radio tonight and I heard a preacher say “Angels do not sing!!!!” It struck me…I had never heard this before. I looked up every bible verse this preacher mentioned (KJV), plus some, and he was right. I find it quite interesting
A friend of mine had worked as a teacher of Catechism and Kindergarten in her past so we occasionally share theological viewpoints.
When I recently told her of the post; including the place where Scripture tells us that the angels said their lines; her reply was that she suspects that angels have no need to sing. They may well be so musical in their nature that we’ve had to create music (including singing) in attempt to imitate something which comes natural to them.
This may be purely speculative but, it gives me a very warm feeling about how wonderous God’s creativity is.
I believe all of creation sings and angels are created beings. They reflect their Creator in this way. The bible speaks of trees clapping their hands and mountains joyfully responding. This is allegorical I know but God is giving us a peek behind a curtain so to speak to see things our humanity limits us from seeing.
I think the point you are missing in the story of the angels in Bethlehem is that you are putting the emphasis on the wrong word. You are focusing on the word “say” while ignoring the word PRAISE. Now let’s define praise: “the offering of grateful homage in words or song, as an act of worship: a hymn of praise to God.”
Song is an inseparable aspect of worship and praise. Can you just say, “Praise the Lord?” Absolutely. But logic must prevail here. When a host of angels appears PRAISING Christ, the words they said were recorded but the word PRAISE is the culprit that now makes us think in terms of song. How long can you give spoken praise before you break out into singing praise? The word Praise just melds into the word song and to approach the Christmas story on such a technicality is to rob the story of it’s joy.
When speaking of a hymn we refer to it’s words. We don’t say “it sings in hymn #5″ we say: “it says in hymn #5″ but it is still a hymn to be sung! It SAYS in the book of Psalms… Wait a minute! The psalms are songs! How come we don’t say: “it sings in Psalms?” You are being too technical and in doing so you are robbing yourself of a blessing in the Christmas story.
Blessings my friend and sing a song of praise to our Saviour today!
Well at some level you are right. However, the “define” means “to set limits,” hence to say everyone sings too easily means that no one sings, since to say everyone and everything sings would required a pretty loose “definition” of singing. The point of my article here isn’t so much to insist that angels don’t sing but to indicate that there is something unique about the human person. Hence I would prefer to stick to a strict definition of singing. As for the your notion that it would not seem fitting for the angels merely to say “Glory to God…” I agree. But strangely the text says they “say it.” I surely don’t intend to die on the hill of insisting angels don’t sing (they likely do in some non-corporeal way), but it is intriguing that the Scriptures seem not to use the verb “sing” in reference. It’s just interesting, that’s all. I wonder what it says about us?