Guardian Angel of Portugal


The Guardian Angel of Portugal is also referred to as the Angel of Portugal, the Holy Guardian Angel of Portugal, the Custodian Angel or the Angel of Peace. Portugal celebrates the feast of "the Angel of Portugal" on June 10.
The Angel allegedly made three 1916 appearances to the three children who soon claimed to experience a series of Marian apparitions during the 1917 Our Lady of Fátima events.

History

Construction began on Batalha Monastery in 1386. The east wall of the chapel had an altar dedicated to the Guardian Angel of Portugal. In 1504, by request of King Manuel I of Portugal, Pope Julius II created the feast of the Custodian Angel of the Kingdom, whose cult would already be ancient in Portugal.
Devotion to the Guardian Angel of Portugal almost disappeared after the 17th century but was restored in 1952, being inserted into the Portuguese Liturgical Calendar by Pius XII.
The angel made his first appearance in the Battle of Ourique, and its devotion gave such a victory to D. Afonso Henriques's forces on the Muslim invaders that gave him the opportunity to self-proclaim himself King of Portugal.

Apparitions in Fátima, 1916

In her Memoirs, the Portuguese Carmelite nun Sister Lúcia, seer of Our Lady of Fátima, tells that, between April and October, 1916, an angel appeared three times to her and to Francisco and Jacinta Marto, in Fátima, Portugal, inviting them to prayer and penitence. The angel identified himself as "the Angel of Peace" and "your country... Angel Guardian, the Angel of Portugal."
The children said the Angel of Peace taught them two prayers, the Theological Prayer and the Trinitarian Prayer.