Do pregnant women have two guardian angels? 

A good friend of mine, who happens to be pregnant, insists she has an extra guardian angel: one for her and one for the unborn baby. But does St. Thomas agree? 

November 17, 2023

Do pregnant women have two guardian angels? 

A good friend of mine, who happens to be pregnant, insists she has an extra guardian angel: one for her and one for the unborn baby. But does St. Thomas agree? 

Well, yes and no. 

Saint Thomas teaches that each individual is assigned an angel to protect and guide him. But when does this assignment happen? 

Saint Thomas early in his writing career says this:

[Unborn children] are subject to the works of God and of the angels. 

And thus, from the time of the infusion of the rational soul a guardian angel is assigned to them to prevent demonic power from harming them and to ward off the many impediments by which a child's constitution can be worsened such that it becomes more prone to sinning or even that its very life is lost…

There are a few important insights we can glean from this passage. 

First, Thomas teaches that angels and demons can play a part in forming the constitution of an unborn baby. 

For example, a demon may influence a child’s constitution to make them more prone to sins of anger and a guardian angel may do the opposite or at least hinder the demon from doing as much as he would. 

Second, Thomas teaches that guardian angels protect the very life of the baby from demonic assault. 

Third, Thomas teaches that an angel is assigned to guard a baby in the womb when he receives a rational soul. 

So it seems like my friend is correct in saying that she has two guardian angels. However, later in Thomas’ career while he is writing the Summa he says this:

As long as the child is in the mother’s womb it is not entirely separate, but by reason of a certain intimate tie, is still part of her: just as the fruit while hanging on the tree is part of the tree. 

And therefore it can be said with some degree of probability, that the angel who guards the mother guards the child while in the womb. 

But at its birth, when it becomes separate from the mother, an angel guardian is appointed to it; as Jerome… says.

Thomas still thinks that angels are important for the protection and development of the child in utero, however in the Summa he follows the teaching of St. Jerome who believes that angels are assigned at birth and not during pregnancy. 

Thomas here believes that the guardianship of the mother’s angel is sufficient for the mother and child during the pregnancy. 

However, he does not say this with absolute certainty, but only with “some degree of probability.” 

To conclude, this question is a difficult one and not even Saint Thomas presents us with a definite answer. Both solutions cannot be true, but either one can be safely held by a faithful Catholic. 

Regardless of when the angels are assigned, we should remember them in our daily prayer and thank them for the innumerable benefits they bestow upon us. 

Thanks for reading, 

The Daily Thomist