02Knights Templar - Julian Emperor

SAINTS
Baptist (Luke 1: 11–20). Most importantly for Christians it is
Gabriel who is the messenger that tells Mary that she will give
birth to Jesus (Luke 1: 26–38). However, for Muslims,
Gabriel is also hugely important because it is Gabriel who appeared
to Mohammed in 610 AD in a cave near Mecca and
who instructed him to recite a number of verses that had been
sent by God. During the course of his life, Mohammed continued
to receive these verses and, after his death, they were
written down and given the title of the ‘Quran’. In fact, the
very meaning of the word Quran is recitation. Muslims refer
to Gabriel as Gibrail.
Because of his biblical role as a divine messenger he has in
recent years come to be seen as the patron saint of occupations
that relate to communications of any kind. In 1951, Pope
Pius XII officially decreed that the Archangel Gabriel was patron
saint of the telecommunications industries, including television
workers and telephonists. His patronage also extends
to postal workers and diplomats and even stamp collectors.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the importance of Gabriel’s role
in announcing the birth of Jesus, he is also viewed as a patron
saint of childbirth.
Although Gabriel is described as a saint, he is not imagined
as a mortal soul in heaven. Use of ‘saint’ in referring to him
simply denotes that he is viewed as ‘holy’ in the original sense
of the word ‘saint’. Traditionally the feast of the Archangel
Gabriel was celebrated on 24 March in the Western Church.
The Annunciation of Mary is celebrated on 25 March. In the
Eastern Church the feast of the Archangel Gabriel is held on
26 March. However, since 1969, his feast has been combined
with that of the Archangel Michael and All Angels on 29
September. This feast also includes the Archangel Raphael.
Raphael appears in the Old Testament in the Books of Enoch
•60•