We recently received a few questions about the legitimacy of a group known as Opus Sanctorum Angelorum (Work of the Holy Angels) which promulgates devotion to the Holy Angels based on a movement started by an Austrian housewife and mystic named Gabrielle Bitterlich (1896-1978).I am happy to report that after a few initial wrinkles in the process, this group was afforded the status of public association of the faithful in 2008 by the Church. However, some splinter groups are continuing to cause problems for this organization.
As this article in L’Osservatore Romano explains, Opus Agelorum spreads devotion to the angels by exhorting them to frequently venerate and invoke the angels, to pray for priests, and promote love for Christ in his Passion. Since its inception in 1949, it has spread around the world.
“The Opus Sanctorum Angelorum came into being in Innsbruck, Austria, in 1949. Mrs Gabriele Bitterlich, spouse and mother of three children, was at the origin of this movement. From 1949, she developed an ever clearer personal awareness that Our Lord Jesus Christ wanted the faithful to venerate and invoke the holy angels more, and to open themselves for their powerful help. Genuine Christian that she was, she was always determined to submit herself in all things to the authority of the Church,” the article states.
According to the Catholic News Agency (CNA), the Vatican began investigating the movement after Bitterlich’s death in 1978 when certain followers, including priests and nuns, began circulating sensational theories about spiritual warfare based on her visions which Bitterlich claimed included the names and functions of the angels in Heaven. Some of the information she allegedly received about the world of the Angels, their personal names, their groups and functions, were not found in Sacred Scripture or Tradition.
When informed of these discrepancies, the organization quickly corrected them. As a result, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith gave their approval of the movement.
“Because the Opus Angelorum has obeyed the Church, abandoning those teachings and the practices arising from them, it is today quite rightly regarded as an ecclesial movement called to collaborate, by means of its own proper charism, in the evangelizing and saving mission of the Church,” the Vatican stated.
Accordingly, local bishops can welcome the Opus Angelorum in their dioceses.
However, they warn that some ex-members of Opus Angelorum, including some priests, are continuing to follow the banned practices of Bitterlich.
As CNA reports, “The Vatican is concerned that these ex-members may attempt to ‘deceive’ Catholics into engaging in practices that the Vatican has prohibited, including referring to the angels by the names allegedly revealed to Bitterlich, and receiving Communion multiple times in one day.”
In its letter regarding the approval of Opus Angelorum, the Vatican warned bishops about the “very discrete propaganda” being employed by members of this wayward movement which presents itself as being in full communion with the Church.
The best way to protect oneself from falling victim to these rogue groups is to become educated in Church teaching about the angels from Church approved sources, such as Scripture and the Catechism.
Father Paul Haffner, a theologian at the Regina Apostolorum University in Rome who has studied the Opus movement, told CNA that there is nothing wrong with venerating angels. It’s when veneration crosses into worship that problems arise.
"Worship," Father Haffner explained, "must always be Christ-centered."
Devotion to saints and angels, must be limited to "reverence," he said, and this reverence can be shown through a consecration or dedication to the angels similar to what is promoted by Opus Angelorum.
He added that the Church does not sanction the use of names for angels other than those angels specifically named in Scripture.
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