Traditional
The prayer children learn first
Angele Dei, qui custos es mei, me tibi commíssum pietáte supérna, illúmina, custódi, rege et gúberna.
Angel of God, who are my guardian, to whom the goodness of God has entrusted me: enlighten me, guard me, rule me and govern me.
Amen.
SourceTraditional · The prayer children learn first
Read the piece it comes from →The Angele Dei comes from medieval England. It was long attributed to St Anselm; scholars now link it to Reginald of Canterbury, a Benedictine monk of the eleventh and twelfth centuries, whose Life of St Malchus contains an almost identical prayer: “Angele, qui meus es custos pietate superna…”.
Pope Pius VI attached indulgences to it in 1795. The feast of the Holy Guardian Angels is on 2 October. English-speaking children usually learn it in the rhymed form “Angel of God, my guardian dear”; this page gives a literal translation of the Latin.
“Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God's love commits me here, ever this day be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.”
Yes. The Catechism teaches that from infancy to death human life is surrounded by the angels' watchful care and intercession (no. 336).
On 2 October.