Fr. Frederick Faber, one of the English Oratorian Fathers (he was in the same community as St. John Henry Newman), wrote the lyrics for many hymns.  When trying to rebuild the Roman Catholic Church in England in the mid-1840s, Fr. Faber had the insight: they had none of their own hymns anymore.  English Catholics had been in survival mode—frighteningly literally—starting the reign of Henry VIII and continuing for almost three centuries.  Catholic culture had no room to flourish.  In 1829, Parliament passed the Catholic Emancipation Act, which allowed Catholics basic civil rights.  It included the ability to build churches again; Pope Pius IX restored the dioceses, parishes, and episcopal hierarchy in 1850, since all but two of the bishops in Henry VIII’s day had apostatized.  

Fr. Faber lived through these times of Emancipation and restoration.  He was convinced of a point that should drive us to care about our own liturgical music: what we sing matters.  Songs get in our heads (for better or for worse, in the Novus Ordo) but they are also vehicles for teaching theology and Catholic spirituality.  Songs accompany and support a devotion or liturgical season, and can create an emotional attachment as well.  Think of the affection of an Advent song, or hymns particular to Christmas.  Similarly, think of a Lenten hymn contrasted with an Easter hymn.  Here we come back to Fr. Faber’s motivation for writing hymns in English: our liturgical music matters.  The things we teach about our faith matter.  

One of the many things that mattered to Fr. Faber was teaching children.  This hymn was specifically written to encourage children’s devotion to their guardian angels.  Not all of the following verses were in full circulation; verses one, two, four, and five were the most commonly used.  

1. Dear Angel ever at my side
How loving must thou be,
To leave thy home in heaven to guide
A little child like me.

2. Thy beautiful and shining face
I see not, though so near;
The sweetness of thy soft low voice
I am too deaf to hear.

3. I cannot feel thee touch my hand
With pressure light and mild,
To check me, as my mother did
When I was but a child.

4. But I have felt thee in my thoughts
Fighting with sin for me:
And when my heart loves God, I know
The sweetness is from thee.

5. And when, dear Spirit! I kneel down
Morning and night to prayer
Something there is within my heart
Which tells me thou are there.

6. Yes! when I pray, thou prayest too
Thy prayer is all for me;
But when I sleep, thou sleepest not,
But watchest patiently.

7. But most of all I feel thee near,
When, from the good priest’s feet,
I go absolved, in fearless love,
Fresh toils and cares to meet.

8. Ah me! how lovely they must be
Whom God has glorified:
Yet one of them, O sweetest thought!
Is ever at my side.

9. And thou in life’s last hour wilt bring
A fresh supply of grace,
And afterwards wilt let me kiss
Thy beautiful bright face.

10. Then for thy sake, dear Angel! now
More humble will I be:
But I am weak, and when I fall,
Oh, weary not for me:

11. Oh, weary not, but love me still,
For Mary’s sake, thy Queen:
She never tired of me, though I
Her worst of sons have been.

12. She will reward thee with a smile;
Thou know’st what it is worth!
For Mary’s smiles each day convert
The hardest hearts on earth.

13. Then love me, love me, Angel dear!
And I will love thee more;
And help me when my soul is cast
Upon the eternal shore.

This hymn amounts to a mini catechetical course for children.  First, we must start seeing with the eyes of love and faith: most of us will never see our guardian angel this side of death.  The spiritual realm is no less real than the material, of which we need frequent reminding. 

Fr. Faber seems to slip in a reminder to say our prayers every morning and night.  But our guardian angels would heartily agree!  More than anything, they wish for us to one day join them in heaven.  Prayer brings us into union with God—that is, in the Father’s reckless love for us, He allows us a glimpse of heaven in prayer.  

After considering prayer, we get a reminder to go to confession in verse 7.  “Fresh toils and cares to meet” await us as soon as we set foot outside the confessional, but that comes with our guardian angel with us the entire time.  The ensuing verses acknowledge that we will fail.  This is an important note for the Catholic teaching on guardian angels.  They do not guarantee us not to sin nor do they make us impervious to harm.  To put a finer point on it, spiritual trials, physical suffering, and death itself are not failures on the part of our angels.  We might be tempted to think so while undergoing suffering.  ‘Where’s all this protection that I’m supposed to be getting?’  In fact, I believe that when we get to our judgment, we’ll be saying the opposite.  I think we’ll be floored by all of the instances that our guardian angel protected us without our knowledge.  

A foundational principle to maintain with our guardian angels is that they do not, in any way, deviate from God’s will.  They do not fail us, it is ourselves that turn away from God.  

For the feast of the guardian angels this October 2nd, take out Fr. Faber’s hymn and read it with your family.  Let the hymn take root in your heart.  Relish in the incredible love God has for us to bless us with a guardian angel—a love that our angel participates in as well!