Discourse on the Angels or Spirits of Empires

...an angel was not immediately sent to announce God's mercy to him; because for twenty-one days the Prince of the Persians resisted him, listing the sins of the Jewish people, arguing that they were justly held captive and should not be released. "And behold, Michael, one [of the chief princes]," etc. original: "Et ecce Michael unus". While the Angel of the Persians resisted your prayers and my mission—as I was offering your prayers to God—the Angel Michael, who watches over the people of Israel, came to my aid. By "chief princes," we understand the Archangels. "And I remained there beside the king of the Persians," etc. original: "Et ego remansi ibi juxta regem Persarum". He calls the "King of the Persians" an Angel, that is, a Prince: and he shows that he stayed for a little while beside Michael, who was speaking against the Prince of the Persians. And elsewhere Jerome Saint Jerome (c. 347–420 AD), a priest and theologian best known for translating the Bible into Latin (the Vulgate)., in his commentary on Ezekiel, chapter 28, states: "Provinces were handed over to Angels to be ruled, just as judges are appointed by an Emperor." So too says Rufinus Tyrannius Rufinus (c. 345–410 AD), a monk and historian who was a close friend of Jerome until they had a bitter theological falling out.—once the dearest friend of Saint Jerome (though later he became his rival)—in his Exposition of the Creed: "From the beginning, certain powers of the heavenly virtues were appointed as overseers, by whom the human race would be governed and managed." Indeed, God, in a most beautiful order, Justus Lipsius, Physiology of the Stoics, book 1, dissertation 10. and according to the nature or dignity of each, scattered them through this body of the Universe: "guarding" (says Damascenus John of Damascus (c. 675–749 AD), a Syrian monk and scholar.) "parts of the earth, and presiding over nations and places" original Greek: "φυλάττοντας μέρη τῆς γῆς, καὶ ἐθνῶν καὶ τόπων προϊσταμένους": caring for specific parts of the Earth, and serving as prefects over Peoples and locations.

Cardinal Bellarmine, On Ecclesiastical Writers, si. ft.? under the years 1400 to 1500. 6. Truly illustrious was Giovanni Pico, Count of Mirandola Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494), a brilliant Renaissance philosopher known for his "Oration on the Dignity of Man.", a man who, for his age, was the greatest in intellect and learning of the past century (for he lived only thirty-three years). According to the judgment of Bellarmine Robert Bellarmine (1542–1621), an influential Jesuit cardinal and scholar., it seems he lacked absolutely nothing except for maturity. In his work Against Astrology, book 4, chapter 4, he writes thus: "Just as God rules and moderates the elemental mass (being the lesser part) through the heavenly realm (which is the better part), so it is fitting for human affairs to be governed not by the mystery of physical bodies In this context, Pico is arguing against the idea that the stars or planets (astrology) control human fate., but by the mystery of Angels, who by their nature and dignity stand as mediators between us and God. Therefore, when you descend from God to the earth, descend through the heavens; when you descend from God to men, descend through the Angels." Thus, the angel,