The angels had not, at their creation, the beati­fying vision of God: that glory was won by them to a state of grace. This implies that their first state was a state of faith and of trial. To quote the famous allusion of St Augustine, "They had the evening light, but not the morning light." That they had a knowledge through faith of the blessed Trinity is the doctrine of all the divines. And, as St Thomas says, "What the prophets knew of the mysteries of grace through revela­tion was revealed in a more excellent way to the angels."
But was the eternal counsel on the mystery of the Incarnation in any manner communicated to them? That they adored the First-begotten at His entering the world we know; but had they been expecting this event from the first? Tak­ing the whole context of the passage in the first Epistle of St Peter, it seems evident that it was on the mystery of Christ that "the angels longed to look"; which implies a knowledge begun but not perfected, a knowledge through faith but not through insight of that sacred mystery.
Most certainly, the "primacy" of the God incarnate and His glorious reign over angels as over men are constantly asserted by St Paul; and the victory of the God incarnate over Satan and his sin, as over Adam and his sin, is the most exalted end in which their creation resulted. For by that victory, which was the work of eternal wisdom, as the creation was the work of infinite power, not only are the angels who by grace stood firm re-established, and man redeemed, but the greatest of glories, that was possible in created beings, was given to God, and both the angels and saints clothed with the splendour thereof. Hence St Paul says of Christ that "God has appointed Him the heir of all things," and that "He is the head of principalities and powers," as well as of men, and that it has well pleased the Father "through Him to reconcile all things unto Him­self, making peace through the blood of His cross, both as to the things that are on earth, and the things that are in heaven." And He made "the angels and powers and virtues sub­ject to Him." The angels, therefore, were most deeply interested in the Incarnation. And though St Paul seems to say that it was made known to them through the preaching of the Church, yet this cannot refer to their knowledge as derived from the eternal counsel of God, but only to its realization and the fruits it brought forth in time. For the angels administered to­wards its fulfilment under the Old Testament, and proclaimed it from heaven before it was preached in the Church.
St Ignatius in his Epistle to the Smyrneans intimates that the angels cannot be saved with­out faith in the blood of Christ. He says, "Let no man deceive himself: both the things which are in heaven, and the glorious angels and princes, whether visible or invisible, if they believe not in the blood of Christ, it is to their condemnation." And St Jerome, commenting on the Ephesians, says that "the Son of God descended to the lowest regions of the earth, and ascended above all the heavens, not only to fulfil the law and the prophets, but also to execute certain hidden dispensations which are known only to Him and to the Father. Nor can we know after what manner the blood of Christ has profited the angels. But yet we cannot be igno­rant that it did profit them."
St Bernard in his famous exposition of the Canticles asks how Christ could be redemption to the angels. And he briefly answers, "He who raised up man from his fall, gave to the angel who stood that he might not fall; thus He rescued man from captivity and protected the angels from captivity. And in that way was He equally a redemption to both, delivering the one and preserving the other. Thus it is plain that Christ the Lord was redemption to the holy angels, as He was their justice and wisdom and sanctification."
Supposing, then, that the angels had a know­ledge of the Incarnation, and that they read "in the head of the book" of that wondrous counsel in which they were so deeply concerned, then there follows another question: What was their trial, and by what occasion did Satan fall? It is clear from the sacred scriptures that the beginning of his fall was pride and ambition. But many of the Fathers teach that he completed his perdition through envy of the prerogatives of man. He envied his being made in the image of God he envied his dominion over the crea­tion; and, above all, he envied man in the head and prince of men, our Lord Jesus Christ. And thus he accumulated new crimes upon his head. As the angels are of a nobler creation than man by nature, it is difficult to suppose that Satan envied man except with reference to the Incarnation of the Son of God. But when he saw that man, born of a woman and "made a little lower than the angels," was made one with God by personal union with the eternal Son of God, it is easy to comprehend how, full of pride and ambition, he should burst forth in envy, rage and hatred at the revelation of so wonder­ful a mystery. To read more...