In the AngelGuard app

The Household Vigil

A candle for each person you love, on an altar you tend with your own hand. Keep watch over them one evening at a time.

Open your altar

Opens the app if it is installed. Otherwise it takes you to the store.

How the vigil is kept

  1. 1

    Name the people you keep watch over

    A spouse, a child away from home, a parent in hospital, a friend who has stopped answering. Each one becomes a candle on your altar, with the intention you hold for them written beneath it.

  2. 2

    Light them yourself, each evening

    You strike the match and carry the flame to the wick. Every candle after the first is lit from the one before it, the way the new fire is passed through a church at the Easter Vigil.

  3. 3

    The bell rings when a candle needs you

    A candle burns for a day and then rests as cool wax. At the hour you choose, the Vesper Bell rings once if anyone on your altar is waiting for you. It never rings twice, and it never rings for the departed.

  4. 4

    Grace, never streaks

    An unlit candle is not a failure and nothing is counted against you. A loved one going through a hard season burns brighter and faster, so you see who needs the most. Those who have died keep a perpetual flame.

Questions

Is the Household Vigil on the web?
No. The altar, the match and the bell live in the AngelGuard app for iPhone, iPad and Android. This page is where the link lands when the app is not on the device you opened it on.
Who can see my household?
Only you. The names and intentions are kept on your own device, with a private backup to your account so a new phone can restore them. Nothing on the altar is shared or public.
What happens if I miss an evening?
The candles rest. When you come back, the procession walks you through the whole altar again. There is no streak to lose and nothing to catch up on.