The St. Michael prayer is relatively new in the history of the Church. It was composed by Pope Leo XIII and included in the 1886 “Prayers After Mass” which were added and required to be said after all Low Masses in the Latin Rite.
According to Kevin Symonds, author of Pope Leo XIII and the Prayer to St. Michael, the vision likely occurred between 1884 and 1886 and took place during or just after his celebration of Mass. Several different reports relate that Pope Leo had a visible change come over his face during the vision and one claims that his face was “pale and fearful.”
A cardinal who knew the pope’s private secretary explained that Pope Leo XIII truly had a vision of demonic spirits, who convened under a terrible plan, as described in the original prayer written and/or authorized by Pope Leo the XIII, the namesake of our new pope, Leo XIV. They moved to descend upon and take over the Chair of Peter and the Eternal City (Rome).
As time passed, a few embellishments started to appear regarding the vision, claiming that Pope Leo XIII witnessed a conversation between Jesus and Satan. The popular story records the dialogue between the two:
Satan says to Jesus: “I can destroy your Church.”
Jesus replies: “You can? Then go ahead and do so.”
Satan: “To do so, I need more time and more power.”
Jesus: “How much time? How much power?
Satan: “75 to 100 years, and a greater power over those who will give themselves over to my service.”
Jesus: “You have the time, you will have the power. Do with them what you will.”
Three years after his vision, the St. Michael prayer was approved by Pope Leo XIII in two versions, one for clergy and one for laity. Below is the lay version translated from Latin into modern English. Over 100 years have passed since this original prayer was composed. The time of mercy, as mentioned by Jesus to St. Faustina Kowalska, seems to have been extended, but is quickly coming to a close. Pope Leo XIV was elected on May 8, the very Feast of St. Michael (as well as the Feast of Our Lady of Pompeii). This convergence appears to be a clear call from heaven to pray the St. Michael prayer daily for the pope and the Catholic Church in our turbulent and divisive times.
If you wish to also pray the incredible and consoling daily meditations that have recently come to us allegedly from the Mother of God herself, and to be made aware of her words regarding the future of the Church and how we should live our lives, please read She Who Shows the Way. To see the trailer for the book, click here.
Beginning in 1886, the original St. Michael prayer was said by priests and parishioners after every Low Mass in the Latin Rite. In the aftermath of various changes that came about after the Second Vatican Council, the Low Mass was ended, and the St. Michael Prayer was no longer said, starting around 1965.
In 1994, however, Pope John Paul II urged Catholics to recite frequently the St. Michael prayer, as we know it today:
St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle.
Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God,
cast into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits,
who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.
It is likely due to Pope John Paul II’s encouragement that the St. Michael Prayer, although no longer a part of the Mass, began to be recited communally by the laity in many parishes after Mass ended.
For more information as to why reciting Pope Leo XIII’s St. Michael prayer is important, please watch the following video:
Most glorious prince of the heavenly hosts, Archangel St. Michael, defend us in the battle and in the tremendous struggle we carry on against the Principalities and Powers, against the rulers of the world of darkness and all evil spirits. Come to the help of man, whom God created immortal, fashioned to His own image and likeness, and rescued at a great price from the tyranny of the devil. With the great army of the holy angels, fight today the battle of the Lord, as you once fought against Lucifer, the leader of the proud, and his apostate angels, who were powerless against you, and they had no longer a place in Heaven. And that monster, the old serpent who is called the devil and Satan, that seduces the whole world, was cast into hell with his angels.
But now, that first enemy and destroyer has regained his insolent boldness. Taking on the appearance of an angel of light, he has invaded the earth. And with his whole cohort of evil spirits, he is prowling about among men, striving to blot out the name of God and of His Christ, to capture, to destroy, to drag to eternal perdition the souls destined for the crown of eternal glory. That malignant dragon is pouring abroad, like a foul stream, into the souls of men of ruined intellect and corrupt heart, the poison of his wickedness, the spirit of lying, of impiety and blasphemy, the pestilent breath of impurity and of all vice and iniquity. The most cunning enemies have filled with bitterness and drenched with gall the Church, the Spouse of the Lamb without spot, and have lifted impious hands against all that is most sacred in it. Even in the holy place where the See of Blessed Peter and the Chair of Truth was set up to enlighten the world, they have raised the abominable throne of their impiety with the iniquitous hope that the Shepherd may be stricken and the flock scattered.
Arise, then, unconquerable Prince, defend the people of God and give them victory against the assaults of reprobate spirits. Holy Church reveres you as its guardian and patron; It glories in you as Its defender against the malignant powers of hell. To you God has committed the souls that are assigned to the seats of the blessed in eternal happiness.
Pray, then, [St. Michael] to the God of peace, that He may put Satan under our feet, so completely vanquished that he may no longer be able to hold men in bondage and bring harm to the Church. Offer up our prayers before the Most High so that the mercies of the Lord may protect us and lay hold of the dragon, the old serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and hurl him bound in chains into the abyss where he may no longer seduce the souls of men. Amen.
V. Behold the Cross of the Lord. Be gone, you hostile legions.
R. The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered.
V. May Your mercies, O Lord, be fulfilled in us.
R. As we have hoped in You.
V. Lord, hear my prayer.
R. And let my cry rise to You.
V. Let Your mercies be upon us, O Lord.
R. As we have hoped in You.
V. O Lord, hear my prayer.
R. And let my cry rise to You.
V. Let us pray.
R. O God, and the Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, we call upon Your Holy Name and humbly beseech Your clemency, that, through the intercession of the ever-immaculate Virgin and our Mother Mary, and of the glorious Archangel Saint Michael, You would to act to help us against Satan and all the other unclean spirits that are prowling about the world to the great peril of the human race and the loss of souls. Amen.
—Pope Leo XIII
Featured Image by Eugène Delacroix: Saint Michael Defeats the Devil
