Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our protection 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.
Most glorious Prince of the Heavenly Armies, Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in our battle against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in the high places.
Come to the assistance of men whom God has created to His likeness and whom He has redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of the devil.
Holy Church venerates you as her guardian and protector; to you, the Lord has entrusted the souls of the redeemed to be led into heaven. Pray therefore the God of Peace to crush Satan beneath our feet, that he may no longer retain men captive and do injury to the Church.
Offer our prayers to the Most High, that without delay they may draw His mercy down upon us; take hold of the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, bind him and cast him into the bottomless pit so that he may no longer seduce the nations. Amen.
O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we call upon Your holy Name, and humbly implore Your clemency, that by the intercession of Mary, ever Virgin Immaculate and our Mother, and of the glorious Archangel Saint Michael, You would deign to help us against Satan and all the other unclean spirits who wander about the world for the injury of the human race and the ruin of souls. Amen.
St. Michael's Lent
The forty days of prayer and fasting from the Assumption to Michaelmas.
From the Church’s tradition: Kept by St. Francis of Assisi and many saints after him — a traditional season of penance in honor of St. Michael the Archangel, running from the Feast of the Assumption (August 15) to Michaelmas (September 29).
St. Michael's Lent is a traditional devotion: roughly forty days of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving offered in honor of St. Michael the Archangel, kept between the Feast of the Assumption on August 15 and the Feast of St. Michael — Michaelmas — on September 29. It is not a season of the universal Church calendar, but a private devotion handed down through the saints, most famously St. Francis of Assisi, who kept this fast each year. It was during St. Michael's Lent, on Mount La Verna in 1224, that St. Francis received the stigmata.
The devotion is a "little Lent" of spiritual combat: a set time to put on the armor of God, to lean on the prince of the heavenly hosts, and to prepare the soul for Michaelmas. Below you will find the St. Michael Prayer that anchors the devotion, narrated audio, a prayer card to keep or share, and a way to walk the forty days with us as a guided cohort.
DAY 34 OF 46 · August 15 – September 29
Walk St. Michael's Lent with us
The guided 46-day cohort is walking now — a daily ~10-minute prayer with AngelGuard, the St. Michael Prayer, and the mercy of a rule kept rather than a streak broken. You have not missed it: the season opens one day at a time, so you can still begin at Day 1. Day 1 is free to everyone.
Begin Day 1 — it's freeListen — St. Michael Prayer, narrated
The St. Michael Prayer — the anchor of the devotion
Pope Leo XIII (1886). Prayed daily through the forty days, and especially as the Michaelmas novena (September 21–29) draws the devotion to its close.
Keep this prayer with you
Share the St. Michael's Lent card
A prayer card you can send to someone who needs it tonight, save to your phone, or print for your wall.
Free. The app reads it aloud with you, every day.
About St. Michael's Lent
The practice has deep roots in Franciscan tradition. St. Francis kept a forty-day fast in honor of St. Michael from the Assumption to Michaelmas, writing that "we ought to honor and venerate" the Archangel and all who stand before God. Many Catholics today take up a gentler form of the same season — daily prayer to St. Michael, a chosen act of fasting or self-denial, and works of mercy — as a way to grow in the spiritual combat the whole Christian life requires.
Its register is the same as every prayer of the Church's tradition: humble and deprecatory. We do not address the enemy or command spirits — that is never the work of the laity. We ask God, through the intercession of St. Michael and the holy angels, for protection, and we ask for the grace to stand firm. "May God rebuke him, we humbly pray," the St. Michael Prayer says, echoing the Archangel himself in the Epistle of Jude, who would not rebuke Satan by his own authority but said, "The Lord command thee."
St. Michael's Lent is for everyone. It asks no special permission and involves no rite reserved to priests — only prayer, penance, and trust, ordered toward the Feast of St. Michael. If during these days you sense a burden heavier than ordinary temptation, speak with your parish priest; the Church cares for her people through her ministers.
When to pray it
- ✦Each morning from August 15 through September 29 — the St. Michael Prayer to begin the day.
- ✦With a chosen act of fasting or self-denial, offered for protection over your home and family.
- ✦As the Michaelmas novena to St. Michael, September 21–29, as the forty days draw to a close.
- ✦On September 29 — the Feast of St. Michael — giving thanks for the season kept, in whatever measure.
Pray the devotion
More prayers of protection
The forty-six days, one by one
August 15 to September 29 is forty-six days. The devotion is called a Lent after the forty days of the great one, and St. Francis’s own fast is described as forty; both numbers are used and neither is wrong. Below is how the season is laid out, in six movements.
Under Her MantleDays 1–7
The devotion opens on the Assumption, so it opens with Mary, and with what an angel actually is.
- 1Taken Up, Crowned Queen of Angels · 1 Corinthians 15:20-26
- 2Why St. Michael's Lent? The Franciscan Fast of Joy · Joel 2:12-13
- 3In the Beginning, the Invisible Creation · Colossians 1:16
- 4What Is an Angel? Pure Spirit, Pure Servant · Hebrews 1:14
- 5God-Given Allies — and 'The Lord Rebuke Thee' · Jude 1:8-10
- 6We Do Not Fight Alone — The Hosts at Dothan · 2 Kings 6:15-17
- 7Enlisting Under Her Mantle · John 19:25-27
The Nine Choirs and the Great TestingDays 8–14
The ordered court of heaven, and the refusal that broke it.
- 8The Queenship of Mary, Queen of Angels · 1 Kings 2:19-20
- 9Seraphim: The Burning Ones Who Cry Holy · Isaiah 6:1-3
- 10Nathanael Under the Fig Tree — Bartholomew's Vision · John 1:47-51
- 11Cherubim, Thrones, and the Ordered Court · Ezekiel 10:1-5
- 12The Morning Stars Sang: The Angels' First Glory · Job 38:4-7
- 13Non Serviam: The Fall and the War in Heaven · Revelation 12:7-9
- 14The Angels Who Kept Their Stations · Psalm 102:20-21 (Douay-Rheims; = Psalm 103:20-21 in WEBC/Hebrew numbering)
St. MichaelDays 15–21
Quis ut Deus. The name is a question, and the answer is the whole devotion.
- 15Faithful to the Block: The Passion of John the Baptist · Mark 6:17-29
- 16Quis Ut Deus? Michael, and the Meaning of His Name · Daniel 12:1
- 17Michael the Dragon-Slayer — Victory by God's Authority · Colossians 2:15
- 18The Great Prince Who Stands for God's People · Daniel 10:13
- 19The Weigher of Souls and the Happy Death · Daniel 12:1-3
- 20Michael on Holy Ground: The Captain of the Lord's Host · Joshua 5:13-15
- 21The Leonine Prayer: Our Shield in the Combat · 1 Peter 5:8-9
GabrielDays 22–28
The strength of God, and the messages that turned history.
- 22Gabriel: The Strength of God, the Interpreter · Daniel 8:15-17
- 23Gabriel to Zechariah: The Silence Before the Word · Luke 1:11-20
- 24Ave, Gratia Plena: Gabriel and the Annunciation · Luke 1:26-33
- 25The Nativity of Mary: The Dawn That Heralds the Defeat of the Dark · Micah 5:2-3
- 26The Fiat: Mary's Yes Receives the Christ Who Undoes Lucifer's No · Luke 1:38
- 27Gabriel's School: Becoming a Word-Bearer · Luke 2:13-14
- 28The Name Above Every Name: Gabriel and the Holy Name of Jesus · Luke 1:31
RaphaelDays 29–35
The medicine of God, and the road walked with an unseen companion.
- 29Raphael: The Medicine of God · Tobit 12:14-15
- 30The Angel Who Walks the Road Unseen · Tobit 5:5-8 (Douay-Rheims; = Tobit 5:4-6 in WEBC/Greek-recension numbering — the Vulgate and Greek Tobit divide these verses differently)
- 31The Cross Lifted Up — The True Medicine and the Dragon's Terror · John 3:14-15
- 32Our Lady of Sorrows — The Healing of the Pierced Heart · Luke 2:34-35
- 33Raphael Binds Asmodeus: Healing the Home by God's Power · Tobit 8:1-3
- 34The Angels Who Carry Our Prayers · Tobit 12:12
- 35Raphael's Rule: Prayer, Fasting, and Almsgiving · Tobit 12:8-9
The Guardian and the Michaelmas NovenaDays 36–46
Your own angel, then nine days climbing to the feast of the Archangels on September 29.
- 36Behold, I Send My Angel: The Guardian Given · Exodus 23:20-23
- 37Their Angels Always Behold the Face: The Dignity of the Little · Matthew 18:10
- 38Novena Day 1 — Daily Commerce With Your Angel · Genesis 28:10-17
- 39Novena Day 2 — Strengthened by an Angel in the Garden · Luke 22:42-44
- 40Novena Day 3 — The Wounds of La Verna: St. Pio · Galatians 2:19-20
- 41Novena Day 4 — Ministering Spirits, and Christ Above Them All · Hebrews 1:13-14
- 42Novena Day 5 — The Angels in the Church: One Liturgy of Heaven and Earth · Hebrews 12:22-24
- 43Novena Day 6 — Holy, Holy, Holy: The Angels and the Mass · Isaiah 6:3
- 44Novena Day 7 — The Angel at the Altar: Our Offering Borne to Heaven · Revelation 8:3-4
- 45Novena Day 8 — The Three Crowns: Defender, Herald, Healer · Tobit 12:15
- 46Michaelmas: Who Is Like God? The Archangels' Triumph and the Crown · Revelation 12:7-12
Questions about St. Michael's Lent
What is St. Michael's Lent?+
St. Michael's Lent is a traditional Catholic devotion of roughly forty days — prayer, fasting, and almsgiving offered in honor of St. Michael the Archangel — kept from the Feast of the Assumption (August 15) to the Feast of St. Michael, called Michaelmas, on September 29. It is a private devotion, not a season of the universal Church calendar, handed down especially through the Franciscan tradition.
What do you do for St. Michael's Lent?+
Three things, in the old pattern: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. There is no fixed rule, because it is a private devotion rather than a law of the Church, so what people keep varies widely. The common shape is a daily prayer to St. Michael, some real bodily discipline chosen and kept rather than improvised, and something given away. St. Francis is said to have kept it on bread and water; almost nobody does that, and nobody is obliged to.
Can I eat meat during St. Michael's Lent?+
Yes. Nothing in this devotion binds under Church law, so the Friday abstinence that applies all year is the only rule actually in force during it. Anything beyond that is what you have chosen to take on. That is worth saying plainly, because devotional pages sometimes present a private practice as though it obliged, and it does not.
Where does St. Michael's Lent come from?+
From the Franciscan tradition. St. Francis of Assisi kept a fast in honor of St. Michael between the Assumption and Michaelmas, and it was during that fast, on Mount La Verna in 1224, that he received the stigmata. The devotion spread from there. It has never been part of the universal calendar, which is why it can be kept freely and shaped to your own state in life.
When is St. Michael's Lent?+
It runs every year from August 15, the Feast of the Assumption, to September 29, Michaelmas — the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. That span is about forty days, which is why it is called a "Lent."
Who started St. Michael's Lent?+
The devotion is most associated with St. Francis of Assisi, who kept a forty-day fast in honor of St. Michael each year from the Assumption to Michaelmas. It was during this fast, on Mount La Verna in 1224, that he received the stigmata. The practice spread through the Franciscan tradition and remains a beloved private devotion today.
Is St. Michael's Lent an official season of the Church?+
No. Unlike Lent before Easter or Advent before Christmas, St. Michael's Lent is not part of the universal liturgical calendar and is not required. It is a traditional private devotion — a freely chosen season of penance and prayer that many Catholics keep to honor St. Michael and prepare for his feast.
How do I keep St. Michael's Lent?+
There is no fixed rule — it is a devotion, freely chosen. Common practices: pray the St. Michael Prayer daily, take up a modest fast or act of self-denial, give alms or do a work of mercy, and pray the Michaelmas novena (September 21–29) as the season closes. The aim is a rule kept faithfully in whatever measure you can, not a perfect streak.
Upcoming · Sep 23
St. Padre PioSee the full liturgical calendar — every feast this year, and an embed for your parish site.