Who Was St. Michael?
St. Michael the Archangel is not a canonized human being but one of the highest angels, and Scripture gives him a single, consistent role: he is the defender of God’s people against the powers of darkness. His name is itself a question flung at every rebellion — "Who is like God?" — the answer to which is Lucifer’s pride and the ground of Michael’s obedience. He appears in the Book of Daniel as "one of the chief princes" and as "the great prince who standeth for the children of thy people" (Daniel 10:13, 12:1); in the Epistle of Jude, disputing with the devil over the body of Moses, he does not presume to rebuke Satan by his own authority but says only, "The Lord command thee" (Jude 1:9); and in Revelation 12, "there was a great battle in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon." From these passages the Church has drawn her whole understanding of him — captain of the heavenly host, adversary of Satan, guardian of the Church, and, in a long tradition, the angel who escorts souls to God and weighs them at the judgment. Devotion to St. Michael is ancient: shrines rose at Monte Sant’Angelo in Italy (from the late fifth century), at Mont-Saint-Michel in France, and across the Christian world, often on high places. In 1886 Pope Leo XIII composed a short prayer to St. Michael and ordered it prayed kneeling after every Low Mass — a practice that continued until the liturgical reforms of the 1960s, and which recent popes, including St. John Paul II and Pope Francis, have repeatedly urged the faithful to take up again in daily prayer. What the Church asks of Michael she asks in petition, never in command: he acts "by the power of God," and the faithful invoke his intercession, not his orders.
Why St. Michael Matters Today
For a culture that is embarrassed to name evil, St. Michael is a bracing corrective — and a consoling one. He is proof that the Christian answer to spiritual danger is neither denial nor dread but confidence: the battle has a commander, and it is already won. The St. Michael Prayer belongs in ordinary Catholic life precisely because it is not an exorcism and needs no authorization; it is a prayer any believer can pray at their kitchen table, over their children, in a moment of temptation, or at the end of a hard day. Its whole grammar is humble petition — "May God rebuke him, we humbly pray" — which makes it the model for how the Church teaches the laity to face the enemy: from under God’s authority, never our own. Where fear is loudest — a frightening diagnosis, a household under strain, a temptation that keeps returning — Michael is the Church’s instinctive first recourse, the prince who "standeth for the children of thy people."
Prayer to St. Michael
Saint 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 host,
by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits
who prowl throughout the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.
In Latin:
Sancte Míchaël Archángele,
defénde nos in proélio;
contra nequítiam et insídias diáboli esto praesídium.
Ímperet illi Deus, súpplices deprecámur:
tuque, Princeps milítiae caeléstis,
Sátanam aliósque spíritus malígnos,
qui ad perditiónem animárum pervagántur in mundo,
divína virtúte in inférnum detrúde.
Amen.
When and How to Pray to St. Michael
The St. Michael Prayer is meant for daily, repeated use — Pope Leo XIII intended it to be prayed by everyone, kneeling, after Mass. Pray it every morning as part of your rule, at night with Psalm 91 over your household, and immediately in any moment of temptation, fear, or felt spiritual pressure. It is a prayer of petition addressed to God through the archangel’s intercession; it never addresses the devil, and it is complete in itself — no ritual, candle, or permission is required. If you are facing something that feels beyond ordinary temptation — persistent, oppressive, or frightening — pray this prayer, stay close to confession and the Eucharist, and speak plainly with your parish priest. Solemn exorcism is a liturgical rite reserved to a priest appointed by his bishop; the St. Michael Prayer is the ordinary armor the whole Church carries.
Novena to St. Michael
The St. Michael Novena is nine consecutive days of prayer, most traditionally prayed September 20–28 so that it ends on the Feast of St. Michael (Michaelmas, September 29) — though a novena may be begun in any season of serious need. Each day, the faithful bring one named intention, pray the St. Michael Prayer, and ask the archangel’s intercession for protection, deliverance from evil, and courage. Closely related is the Chaplet of St. Michael, a devotion of nine salutations honoring the nine choirs of angels followed by four Our Fathers; its form comes from a private revelation reported by the Portuguese Carmelite Antónia d’Astónaco in the eighteenth century — a devotional tradition the Church permits, not a matter of defined doctrine. Both the novena and the chaplet are simple, require no special authorization, and are prayed as petition to God through the archangel he appointed to stand for his people.