The Prayer to Saint Michael

A traditional Catholic prayer

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 host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

In Latin

Sancte Michael Archangele, defende nos in proelio; contra nequitiam et insidias diaboli esto praesidium. Imperet illi Deus, supplices deprecamur: tuque, Princeps militiae caelestis, Satanam aliosque spiritus malignos, qui ad perditionem animarum pervagantur in mundo, divina virtute in infernum detrude. Amen.

Where it comes from

Michael comes down out of the dark with his sword raised in one hand and a chain in the other, and sets his sandalled foot on the devil's head as lightly as on a stair; his face is not angry but grave and almost gentle, as if the battle were already decided. Tradition gives him four offices, and Reni has painted the first: to fight against Satan; to rescue the souls of the faithful from the power of the enemy, especially at the hour of death; to be the champion of God's people and the patron of the Church; and to bring souls to judgment. The Roman liturgy calls him Princeps militiae coelestis, the Prince of the heavenly host this prayer invokes, and Scripture shows him twice in combat, below. Leo XIII added the prayer to the prayers said after Low Mass in 1886; those prayers were dropped in 1964, and in 1994 John Paul II asked the faithful not to forget it, so that what had dropped from the Mass a pope commended again to the faithful. Here the sword has never come down, and he has not taken his eyes off the one beneath his foot, which is where we ask him to keep them.

Frederick Holweck, “St. Michael the Archangel”, The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 10 (1911): newadvent.org

⁹When Michael the archangel, disputing with the devil, contended about the body of Moses, he durst not bring against him the judgment of railing speech, but said: The Lord command thee.

⁷And there was a great battle in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought, and his angels. ⁸And they prevailed not: neither was their place found any more in heaven. ⁹And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who seduceth the whole world. And he was cast unto the earth: and his angels were thrown down with him.

Jude 1:9 · Apocalypse 12:7–9, Douay-Rheims (Challoner)

More in painting

The traditional prayers  ·  The Rosary