Sancte Míchaël Archángele, defénde nos in prǽlio; contra nequítiam et insídias diáboli esto præsídium. Ímperet illi Deus, súpplices deprecámur: tuque, Princeps milítiæ cæléstis, Sátanam aliósque spíritus malígnos, qui ad perditiónem animárum pervagántur in mundo, divína virtúte in inférnum detrúde. Amen.
✦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, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
The Prayer to St. Michael was given to the Church by Pope Leo XIII (reigned 1878–1903), who governed her through an age of open hostility: the loss of the Papal States in 1870, aggressive secularism across Europe, and the spread of Freemasonry, socialism, and unbelief. Keenly aware of the spiritual conflict of his age, Leo turned the Church's prayer to the Prince of the heavenly host.
A widely-repeated tradition holds that on 13 October 1884, after Mass in his private chapel, the Pope stood transfixed and shaken, having in a vision perceived the trials to come upon the Church. Church historians treat the vision account as pious tradition rather than documented fact; what is certain is that Leo composed this short invocation of St. Michael and, in 1886, prescribed it for recitation after Low Mass.
From 1886 the prayer joined the Leonine Prayers — three Hail Marys, the Salve Regina, a collect, and the St. Michael prayer — said aloud by priest and people after every Low Mass for the freedom and exaltation of the Church. In 1930 Pius XI directed that they be offered especially for the conversion of Russia. The obligation was suppressed in 1964 (effective 1965), but the faithful were never forbidden to pray them; in traditional communities the prayer is still said after Mass to this day.
The Archangel's very name is a battle cry — Micha-el, "Who is like God?" — the answer flung back against the pride of the fallen angel. In Scripture he is the captain of the heavenly host who casts the dragon out of heaven (Apocalypse 12:7–9), and the Church honors him as her protector, the defender of souls, and helper of the faithful at the hour of death.
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,
cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits
who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
Sancte Míchaël Archángele,
defénde nos in prǽlio;
contra nequítiam et insídias diáboli esto præsídium.
Ímperet illi Deus, súpplices deprecámur:
tuque, Princeps milítiæ cæléstis,
Sátanam aliósque spíritus malígnos,
qui ad perditiónem animárum pervagántur in mundo,
divína virtúte in inférnum detrúde. Amen.
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,
cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits
who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.