Priests say the St. Michael prayer 'needed'

By Christina Galeone
CFP Correspondent

In the 1880s, Pope Leo XIII composed the “Prayer to St. Michael” after having a vision of the future Church being invaded by evil. Along with three recitations of “Hail Mary,” one of “Hail Holy Queen” and one of “O God Our Refuge and Our Strength,” he ordered that it be prayed after the dismissal of each low Mass for the protection of the Church. And through 1964, it was.  At times, the group of prayers – known as the Leonine prayers – were also said for the conversion of Russia. Although one change made during Vatican Council II was the elimination of that tradition, the prayer itself and devotion to St. Michael the Archangel remain strong.
In recent years, devotions to the archangel whose name means “who is like God” have experienced a resurgence. One of the three archangels – along with St. Raphael and St. Gabriel – mentioned by name in the Bible, St. Michael is invoked several times in the Latin Masses, and the “Prayer to St. Michael” is once again being said after many Latin and Novus Ordo (Ordinary Form of the Mass) Masses throughout the Church. The devotions have been embraced in and around the Worcester Diocese as well.   
Father Anthony J. Mpagi, the pastor of Our Lady of Hope Parish in Grafton, grew up reciting the prayer to the heavenly warrior archangel featured in Revelations Chapter 12.
“The ‘Prayer to St. Michael’ is a childhood prayer and a given in Catholic households in Uganda, so I was pleasantly surprised to find it a new tradition said at the end of Mass at Our Lady of Hope Parish at St. James Church,” Father Mpagi said, noting that he believes the practice was started at St. James about two years ago by Father David Mary Engo, who was administrator. “We will still say this prayer, as it is a good tradition and practice.”
The pastor at the new parish – which encompasses the former parishes of St. James, St. Mary and St. Philip – believes fear at the height of the pandemic created a renewed interest in the prayer.  But he thinks other issues contributed to it as well.
“In certain quarters of the Church faithful, it might be used as a shield prayer to cleanse or attack those who some call ‘filth’ in the Church, those who do not stand for God values or are perceived to be compromising of what the Gospel stands for, hence the renewed surge in the devotion might have been slightly political,” he surmised. “Devoid of the latter, I think the ‘Prayer to St. Michael’ is a needed prayer always; we must say it. God is our protector, and for this, we must be grateful.”
In Rutland, Father James M. Boland, the pastor of St. Patrick Parish, revealed that their church community has been praying the prayer after Mass since “Bishop McManus, responding to a call from Rome, asked us to pray it a few years ago.” Father Boland said, “It’s as relevant as ever because, as Saint Paul says (in Ephesians 6:12-13), ‘our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground.’”
“Every day, we are tempted to fall further into the world’s culture – a way that embraces hyper-individualism and doing whatever one wants to do,” Father Boland said. “This way of exercising freedom in our lives can lead us in all sorts of directions. By invoking the St. Michael prayer, we’re asking that these temptations not overcome us, so that we can exercise our freedom to follow the ways of our Lord instead.”
At the St. Scholastica Priory’s gift shop in Petersham, the priory’s Catholic Benedictine contemplative nuns sell four hand-made rosaries featuring St. Michael. The St. Michael Defender in Battle Rosary, Pink and Camo St. Michael Battle Rosary, St. Michael Battle Rosary – jumbo beads, and the Pink is Tough St. Michael Battle Rosary encourage people to seek the intercession of the archangel who’s the patron saint of soldiers, the police and others in harm’s way.
“The ‘Prayer to St. Michael’ for protection against evil used to be said at the end of every Mass, expressing the reality that we need the prayers of heaven to help us as we try to live the Gospel,” Sister Maria Isabel Gomez, a nun at the priory, commented. “In general, asking the help of the angels and saints of heaven helps us to remain steadfast and faithful to God. In this modern world, there is a lot of distraction, and it is difficult to hear the voice of God amid so much noise.”
She added that the “Catechism of the Catholic Church” offers another reason why Christians should ask saints to intercede for us.
“As Catholics, we have the gift of the mystical body of Christ: Christ as the head and we his body,” Sister Maria Isabel said, noting that the catechism states that because the saints are closer to Christ, and because of the communion of all the faithful of Christ, the “merciful love of God and his saints” welcomes our prayers. “All members are connected.”    
And it’s not only clergy and religious who have devotions to the archangel. William Muench, Grand Knight of the Knights of Columbus, Bishop Rice Council #4822 – which primarily serves Hopkinton and Ashland – is among the veterans who turn to St. Michael.
“I have started to develop a devotion to Saint Michael the Archangel, as we recite the prayer to Saint Michael after every Mass at St. John’s (St. John the Evangelist Parish in Hopkinton),” Mr. Muench said. “As a Navy veteran, it is important that we pray to him, since I am very worried about the spread of Communism to our country.”
But whether it’s St. Michael the Archangel or another saint, Sister Maria Isabel hopes that Catholics will remember their attentiveness and eagerness to intercede.
“So, when we are overwhelmed by fear, anxiety and all else, for Lord knows there is so much going on in this country, in the world, we can ground ourselves in God,” she reassured. “Arm ourselves in prayers asking all of heaven to come to our aid.”