The Prayer to Saint Michael: the text and who actually wrote it
The prayer
Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defence 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.
In short
The prayer to Saint Michael was composed by Pope Leo XIII and ordered said at the end of every Low Mass from 1886. It asks for protection against evil, and its central petition — that God himself give the command to the devil — is a quotation from the letter of Jude.
- Written by
- Maria Luisa Navarro Schmitt
- Reviewed by
- Raphael Navarro Schmitt
- Published on
- Reading time
- 6 min read
When to pray it
At any moment of fear or oppression, and in many parishes at the end of Mass, by a custom revived in the 1990s. It also fits at the start of a day you already know will be hard.
The prayer is short and shaped like a courtroom. First it asks for defence; then it transfers the command to God — “may God rebuke him, we humbly pray” — and only then turns back to Michael, who is to act “by the power of God”. Nothing is credited to the archangel on his own account, and that chain is deliberate: it is the scene of Jude 9, where Michael refuses to pass sentence and leaves the sentence with God.
It is worth noticing what the prayer does not do. It does not command the devil, it uses no formula of command, it promises no outcome, and it describes no technique. Search the internet for “deliverance prayers” and you will find texts that do all four; this one, written by a pope, is remarkably restrained.
The language of combat unsettles some readers, and it is honest to say where it comes from: it is in the New Testament before it is here. Ephesians 6 speaks of a struggle against spiritual powers, and Revelation describes a battle in heaven. What the prayer adds is the certainty of the outcome — the dragon has already been thrown down, and the request is that this reach the present.
On fear: the prayer does not treat evil as something defeated by praying harder. It asks for refuge, which is the vocabulary of someone taking shelter, not of someone charging. If what is weighing on you is persistent fear, dread or thoughts that will not stop, praying and seeking professional help belong to the same day, and neither is a sign that the other is missing.
Where this prayer comes from
When it appeared 1886, composed by Leo XIII
This is one of the few widely recited prayers whose author and date are known precisely. In 1884 Leo XIII directed that prayers be added at the end of every Low Mass — three Hail Marys and the Salve Regina. In 1886 he added to that set a new prayer, written by him, addressed to Saint Michael. The so-called Leonine Prayers were said across the Catholic world until 1964, when the liturgical reform suppressed them.
There is a second version, far longer, and it is a different text. In 1890 Leo XIII published an extensive formula of exorcism against Satan and the apostate angels, later incorporated into the Roman Ritual; the short prayer works as a condensation of it. The two are not interchangeable: the long formula is an exorcism, with restricted use, and the short one is a devotional prayer anyone may say.
From the 1990s the prayer returned to parishes, largely because John Paul II recommended it publicly in 1994, and many communities now say it at the end of Mass on their own initiative rather than by liturgical norm. The text is the same one written in 1886.
Little-known details
The 1884 vision everyone repeats has no contemporary record
The central petition quotes Jude 9, and the CPDV renders it differently
“Snares of the devil” comes from Ephesians, and it is the same image
Scripture never calls Michael a saint; it calls him a prince
What the passages say
7And there was a great battle in heaven. Michael and his Angels were battling with the dragon, and the dragon was fighting, and so were his angels.
8But they did not prevail, and a place for them was no longer found in heaven.
9And he was thrown out, that great dragon, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who seduces the whole world. And he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him.
The scene the prayer has in mind: Michael and his angels against the dragon. Notice the tense — the battle has already happened and the dragon has already been thrown down to earth. Whoever prays is not asking for the victory to occur, but for it to reach the present.
9When Michael the Archangel, disputing with the devil, contended about the body of Moses, he did not dare to bring against him a judgment of blasphemy, so instead he said: “The Lord commands you.”
The direct source of “may God rebuke him”. The detail the prayer preserves is the most interesting one: Michael, who has the standing to accuse, does not accuse — he hands the sentence back to God. It is the opposite of the tone usually expected from a prayer about spiritual combat.
1“But at that time Michael will rise up, the great leader, who stands up for the sons of your people. And a time will come, such as has not been from the time that nations began, even until that time. And, at that time, your people will be saved, all who will be found written in the book.
Where the title of prince comes from, with a detail the prayer keeps: Michael “stands up for” a people. The function described is the defence of someone, not the attack on someone.
11Be clothed in the armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the treachery of the devil.
12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the directors of this world of darkness, against the spirits of wickedness in high places.
The origin of “battle” and “snares”. The text is clear about what the struggle is not: it is not against flesh and blood. Reading that before saying the prayer is what keeps the language of war from turning into suspicion of people.