The Prayer: of Pope Leo

O Glorious Archangel St. Michael, Prince of the heavenly host, be our defense in the terrible warfare which we carry on against principalities and Powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, spirits of evil. Come to the aid of man, whom God created immortal, made in his own image and likeness, and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of the devil.

Fight this day the battle of the Lord, together with the holy angels, as already thou hast fought the leader of the proud angels, Lucifer, and his apostate host, who were powerless to resist thee, nor was there place for them any longer in Heaven.

That cruel, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil or Satan, who seduces the whole world, was cast into the abyss with his angels. Behold, this primeval enemy and slayer of men has taken courage. Transformed into an angel of light, he wanders about with all the multitude of wicked spirits, invading the earth in order to blot out the name of God and of his Christ, to seize upon, slay and cast into eternal perdition souls destined for the crown of eternal glory. This wicked dragon pours out, as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice on men of depraved mind and corrupt heart, the spirit of lying, of impiety, of blasphemy, and the pestilent breath of impurity, and of every vice and iniquity.

These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the spouse of the immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on her most sacred possessions. In the Holy Place itself, where has been set up the See of the most holy Peter and the Chair of Truth for the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety, with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck, the sheep may be scattered.

Arise then, O invincible Prince, bring help against the attacks of the lost spirits to the people of God, and give them the victory. They venerate thee as their protector and Patron; in thee holy Church glories as her defense against the malicious power of hell; to thee has God entrusted the souls of men to be established in heavenly beatitude. Oh, pray to the God of peace that He may put Satan under our feet, so far conquered that he may no longer be able to hold men in captivity and harm the Church. Offer our prayers in the sight of the Most High, so that they may quickly conciliate the mercies of the Lord; and beating down the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, do thou again make him captive in the abyss, that he may no longer seduce the nations. Amen

-- Ed Richards (loztra@yahoo.com), April 16, 2003

Answers

Thanks for reproducing this prayer, Ed R.
Can you please give the source of this prayer -- i.e., the document that contains it? I would like to know if it can be authenticated as having come from the actual pen of the pope (rather than being a later embellishment by someone).
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@Hotmail.com), April 16, 2003.

http://www.refugeofsinners.com/review/prayers/StMichael.html

-- Ed Richards (loztra@yahoo.com), April 17, 2003.

John, does it really matter if the prayer has been altered? If I remember correctly, a colleague of mine many moons ago taught me that non-litrugical prayer (eg. rosary) is informal and may be altered/embellished to suit the needs of the faithful. Remember? Nice talking to you again.

-- Ed (catholic4444@yahoo.ca), April 17, 2003.

Why has it been altered? Fourth paragraph, thats why. Kind of embarrissing these days.

-- Ed Richards (loz@yahoo.com), April 17, 2003.

Ed - I am chuckling here - not at you - rather the other who in his insecurity must know every dash-dot-period of any given statement. Usally referred to as an anal personality in Fruedian terms.

-- jean bouchard (jeanb@cwk.imag.net), April 17, 2003.

Jean,

I found your cut down to John very crude! It was only a few months ago you cursed him in this forum. You were asked to apologize to John by a few different forum members.

Please rember this is Holy week. I would like to hear of you going to Confession for your lifestyle this week.

You should stay away from the Eucharist. This is true Catholic teaching. You realy are living in a life in mortal sin with this girl friend of yours.

Look in the mirror Bouchard!

-- David (David@excite.com), April 17, 2003.

David - thank you once again for your " concern. "

-- jean bouchard (jeanb@cwk.imag.net), April 18, 2003.

Jean,

You're very welcome.

Life isn't a bowl of cherries friend. Your advice to the young man last week was worse than some of the anti Catholics(in my opinion) Jean.

You brought up your seminary years, and than gave your(mortal soul wounding )advice to this young man asking about how to live a Catholic pure life.

It doesn't matter how long you were in seminary. You openly tried to bring this young lad in to you life of mortal sin during holy week.If you were stuggling with a sin than thats your bussiness, but don't try and justify it to someone wanting Catholic advice.

You need to stay away from the Eucharist, Jean. I feel very strongly about this.

Do Canadians have a different Catechism or something?

-- David (David@excite.com), April 18, 2003.

Jmj

Thank you very much, David S, for strongly defending me.
We have to keep trying to help the gentleman from British Columbia recover from his illness, even when it seems like a waste of time. How sad it is that he refers to a discredited [Freud] psychological idea, when he is the one who is in need of psychological (not to mention spiritual) help.

Ed R, you asked: "John, does it really matter if the prayer has been altered?"

I just wanted the let you know the reason I asked for the source of the prayer. It was the fact that you called this thread, "Pope Leo's original prayer to St. Michael." Because of this, I thought that it was important to make sure that he actually wrote the words that you quoted.

I want to say that I was impressed by the page to which you sent me, because it clearly explained that the quotations from Pope Leo were taken from an official (former) prayerbook of the Church, the "Raccolta" (with which I am familiar). Thanks for that.

God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), April 19, 2003.

John, You are welcome. God bless.

-- Ed Richards (loztra@yahoo.com), April 20, 2003.

Was there a need to alter the original prayer? I find no disturbing matter only truth, and if the devil was in heaven with other angels, it is no surprise that we humans are in a much worse situation.

-- Abraham T (lijothengil@yahoo.com), April 22, 2003.