Prayer to St Michael the Archangel: Text, Latin and Origin

At the end of every Low Mass, by order of Pope Leo XIII, priest and people kneel and pray together: ‘Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle.’ So begins the Prayer to St Michael the Archangel. It is short, it can be learnt by heart, and almost every petition echoes Holy Scripture or the liturgy. This guide gives you the text in English and Latin and explains its origin, the meaning of the individual petitions and the difference from the exorcism of Leo XIII.

What are the words of the St Michael Prayer?

The Prayer to St Michael the Archangel begins: ‘Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil.’ There follows the petition that God may rebuke the devil, and that Michael, by the power of God, may thrust Satan into hell.

Here is the whole prayer, first in Latin as printed in Anselm Schott’s missal of 1894, then in the traditional English version that our Rosary prayer companion also uses.

Sancte Michael Archangele, defende nos in proelio; contra nequitiam et insidias diaboli esto praesidium. Imperet illi Deus, supplices deprecamur; tuque Princeps militiae coelestis, Satanam aliosque spiritus malignos, qui ad perditionem animarum pervagantur in mundo, divina virtute in infernum detrude. 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, thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.

Latin: Anselm Schott, Das Messbuch der heiligen Kirche, 4th edition, 1894, prayers after Holy Mass. English: traditional version

Where does the Prayer to St Michael come from?

Pope Leo XIII ordered the prayers to which the Prayer to St Michael belongs. A decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites of 6 January 1884 prescribed them for the end of every Low Mass throughout the Church; the St Michael Prayer was added later.

The decree of 1884 builds on Pius IX, who in 1859 had ordered such prayers after Mass for the churches of the Papal States. Leo XIII extended them to all the churches of the world: three Hail Marys, the Hail, Holy Queen, a versicle and a collect, prayed kneeling, with an indulgence of 300 days (Acta Sanctae Sedis 16, 1884, pp. 239 to 240). The decree does not say exactly when the prayer to the Archangel was added. By 1894 at the latest it belongs to them: in the Schott of that year it stands at the end, after a collect ‘for the conversion of sinners, and for the liberty and exaltation of our holy Mother the Church’.

‘… since the Catholic Church stands in such great need of the special protection of God.’

Decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites of 6 January 1884 (cum Ecclesia catholica singulari Dei praesidio tantopere indigeat), Acta Sanctae Sedis 16, p. 240. Our translation

In 1904 Pius X granted an indulgence of seven years and seven quarantines to the invocation ‘Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us’, prayed three times after Mass (Raccolta 1910, no. 109). In 1930 Pius XI directed that the prayers after Mass be offered for Russia, so that tranquillity and the freedom to profess the faith might be restored to the afflicted sons of Russia (Acta Apostolicae Sedis 22, 1930, p. 301).

When is the Prayer to St Michael the Archangel said?

Under the order of Leo XIII, the Prayer to St Michael the Archangel is said at the end of every Low Mass, after the Hail, Holy Queen and the collect, by the priest together with the people, kneeling. Outside Mass any of the faithful may pray it at any time.

The Schott of 1894 heads these prayers as those to be said kneeling after every Mass by order of the Holy Father Leo XIII, except for the High Masses, that is, the sung Masses. That priest and people pray them together shows that the St Michael Prayer is a prayer for all the faithful, not a privilege of the priest.

At home the prayer can be said at any time, for instance in the morning, in temptation or in anxiety for the Church. It fits well at the end of the Rosary, after the Hail, Holy Queen. That is also how our prayer companion suggests it. On 29 September, the feast of St Michael, the Church sings the same opening words in the Alleluia verse of the Mass: Sancte Michael Archangele, defende nos in proelio. They also appear on our wall picture of St Michael.

What do the words of the St Michael Prayer mean?

The words of the St Michael Prayer echo Holy Scripture and the liturgy. The opening corresponds to the Alleluia verse of the feast of St Michael, the petition ‘May God rebuke him’ to the Epistle of St Jude, and the casting down of Satan to the Apocalypse.

The second line is especially telling. In the Epistle of St Jude, Michael, disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, does not presume to pass judgement himself, but says: ‘The Lord command thee.’ Allioli explains in his edition of the Bible (4th edition, 1859) that the Archangel did not pronounce the curse himself, ‘leaving this to God’ (translated from the German). The prayer follows this example. Those who pray it command the devil nothing; they ask God to rebuke him.

Is the Prayer to St Michael the Archangel an exorcism?

The Prayer to St Michael the Archangel is not an exorcism but a prayer of petition. It is distinct from the longer exorcism printed in the Acta Sanctae Sedis in 1890 by order of Leo XIII, and still more from the solemn exorcism of the possessed, reserved to a priest specially authorised by the Ordinary.

The longer text is called Exorcismus in satanam et angelos apostaticos, Exorcism against Satan and the apostate angels, and is found in the Acta Sanctae Sedis 23 (1890, pp. 743 to 747). It begins with verses from Psalms 67 and 34, followed by a long prayer to St Michael (Princeps gloriosissime caelestis militiae, ‘Most glorious Prince of the heavenly host’) and finally the exorcism proper of the unclean spirit (Exorcizamus te, omnis immundus spiritus). On 18 May 1890 Leo XIII granted the indulgence for it to bishops and to priests authorised for it by their Ordinary.

For the solemn exorcism of the possessed, the 1917 Code of Canon Law lays down that no one may lawfully perform it without the special and express permission of the Ordinary (can. 1151 § 1). The short St Michael Prayer does not touch this order.

Does the Prayer to St Michael the Archangel protect?

The Prayer to St Michael the Archangel is meant as a petition for protection, not as a formula that works of itself. It invokes St Michael as intercessor and expressly awaits help ‘by the power of God’, in Latin divina virtute.

This attitude already marks the decree of 1884. It does not ground the prayers after Mass in any special power of the words, but in the fact that the Christian people should implore God’s help ‘in common prayer’. Whoever prays the St Michael Prayer therefore joins in the prayer of the whole Church. He places his trust in God, who sends His angels.

A blessed rosary or a blessed medal bearing the image of St Michael changes nothing in this. Both are sacramentals, that is, blessed objects which the Church makes use of. Through them, according to the 1917 Code of Canon Law, the Church by virtue of her intercession obtains effects above all of a spiritual kind (can. 1144); the object does not do so of itself.

Mentioned in this article Quis ut Deus Rosary Hand-knotted from grey and blue 550 paracord, with stainless steel Hail Mary beads, a centrepiece showing St Michael and a Twelve Apostles crucifix. View the rosary

Frequently asked questions about the Prayer to St Michael the Archangel