Traditional prayer
The Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel
Holy Michael Archangel, defend us in the day of battle;
be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray;
and do thou, prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God,
thrust down to hell Satan and all wicked spirits,
who roam through the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.
Latin
Sancte Míchael Archángele, defénde nos in próelio;
contra nequítiam et insídias diáboli esto praesídium.
Imperet illi Deus, súpplices deprecámur,
tuque, Prínceps milítiae caeléstis,
Sátanam aliósque spíritus malígnos,
qui ad perditiónem animárum pervagántur in mundo,
divína virtúte, in inférnum detrúde. Amen.
Latin Holy See Press Office, Bulletin of 29 September 2018 (Latin text of the prayer of Leo XIII)
About this prayer
Pope Leo XIII wrote this prayer; the Holy See Press Office calls it “the prayer written by Leo XIII.” Father Lasance’s prayer book of 1908 prints it among the “Prayers Ordered by Pope Leo XIII to be Said after Every Low Mass in All the Churches of the World” (the Hail Mary three times, the Hail Holy Queen, a prayer for the Church, this prayer, and, as Lasance adds, the invocation “Most sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!” said three times), and notes for this prayer an indulgence granted by Leo XIII on 25 September 1888. On p. 334, among the prayers after Mass, the same book prints a wording nearer to the one most people know: “St. Michael, the archangel, defend us in battle, be our protection against the malice and snares of the devil…”
In 1994 St. John Paul II, noting that this prayer was no longer recited at the end of Mass, asked everyone not to forget it, but to pray it for help in the battle against the forces of darkness and the spirit of this world (Regina Caeli address of 24 April 1994, published in Italian on vatican.va). In September 2018 Pope Francis asked the faithful to pray the Rosary every day in October and to close it with the ancient Sub tuum praesidium and this prayer.
You may read that Leo XIII composed it after a vision. Treat that as a story handed down, not as documented fact: none of the sources on this page mentions a vision, and the prayer does not need one.
Scripture shows who Michael is. He is “the great prince, who standeth for the children of thy people” (Daniel 12:1). Disputing with the devil, “he durst not bring against him the judgment of railing speech, but said: The Lord command thee” (Jude 1:9). In the Apocalypse, “there was a great battle in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon” (Apocalypse 12:7, Douay-Rheims; Revelation in modern Bibles). That is why the prayer asks God to rebuke the devil, and asks Michael to act only “by the power of God.”
It is a prayer of protection, not a charm. Pray it over a sleeping house, at the door of a child’s room, over a marriage or a vocation under strain. It asks for God’s strength through His archangel; it promises no particular outcome, and it takes the place of neither confession nor prudence. His feast is 29 September. If anyone in your home is in danger, pray it on the way to safety: call 911, or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 (text START to 88788).
When to pray it
- At the end of the Rosary, as Pope Francis asked of the whole Church for October 2018.
- At night, over the house, once the children are asleep.
- In the moment of temptation, fear or anger.
- On 29 September, the feast of St. Michael.
Any indulgences named on this page are those recorded in the older prayer books it cites. Pope Paul VI reformed the Church's indulgences in 1967 (Indulgentiarum Doctrina); the current rules are in the Church's Enchiridion of Indulgences.