(I originally posted this in 2010. I post it on each September 29, the feast of the Archangels. It seemed like a good idea, in light of the request by Archbishop Vigano, to post it again.)
In 1947 Father Domenico Pechenino related what he had witnessed over six decades before.
“I do not remember the exact year. One morning the great Pope Leo XIII had celebrated a Mass and, as usual, was attending a Mass of thanksgiving. Suddenly, we saw him raise his head and stare at something above the celebrant’s head. He was staring motionlessly, without batting an eye. His expression was one of horror and awe; the colour and look on his face changing rapidly. Something unusual and grave was happening in him.
“Finally, as though coming to his senses, he lightly but firmly tapped his hand and rose to his feet. He headed for his private office. His retinue followed anxiously and solicitously, whispering: ‘Holy Father, are you not feeling well? Do you need anything?’ He answered: ‘Nothing, nothing.’ About half an hour later, he called for the Secretary of the Congregation of Rites and, handing him a sheet of paper, requested that it be printed and sent to all the ordinaries around the world. What was that paper? It was the prayer that we recite with the people at the end of every Mass. It is the plea to Mary and the passionate request to the Prince of the heavenly host, (St. Michael: Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle) beseeching God to send Satan back to hell.”
Cardinal Giovanni Batista Nassalli Rocca di Corneiliano wrote in his Pastoral Letters on Lent: “the sentence ‘The evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls’ has a historical explanation that was many times repeated by his private secretary, Monsignor Rinaldo Angeli. Leo XIII truly saw, in a vision, demonic spirits who were congregating on the Eternal City (Rome). The prayer that he asked all the Church to recite was the fruit of that experience. He would recite that prayer with strong, powerful voice: we heard it many a time in the Vatican Basilica. Leo XIII also personally wrote an exorcism that is included in the Roman Ritual. He recommended that bishops and priests read these exorcisms often in their dioceses and parishes. He himself would recite them often throughout the day.”
The Prayer written by the Pope is of course the famous prayer to Saint Michael:
Sancte Michael Archangele,
defende nos in proelio;
contra nequitiam et insidias diaboli esto praesidium.
Imperet illi Deus, supplices deprecamur:
tuque, Princeps militiae Caelestis,
satanam aliosque spiritus malignos,
qui ad perditionem animarum pervagantur in mundo,
divina virtute in infernum detrude.
Amen.
This is the version I learned as a boy:
Saint Michael, the Archangel, defend us in the battle. Be our protection against the malice and snares of the Devil. We humbly beseech God to command him. And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host, by the powers of God, cast into Hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.
In 1886 this prayer was added to the prayers that in 1884 Pope Leo had ordered to be said after every low Mass. In 1964, by Inter oecumenici, the Payer to Saint Michael, along with the other Leonine Prayers after low Masses, were suppressed. I have always thought that a great pity. Rest assured that Satan did not cease his activity in 1964, and Pope Leo sought to remind us of that activity and through the prayer to Saint Michael to help guard us against it. It is still a common prayer in my house, and we say it at Mass during the intercessory prayers at my local parish.
A very powerful prayer. Friend when at a Forward Operating Base said every Friday a.m. soldiers from the 82nd Airborne would gather and recite the Prayer to St. Michael. All others were welcome to join in. The St. Michael’s sword and the shield is incorporated into the units insignia. Think it goes back to WWII.
A nephew is on his third trip to the Sandbox. I send him a packet of St. Michael holy cards and a few novena booklets every deployment and they are well received.
A large framed calligraphy copy of the prayer is in our hallway. I remember as a child reciting the prayer after Mass. Then it was stopped without any explanation. At the mission we pray it after Masses unless there is an exiting hymn. It was introduced at an old fashioned ice cream social on a September 29th about 15 years ago.
A Happy and Blessed Easter to all who read TAC.
Pope Francis should order the St. Michael prayer said after ever Mass prior to 1964 resumed now. Note Red Moon over Vatican last night as an omen of God’s displeasure with the Church hierarchy.
https://fromrome.info/2020/04/12/easter-2020-begins-with-terrible-lunar-omen-over-rome/
Michael- many places have started it back up. I know our current parish has that.
They also use the trick of using the Divine Mercy during the 45 or so minutes before Mass, so folks stay out side if they want to chat and there’s no chance of overhearing what’s going on in the confessional.
The red moon has been here all week– my kids have been insisting on staying up to look at it if they caught sight before falling asleep.
On a technical note, the guy couldn’t get a picture of the moon that did it justice because of how the human eye works– the moon is (duh) a bright object against a dark background in a dark environment, so the way it looks requires some serious retouching to capture in a photograph that isn’t back-lit and isn’t in a dark room. You can get an idea of this effect if you stand in a room and look out the window at the moon, then walk outside and look at the same moon, and switch it back and forth. It looks so much smaller through a window pane in a bright room.
For the claim by the article…I notice he citied the Bible verses he was talking about, but not which fathers of the church and what, exactly, they said. That’s usually a bad sign, if only in the “I remember I read that, somewhere!” sense that allows a lot of mistakes through.
Thank you for sharing this. Elsewhere I have seen doubts raised as to the circumstances which are described around the composition. It is good to have the facts straight from an eye-witness.