Prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel

Where it comes from

History

From 1859, certain prayers were said after Low Mass (Mass without singing) in the Papal States. On January 6, 1884, Pope Leo XIII extended them to the whole Church: three Hail Marys, the Hail Holy Queen with a versicle, response, and concluding prayer, and a prayer for the Church. These prayers were first ordered because of the loss of the Papal States. [3][7]

In 1886 the prayer to Saint Michael was added to this set, along with a small change to the concluding prayer. The set later became known as the "Leonine Prayers." The Saint Michael prayer spread quickly, perhaps also because it was usually prayed in the people's own language, and it was recited at the end of every Low Mass until the 1960s. [3][4]

In 1904 Pope Pius X recommended adding a short invocation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. After the Lateran Treaty of 1929, Pope Pius XI directed that the Leonine Prayers be offered for Russia. [3]

The instruction Inter Oecumenici of September 26, 1964, removed the Leonine Prayers, including the Saint Michael prayer, from after Mass; this change took effect on March 7, 1965. What was removed was the requirement, not the prayer: the faithful remain free to pray it privately or voluntarily. [7][4]

On September 29, 2018, the Feast of the Archangels, the Holy See invited the faithful to pray the Rosary every day during October and to close it with the We Fly to Thy Protection and the prayer to Saint Michael, asking for the Church's protection from the evil one. Pope Francis repeated this invitation on October 9, 2018. [6][5]