St. Michael the Archangel

St . Michael the Archangel

In 1886 , Pope Leo XIII had a prophetic vision of wars and great sorrows of the 20th century . Fearful of the coming events he composed a prayer invoking the protection of St . Michael against Satan and the powers of evil . He ed the prayer to be said at every conclusion of the Mass Earlier in 590 , Pope St . Gregory the Great led a procession of Christians as an act of penance and atonement of sins to stop the great plague that struck Rome . St . Michael appeared at the tomb

of Hadrian near St . Peter 's Basilica with his sword covered indicating the end of the plaque . His name , which means Who is like God ' in Hebrew , was a battle cry in wars . Through his intercession the Lombards of Sipontum (Manfredonia ) defeated the Greek Neapolitans in 663 while Christian soldiers crushed the pagan armies of Magyars in Bavaria in 955 . These accounts portray St . Michael as the guardian angel of the kingdom of Christ on earth and the heavenly leader who fights all God 's enemies just like he did as a royal champion and Israel 's great support during the 70-year Babylonian captivity . As the prince of all angels , St Michael is always at the presence of God and has the singular privilege of assisting at the throne of the Divine Majesty (Gargano Travel , par 13

The Holy Bible tells some of the archangel 's intercessory works like in the Book of Daniel where St . Michael comforted Daniel after seeing the Hellenistic vision of wars and promised him to his helper in all things 1 'No one supports me against all these except Michael , your prince standing as a reinforcement and a bulwark for me . 2 At that time shall Michael rise up , the great prince , who standeth for the children of thy people ' Perhaps the most dramatic Biblical depiction of St Michael was when he defeated Satan in battle demonstrating his greatest

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1Taken from the Book of Daniel , Chapter 10 verse 21 of the Holy Bible

2Taken from the Book of Daniel , Chapter 12 verse 1 of the Holy Bible

achievement . 3 "Then war broke out in heaven Michael and his angels battled against the dragon . Although the dragon and his angels fought back , they were overpowered and lost their place in heaven . The huge dragon , the ancient serpent who is called the devil and Satan , who leads astray the whole world was driven out he was hurdled down to earth and his minions with him . The early Church Fathers attributed St . Michael as the angel who appeared in the burning bush when Moses spoke to God and the cherubim who guarded the Garden of Eden after Adam and Eve were expelled . With these scriptural passages , the Catholic tradition accorded St . Michael four principal duties : to continue to wage battle against Satan and the other fallen angels to save the souls of the faithful from the power of Satan especially at the hour of death...