Saint Michael A prayer once popular at the end of every mass is being restored for all masses, at church liturgies in the Our Lady of Perpetual Help St Agnes parish.
In Sunday’s weekly bulletin distributed at all the masses in both Catholic Churches in Highlands and Atlantic Highlands, the pastor, Father Jarlath Quinn, gave a brief history of the Prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel and announced that he will reinstitute the practice of adding that prayer to the end of every mass beginning Sunday, September 1.
The Angel has been revealed and honored both by Jewish and Christian believers since the early 300s where the Old Testament refers to him in the Book of David; he is also described as one of the seven archangels in the book of Enoch. In Revelations in the New Testament, it is written Michael casts Satan out of heaven. He has been described as the Leader of the Army of God and is regarded as a guardian of the church. He was revered by military knights during the Middle Ages.
Father Quinn noted that the prayer which has been said in the Church for centuries was composed by Pope Leo XIII in 1886 at a time of disturbance in the church that involved the takeover of the Papal States by the Italian government. Pope Leo added the prayer to mass, and it was said regularly until 1965. At that point, a reform in the liturgy of the mass after the Second Vatican Council called for it to be excluded.
Father Quinn said that in October 2018, amid scandals and disunity in the Church, Pope Francis began reciting the prayer in the Vatican, invoking the powerful intercession of the Archangel.
The Pope further suggested that the prayer be once again included in church liturgies and many parishes have already followed Pope Francis’ example. In OLPH-St. Agnes, the prayer has been said frequently at many of the masses at the conclusion of the mass, and Father indicated Sunday it will now be a regular prayer at every mass.
The prayer to St. Michael the Archangel,
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 hosts,
by the power of God, cast into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
