EWTN has a good page fully given below… the picture of the chaplet above was given to me just the other day by a reader…
The Chaplet of St. Michael is a wonderful way to Continue reading
Tag Archives: saint michael
The Saint Michael painting – in situ – Saint Peter’s Basilica, Rome
Sent in today by a reader of the blog who is making a pilgrimage ad limina apostolorum, and who is praying the Saint Michael prayer for my intentions. Thank you! — You’ll find this altar back around behind the confessional area.
Please, once for my intentions, and once for all of yourselves praying this prayer. Thank you!
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.
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 host,
by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits
who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.
Filed under angels
USMC shows the way, again, in trusting Saint Michael. Way cool!
This is the true story of a Marine wounded in Korea in 1950. Writing to his mother, he told her of a fascinating encounter he experienced in the war. Father Walter Muldy, a navy chaplain who spoke to the young Marine and his mother as well as to the outfit commander, always affirmed the veracity of this narrative.
We heard it from someone who read the original letter and retell the story here in all its details and in the first person to better convey some of the impact it must have had when first told by the son to his mother.
Dear Mom,
I am writing to you from a hospital bed. Don’t worry, Mom, I am okay. I was wounded, but the doctor says that I will be up in no time.
But that’s not what I have to tell you, Mom. Something happened to me that I don’t dare tell anyone else for fear of their disbelief. But I have to tell you, the one person I can confide in, though even you may find it hard to believe.
You remember the prayer to Saint Michael that you taught me to pray when I was little: “Michael, Michael of the morning,…” Before I left home for Korea, you urged me to remember this prayer before any confrontation with the enemy. But you really didn’t have to remind me, Mom. I have always prayed it, and when I got to Korea, I sometimes said it a couple of times a day while marching or resting.
Well, one day, we were told to move forward to scout for Commies. It was a really cold day. As I was walking along, I perceived another fellow walking beside me, and I looked to see who it was.
He was a big fellow, a Marine about 6’4” and built proportionally. Funny, but I didn’t know him, and I thought I knew everyone in my unit. I was glad to have the company and broke the silence between us:
“Chilly today, isn’t it?” Then I chuckled because suddenly it seemed absurd to talk about the weather when we were advancing to meet the enemy.
He chuckled too, softly.
“I thought I knew everyone in my outfit,” I continued, “ but I have never seen you before.”
“No,” he agreed, “I have just joined. The name is Michael.”
“Really?! That’s mine, too.”
“I know,” the Marine said, “Michael, Michael of the morning….”
Mom, I was really surprised that he knew about my prayer, but I had taught it to many of the other guys, so I supposed that the newcomer must have picked it up from someone else. As a matter of fact, it had gotten around to the extent that some of the fellows were calling me “Saint Michael.”
Then, out of the blue, Michael said, “There’s going to be trouble ahead.”
I wondered how he could know that. I was breathing hard from the march, and my breath hit the cold air like dense clouds of fog. Michael seemed to be in top shape because I couldn’t see his breath at all. Just then, it started to snow heavily, and soon it was so dense I could no longer hear or see the rest of my outfit. I got a little scared and yelled, “Michael!” Then I felt his strong hand on my shoulder and heard his voice in my ear, “It’s going to clear up soon.”
It did clear up, suddenly. And then, just a short distance ahead of us, like so many dreadful realities, were seven Commies, looking rather comical in their funny hats. But there was nothing funny about them now; their guns were steady and pointed straight in our direction.
“Down, Michael!!” I yelled as I dove for cover. Even as I was hitting the ground, I looked up and saw Michael still standing, as if paralyzed by fear, or so I thought at the time. Bullets were spurting all over the place, and Mom, there was no way those Commies could have missed at that short distance. I jumped up to pull him down, and then I was hit. The pain was like a hot fire in my chest, and as I fell, my head swooned and I remember thinking, “I must be dying…” Someone was laying me down, strong arms were holding me and laying me gently on the snow. Through the daze, I opened my eyes, and the sun seemed to blaze in my eyes. Michael was standing still, and there was a terrible splendor in his face. Suddenly, he seemed to grow, like the sun, the splendor increasing intensely around him like the wings of an angel. As I slipped into unconsciousness, I saw that Michael held a sword in his hand, and it flashed like a million lights.
Later on, when I woke up, the rest of the guys came to see me with the sergeant.
“How did you do it, son?” he asked me.
“Where’s Michael?” I asked in reply.
“Michael who?” The sergeant seemed puzzled.
“Michael, the big Marine walking with me, right up to the last moment. I saw him there as I fell.”
“Son,” the sergeant said gravely, “you’re the only Michael in my unit. I hand-picked all you fellows, and there’s only one Michael. You. And son, you weren’t walking with anyone. I was watching you because you were too far off from us, and I was worried.
Now tell me, son,” he repeated, “how did you do it?”
It was the second time he had asked me that, and I found it irritating.
“How did I do what?”
“How did you kill those seven Commies? There wasn’t a single bullet fired from your rifle.”
“What?”
“Come on, son. They were strewn all around you, each one killed by a swordstroke.”
And that, Mom, is the end of my story. It may have been the pain, or the blazing sun, or the chilling cold. I don’t know, Mom, but there is one thing I am sure about. It happened.
Love your son,
Michael
The USMC shows us the way, of course, in trusting Saint Michael, who, like unto God, is Semper Fi
John Ritchie of TFP Student Action ( TFP) wrote this article just the other day:
With a photo of Saint Michael tucked into his helmet, he said: “I don’t need luck.” When the U. S. Marines of Company B, 1st Battalion, 6th Regiment attacked the Taliban stronghold of Marjah in Afghanistan in 2010, they knew what to expect from the terrorists: lethal resistance, heavy fire, and constant danger.
Extraordinary things happened in the course of the battle. Lance Cpl. Andrew Koenig received a direct shot to the head from a Taliban sniper while he was standing guard on a rooftop outpost. The impact of the bullet hit him with such violence that it hurled Lance Cpl. Koenig flat onto his back.
After being rushed to the company aid station to assess the gravity of the injury, however, a baffled Navy corpsman verified that the projectile had only left a thumb-size dent in the Marine’s hard Kevlar helmet. With a visible lump on his forehead, the brave Marine quickly returned to his dangerous post. For many heroic Marines like Lance Cpl. Koenig, Semper Fidelis is not just a slogan, but a way of life. [We know, of course, that the marines receive the solicitous protection of God, who is Himself semper fidelis. The marines, as a response, try to be like unto God (Michael), semper fidelis.]
According to The Wall Street Journal account, a combat-hardened Gunnery Sergeant who witnessed the event remarked that he had never seen a Marine survive a direct head shot. “From a spiritual point of view, that doesn’t happen by accident,” added a detective at the outpost.
“But next to him was Cpl. Christopher Ahrens, who quietly mentioned that two bullets had grazed his helmet the day the Marines attacked Marjah. The same thing, he said, happened to him three times in firefights in Iraq.
Cpl. Ahrens “lifted the camouflaged cloth cover on his helmet, exposing the holes where the bullets had entered and exited,” reports The Wall Street Journal.
“He turned it over to display the picture card tucked inside, depicting Michael the Archangel stamping on Lucifer’s head. ‘I don’t need luck,’ he said.”
More updates on the Saint Michael prayer…
For some time now I’ve been asking you readers to invoke Saint Michael, asking that you pray the Saint Michael prayer once for my intentions and then once for you and yours. Many of you have also had Masses offered for me. Thank you. Don’t forget to include each other in the latter prayer!
I think things are going well. The reason I say that is that some of you who are praying this prayer are being harassed a bit by Satan’s minions. That must mean that the prayers are very much needed, very much appreciated by our Lord, very much despised by Satan’s minions.
I thank you for your continued prayer. Satan doesn’t like getting kicked in the face by Saint Michael. That’s O.K. by me.
And an update to this post (already): I am distressed that I keep getting even more reports of getting harassed when this prayer is being recited for my intetions and then for all of you who are praying. I would just like to say that there is no reason to fear. This is Satan’s tactic to stop you from praying.
If you are being extraordinarily tempted, use this as an occasion to grow in simplicity, in trust, before our Lord, like a little child, no matter what… always more simple, more humble, more trusting in Him, instead of getting intense with our pretending to be able to control everything, then getting frustrated, then getting depressed, then risking falling into sin.
If you (also) being physically harassed, simply offer yourself as a living intercession for the good of Christ’s Mystical Body. This goes for temptation as well. Have no fear. Rather, be a good solidier of this Church Militant!
Again: If there is such extraordinary frustration on Satan’s minions’ part (which is why they would strike out instead of continuing to hide themselves), it is only because those of you who are praying are so very much loved by our Lord, who holds your prayer to be most precious. Jesus is the Lord of History, but He wants us to pray. Please, don’t give up now! Join us if you haven’t already. Just make sure you are someone who goes to confession regularly! Yikes and Yikes again! Let’s pray:
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.
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 host,
by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan
and all the evil spirits
who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.
Filed under angels
Thanks to Benefactors: From the calm ferocity of Saint Michael to Holy Hours and Mass – Lots of great pictures and a rant on confession
As I started my journey yesterday morning to the airport in Charlotte, this is the firey sunrise which greeted me. Had I seen this in Australia, I would have feared for my life, thinking it was a forest fire. There, you can’t even run. The fireballs, the size of city block, create their own storm pattern and are thrown up to a mile and a half, faster than you could drive your car on a highway, dropping down to start elsewhere, in a continuous pattern. The eucalyptus trees litterly explode with their extremely flammable sap. Beautiful here on Holy Souls Mountain.
It also reminds me of the purpose of the hermitage, to help out priests and bishops in the purgatory of this life and the next. We have to face these flames, which are glorious, in that they bring us to an agility of soul by which we can see more clearly, with more humble thanksgiving, the firey love of our Lord’s tender mercies for us all. And that truly warms the heart, no matter the freezing temps outside. The love of God can be quite a constant in our souls — a recognized friendship, a close friendship with our Lord, Mary’s Son — but we can let that love grow a bit less intense, can we not?
Confession is good for the soul. I went the other day, meeting my confessor half way down the mountain as he was on his way to the other side of the mountain chain. What a great joy to receive the absolution, that infallible increase — all things being equal — in santifying grace, or the re-establishment of that grace should we have lost it altogether. Our Lord is so good and so kind. Don’t put off going to Confession. If you have, even for many decades, just go. It’s that simple. One of these days (please remind me) I’m going to put up some ferocious exams of conscience for whatever age or condition in life, including the priesthood… But don’t wait for that!
Remember, confession isn’t just for “big sins”. Not everyone lining up for confession has murdered someone else, or been an arsonist or what have you. Confession is also for smaller, venial sins. One can also confess any past sin for which one is especially sorrowful, even though that sin is already forgiven. This is not to get “more forgiven” (impossible). Instead, the grace of the sacrament latches on, if you will, to the contrition offered in the grace of our Lord. This increase in the friendship of our Lord is just so very wonderful.
Sometimes the benefactors of Holy Souls Hermitage are so very thoughtful and kind that I have to run to our Lord and beg for His mercy on my soul, protesting that I am unworthy of their generousity. For instance, Mr. S.H. sent in this card:
A cloistered nun, listening to my protestations of my unworthiness, told me not to worry, that our Lord is, in fact, good and kind, and that I should thankfully recognize where I would have been without the prayers being offered for me! Yikes! O.K. Yikes! My comment is one of especial thankfulness: if it’s not easy to pray for bishops and priests, what is it to pray for a priest who’s praying for bishops and priests? One more time: Yikes! and thank you.
This comes in from the humble and ever promptly helpful T.L.M. sacristan, Mr. C.R., of Holy Family Parish in Columbus, Ohio. It’s a C.D. with a zillion helpful texts for the T.L.M. I hope this gets into the hands of all the seminarians at the Josephinum, where this time last year I was finishing up the first course in the Extraordinary Form with a good crowd of eager seminarians. Take a look at the table of contents:
One of our top men in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, who trains others, so talented is he, sent in this statue of Saint Michael. Perfect in every way. Very appropriate for the chapel, where the prayer to Saint Michael is offered after every Holy Mass. I especially like the manly but ever so very calm expression on the face of Saint Michael. Determination but confidence. The job will be done:
Satan’s not happy about this at all:
That reminds me about putting up a second series on exorcism, this time on the rituals themselves…
The famous pilot who is now on Holy Souls Mountain for a visit sent in some care boxes and brought more, too much to put up on line. I can thank this pilot in person. Very thoughtful, very kind. Yikes.
Last and not least, the following comes in from S. & K. McR.
I’m the donkey you see over the shoulder of our Lady. I wonder if today’s artists could do so well as they did back in 1435…
A novena of Masses:
Thank you. I am humbled right into the dirt, frozen as it is. Thank you.
The seminary library in Denton sports my thesis on Genesis after it was given an administrative nihil obstat for inclusion some years ago. I had inquired about going to teach at the seminary as a Scripture prof back then, but found out that they had just signed on a fellow just before I wrote in. C’est la vie! Our Lord wanted me up at the Josephinum according to his inscrutible ways. The FSSP continues to grow and flourish, even after Summorum Pontificum. This is wonderful. Any possible vocations reading this post? Check out this crowd. Why not? Just to check them out. Can’t hurt, can it? Also check out what’s happening in the great diocese of Lincoln at their seminary. When the bishop is Catholic, the seminary explodes with great vocations.
This book was sent in as well by S. & K. McR.:
Thank you for that. I am so badly read for so long. Pretty much anything that anyone would send in would be something I haven’t read and should and must read. I’ve been too long in dictionaries of Scriptural languages and of the ancient Middle-East, and need also to set my eyes and heart and soul more upon that which lifts up the soul to our Lord in other ways. Thank you.
Last but not least, this shadow box. I love the donkey in the back corner. That’s me.
Filed under Benefactors, Confession
01 Exorcism tips from Holy Souls Mountain, Saint Michael, Malachi Martin
Finding this huge snake skin today, on the feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, reminds me of my life and times as an exorcist here and there around the world. It comes to mind to do a series on exorcism tips for the new exorcists coming on the scene in America and right around the world.
Mind you, it’s NOT that I’m anything special at all. It’s just that I’ve had quite a lot of varied experience, both in the training of exorcists and in doing exorcisms. Experience is always useful. Always. In this series, I won’t conjecture anything. I’ll be extremely strict about the interpretation of restrictive law about exorcism, keeping you within the parameters of obedience to Holy Mother Church.
Here’s the first tip, taking a hint from the great letter of Saint Judas (or Jude) in the New Testament (see 1,9): Saint Michael the Archangel would not rebuke the devil, but counted on the Lord to do this for him.
Never, don’t ever take it upon yourself to revile Satan. Humbly ask Christ our God, the Son of the Immaculate Conception to do this for you. If you do that, Satan will jump right out of his skin and depart immediately. He’s nothing compared to the Son of the Immaculate Conception. Asking is “deprecation.” Everyone is free to do that. We do that at the end of the Lord’s prayer: “Deliver us from the Evil One.”
If you are an exorcist, expressly mandated by your local Ordinary to do an exorcism or to have the ministry in an ongoing manner, and you are called upon to pronounce an imprecatory exorcism , such as “Begone, Satan!” – imprecation being a direct command – never, don’t ever forget that you are doing this in the name of Christ our God, the Son of the Immaculate Conception. If you, for a second forget this, Satan will have his way with you. I’ve seen this countless times as an exorcist.
In any case, recite the prayer to Saint Michael after every Mass. These are not suppressed for the Extraordinary Form of 1962. That suppression came a couple of years later and would not affect the provisions of Summorum Pontificum for the 1962 Mass.
Even in regard to the Ordinary Form, I think both Blessed John Paul II and Pope Benedict have asked that the Prayer to Saint Michael continue to be recited after every Mass.
Sancte Michael Archangele, defende nos in proelio, contra nequitiam et insidias diaboli esto praesidium. Imperet illi Deus, supplices deprecamur: tuque, Princeps militiae coelestis, Satanam aliosque spiritus malignos, qui ad perditionem animarum pervagantur in mundo, divina virtute, in infernum detrude. R. Amen.
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 host, by the divine power, cast into hell Satan and all the evil spirits, who roam through the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.
Perhaps some of you have read the horrific — however brilliant — book by Malachi Martin, Hostage to the Devil, written in the heyday of Jesuit evolutionary pop-psychology. You’ll notice that in each case, he pits the exorcist against the devil, personally, directly, so much so that Christ does not really have a role in the exorcism. Rather, it is a battle of wits between the exorcist and the devil. He even frankly says that in his appendix at the end. He played directly into the hands of the devil on this one. This is exactly, precisely what you are not supposed to do. The exorcist is to depend entirely on Christ Jesus, no more, no less.
I had lunch with Malachi in the mid-1990s so as to discuss exactly this point. It really does seem, as I said, that, for instance, in one case, he was so able to trounce the biological evolution of Theilhard de Chardin, S.J., his fellow Jesuit, for the very reason that he had merely jacked it up one level, to a spiritual evolution, whereby the exorcist was leading humanity onward by way of battling the worst and winning, “spiritually.” He was rendered quite speechless about this.
Anyway, note the change in popular culture in a different way, whereby it is ourselves who are to battle Satan, not God. This can be seen in statues and paintings of Saint Michael. It just happens that before the 1960s, he is depicted with a very calm face, for it is God who does the battle. After the 1960s, Saint Michael has an angry, almost frustrated face, for he is doing the battle himself. Not good. Again, Saint Michael himself said: “May God rebuke you!”
Also, just to say, as of this moment, right now, as I write this, I do not have any mandate to be an exorcist, for the reason that I am not at present, as I write this, participating in or conducting any exorcisms. That could change from one moment to the next, of course. Have I many times received an express episcopal mandate in this or that (Arch)Diocese right around the world? Yes. Many times.
Filed under exorcism
Accompany me, Father George David Byers, S.S.L., S.T.D., as I begin life as a Catholic Priest-Hermit by choice. Holy Souls Hermitage is dedicated to the sanctification of my fellow priests, bishops, deacons & seminarians going through the purgatory of this life or the next. Prayer and sacrifice go up, of course, for both Benedict XVI and the next Successor of Saint Peter. 
