A statue of St. Michael the Archangel is displayed at the Church of St. Michael in New York City. (CNS Photo/Gregory A. Shemitz)
St. Michael the Archangel is back, invoked to defend Christians from the snares of the devil. Or at least his prayer is.
The Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel is now a staple of liturgies in many parishes, often recited at the end of Mass or immediately after. The prayer, invoked in various forms from 1886 to 1965, was shelved as part of the Mass after the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
But renewed interest in the prayer developed in the fall of 2018 in the wake of concerns about church unity and new revelations of the sexual abuse of children by clergy. In October of that year, Pope Francis invoked the prayer and suggested it be recited at liturgies. The comments were made following a highly publicized dispute between the pope and Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano and also followed the release in August 2018 of the Pennsylvania grand jury report