St. Michael the Archangel

St. Michael the Archangel is the angel named five times in Scripture as the leader of the heavenly armies and the protector of God's people. His name is a question in Hebrew, Mi-ka-el, meaning "Who is like God?", rendered in Latin as Quis ut Deus. The Church honours him on 29 September together with Gabriel and Raphael, and Catholics invoke him in a short prayer composed by Pope Leo XIII in 1886 that asks him to defend us in battle.

Michael appears in the book of Daniel as the prince who stands guard over Israel, in the letter of Jude as the archangel who disputes with the devil, and in Revelation as the commander who casts the dragon out of heaven. Everything else told about him, including the scales, the sword and the account of Lucifer's refusal, comes from Christian tradition and Christian art rather than from the text.

1. The Rebellion

When Lucifer, the highest angel, rebelled against God out of pride ("Non serviam" - I will not serve), a lower angel stood up to him. His name was Michael, which in Hebrew means "Who is Like God?" (Quis ut Deus). He cast Satan out of heaven.

The scriptural anchor for that account is Revelation 12:7 to 9. John sees war break out in heaven: Michael and his angels fight against the dragon, the dragon and his angels fight back and are defeated, and there is no longer any place for them in heaven. The dragon is identified in the next verse as the ancient serpent, called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world, and he is thrown down to the earth with his angels.

Two clarifications keep the picture accurate. Scripture does not rank Michael against the fallen angel, and it gives no account of Satan's original position among the angels. What the Church does teach is that the devil and the other demons were created good by God and became evil by their own free choice (Catechism of the Catholic Church 391 to 392). That choice is what the name Michael answers. Who is like God is a question with one answer, and any creature who tries to give a different one has misunderstood what he is.

2. The Defender

St. Michael is the Prince of the Heavenly Host. He is the guardian of Israel in the Old Testament and the guardian of the Church in the New. We invoke him in the famous prayer to "defend us in battle."

The Old Testament basis is the book of Daniel. In a vision, a heavenly messenger tells Daniel that he was delayed twenty-one days by the prince of the kingdom of Persia until Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help him (Daniel 10:13). The same messenger calls Michael "your prince", meaning the prince of Daniel's people (Daniel 10:21). At the opening of the final vision he says that at that time Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people, shall arise, and there shall be a time of anguish such as has never occurred (Daniel 12:1).

Daniel presents the nations as having angelic princes contending over them, and Israel's is Michael. Christian tradition extended the same office to the Church, which is why Michael became the figure invoked for the protection of the whole body of believers rather than for a private need. When Catholics call him defender, they are asking the guardian of God's people to go on doing what Daniel says he does.

3. The Scales

In art, he is often shown holding scales. Tradition says he assists the soul at the moment of death, weighing our deeds and protecting us from the final accusations of the Devil. He is the champion of the dying.

The scales come from medieval Western art rather than from Scripture, and the image is worth reading correctly. Catholic teaching holds that each person is judged by Christ immediately at death, and that this particular judgment settles the soul's condition at once (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1021 to 1022). Michael does not decide the outcome. The picture shows an advocate standing beside a soul that cannot speak for itself while the accuser is present, which matches the office Revelation gives him when it calls Satan the accuser of our brothers (Revelation 12:10).

The Church's own funeral texts put Michael in that role. The offertory of the traditional Requiem Mass asks that the standard-bearer Saint Michael bring the souls of the faithful departed into the holy light, and the prayers for the commendation of the dying ask the angels and saints to come out to meet the soul. Our page on judgment and what Catholics believe happens at death sets out the teaching behind the image.

4. What Scripture Actually Says About Michael

Michael is named five times in the Bible, and the whole biblical record about him fits on a page.

• Daniel 10:13. Michael, one of the chief princes, comes to help a heavenly messenger held up by the prince of Persia.
• Daniel 10:21. The messenger says that no one contends with him against these princes except Michael, your prince.
• Daniel 12:1. Michael, the great prince who has charge of Daniel's people, arises at a time of unprecedented anguish, and those written in the book are delivered.
• Jude 9. The archangel Michael, disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, does not pronounce a reviling judgment but says, "The Lord rebuke you."
• Revelation 12:7 to 9. Michael and his angels fight the dragon and his angels and defeat them, and the dragon is thrown down to the earth.

Jude 9 is the only place in Scripture where a named angel is called an archangel, and Michael is the one. The dispute over the body of Moses is found nowhere in the Hebrew Bible and appears to come from Jewish tradition known to Jude's readers. What the verse teaches is a matter of manner: even the archangel does not take on the devil in his own name, and he leaves the rebuke to God. That is the model the Prayer to St. Michael follows when it says "may God rebuke him".

Gabriel and Raphael are the other two angels named in the Catholic canon. Gabriel appears in Daniel and announces the births of John the Baptist and of Jesus (Luke 1:19, Luke 1:26). Raphael accompanies Tobias in the book of Tobit and identifies himself as one of the seven who stand before the glory of the Lord (Tobit 12:15). Our pages on the archangel Gabriel and the archangel Raphael take each of them in turn, and our guide to the angels covers the subject as a whole.

5. Lucifer, Isaiah 14 and "Non Serviam"

The names and phrases attached to the fallen angel have a traceable history, and it is worth knowing which parts are Scripture.

Lucifer is a Latin word meaning light-bearer or morning star. It appears in the Vulgate at Isaiah 14:12, in a taunt-song addressed to the king of Babylon: "How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn." In its own context the passage mocks a human ruler whose arrogance has ended in the grave. Christian writers from the early centuries read behind that figure the fall of a spiritual being, and from there Lucifer became a proper name for Satan in English. The reading is old and traditional. The verse itself is about Babylon.

Non serviam, "I will not serve", is a quotation from Jeremiah 2:20 in the Latin, where God accuses Israel of saying it. Christian tradition, and later literature above all, placed the phrase in the mouth of the rebel angel because it captures the refusal exactly. No verse of Scripture records Satan saying it.

Nothing here weakens the doctrine. The Church teaches plainly that Satan and the other demons were created good, that they became evil by their own choice, that their sin was a radical and irrevocable refusal of God and his reign, and that the choice is irrevocable because of the clarity with which an angelic intellect makes it (Catechism of the Catholic Church 391 to 393). Knowing which images are Scripture and which are tradition is what allows a Catholic to defend the doctrine without defending a misquotation.

6. What the Church Teaches About Angels

Angels are creatures. That is the first point and the most easily forgotten. The Church teaches that the existence of the spiritual, non-corporeal beings that Scripture usually calls angels is a truth of faith, and that they are personal and immortal creatures with intelligence and will, surpassing in perfection all visible creatures (Catechism of the Catholic Church 328 to 330).

They are servants and messengers of God, and Scripture shows them across the whole history of salvation, closing the gates of Eden, guiding Israel, announcing the birth of Christ, strengthening him in his agony and announcing the resurrection (Catechism of the Catholic Church 332 to 333). The Church also teaches that from infancy to death each of the faithful has an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life (Catechism of the Catholic Church 336).

Because angels are creatures, the honour given to Michael is the honour given to a saint, and adoration belongs to God alone. A Catholic asking Michael for protection is asking a servant of God to pray and to act under God's command. The name Michael carries is itself the safeguard against confusing the two.

7. The Prayer to St. Michael and Where It Came From

The prayer most Catholics know is short:

Leo XIII composed it in 1886 and prescribed it as part of a set of prayers, known as the Leonine Prayers, to be said by priest and people after Low Mass. Those prayers were recited across the Latin Church for decades and were discontinued in the course of the liturgical reforms of the 1960s. The prayer itself was never suppressed, and Pope John Paul II publicly encouraged Catholics to keep saying it. Many parishes today say it after Mass by local custom, and many Catholics say it privately at the end of the day.

A widely repeated story holds that Leo XIII wrote the prayer after a terrifying vision of the future of the Church. That account circulates in devotional literature, is not documented in Leo XIII's own writings, and appears in versions that differ from one another in important details. This page reports the composition and the mandate, which are documented, and reports the vision as a story of uncertain origin.

Notice the grammar of the prayer, because it contains the whole Catholic position in one line. It does not tell Michael to rebuke Satan. It says may God rebuke him, and it asks Michael to act by the power of God. That is Jude 9 turned into a petition.

8. Michaelmas and the Great Shrines

The feast of St. Michael falls on 29 September. Since the reform of the Roman calendar in 1969 the day has been the joint feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, Archangels. In English it has been called Michaelmas for centuries, and it was one of the quarter days on which rents fell due and terms began, which is why some universities still call their autumn term the Michaelmas term. Byzantine churches keep the Synaxis of the Archangel Michael and the other bodiless powers on 8 November.

Three shrines carry the tradition in stone. Monte Sant'Angelo, a cave sanctuary on Monte Gargano in Apulia, is the oldest western shrine dedicated to Michael and has drawn pilgrims since the early medieval period. Mont-Saint-Michel, the island abbey off the Normandy coast, was founded after the archangel was said to have appeared to Aubert, bishop of Avranches, in the early eighth century. The Sacra di San Michele stands on a peak at the entrance to the valley of Susa in Piedmont. All three sit on high or difficult ground, which is the usual pattern for Michael's sanctuaries in Europe.

Michael's patronages follow from his office. He is patron of soldiers, and by extension of police officers and paramedics, of mariners, and of the sick and the dying. Popes and councils have invoked him as protector of the universal Church.

9. What a Reader Can Take From St. Michael

Say the prayer, and mean the grammar of it. Twenty seconds at the end of the day. Asking God to rebuke the devil, and asking Michael to act by God's power, keeps a Catholic clear of the two errors that surround this subject: pretending evil is not personal, and treating spiritual conflict as a technique you operate.

Answer the question in the name. Who is like God. Every temptation to pride is a small attempt to answer that with your own name. Michael's whole identity is the refusal to do so.

Do not revile what you are fighting. Jude's point is that the archangel would not trade insults with the devil. Christians who talk about spiritual warfare with relish, or who see demons behind every disagreement, have missed the one verse that shows an angel dealing with one.

Ask him for the dying. The Church's oldest use of Michael is at a deathbed. If someone you love is close to death, ask that Michael and the saints come out to meet them.

10. Frequently Asked Questions

Who is St. Michael the Archangel?

St. Michael is an archangel named five times in Scripture as the leader of the heavenly armies and the protector of God's people. His Hebrew name Mi-ka-el means "Who is like God?", rendered in Latin as Quis ut Deus. He appears in Daniel as the prince who guards Israel, in Jude 9 as the archangel who disputes with the devil, and in Revelation 12 as the one who casts the dragon out of heaven.

Where is St. Michael mentioned in the Bible?

Michael is named in five places: Daniel 10:13, where he comes to help a heavenly messenger; Daniel 10:21, where he is called Daniel's prince; Daniel 12:1, where he arises to protect his people at a time of anguish; Jude 9, where he disputes with the devil over the body of Moses and says "The Lord rebuke you"; and Revelation 12:7 to 9, where he and his angels defeat the dragon. Jude 9 is the only verse in Scripture that calls a named angel an archangel.

When is the feast day of St. Michael?

The feast of St. Michael falls on 29 September, which since the reform of the Roman calendar in 1969 has been the joint feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael, Archangels. In English the day is called Michaelmas, and it was historically one of the quarter days for rents and terms. Byzantine churches keep the Synaxis of the Archangel Michael on 8 November.

Who wrote the Prayer to St. Michael?

Pope Leo XIII composed the Prayer to St. Michael in 1886 and prescribed it among the prayers said after Low Mass, known as the Leonine Prayers, which were recited across the Latin Church until the liturgical reforms of the 1960s. The prayer itself was never suppressed and Pope John Paul II encouraged Catholics to continue saying it. A popular story that Leo XIII wrote it after a vision is not documented in his own writings and circulates in versions that disagree with one another.

Did Satan really say "Non serviam"?

No verse of Scripture records Satan saying "Non serviam". The Latin phrase, meaning "I will not serve", comes from Jeremiah 2:20, where God accuses Israel of saying it, and Christian tradition and later literature placed it in the mouth of the rebel angel because it captures the refusal exactly. The Church teaches that the devil and the other demons were created good by God and became evil by their own free choice.

Can Catholics pray to St. Michael?

Yes. Catholics ask St. Michael to protect them and to pray for them in the same way they ask any saint, because angels are creatures who serve God rather than objects of worship. Adoration belongs to God alone. The Prayer to St. Michael keeps that distinction visible in its wording, since it asks God to rebuke the devil and asks Michael to act by the power of God.

Why is St. Michael shown with scales?

The scales come from medieval Western art, which pictured Michael as the angel present at the judgment of a soul, and not from any passage of Scripture. Catholic teaching holds that Christ judges each person immediately at death, so Michael does not decide the outcome. The image shows him as the defender of a soul against the accuser, which matches the role Revelation gives him when it calls Satan the accuser of our brothers.