The St. Michael Prayer: Full Text, History and the Long Version

1. The St. Michael Prayer: Exact Text

The St. Michael prayer has one standard English text, translated from Leo XIII's Latin. Small differences exist between prayer books ("defense" or "protection", "thrust" or "cast" into hell, "host" or "hosts"); they translate the same Latin words and are all correct.

Learn it by heart this week. It is sixty words long. Say it once a day for seven days and it will be yours for life.

2. Where Did the St. Michael Prayer Come From?

Pope Leo XIII composed the St. Michael prayer and, in 1886, added it to the prayers he had ordered to be said after every Low Mass. Those prayers, known as the Leonine Prayers, were first prescribed in 1884: three Hail Marys, the Hail, Holy Queen and a prayer for the Church. In 1886 Leo added the prayer to St. Michael. For roughly eighty years, priest and people knelt after the Low Mass and said them together, in parishes across the Latin Church.

Leo's purpose was the defence of the Church in a hostile age. He reigned from 1878 to 1903, when the papacy had lost the Papal States and faced fierce anticlerical governments in Europe. In 1930 Pope Pius XI directed that the Leonine Prayers be offered for the people of Russia, then under Soviet persecution of religion.

The Leonine Prayers were suppressed in the liturgical reform. The 1964 instruction Inter Oecumenici, which took effect in 1965, removed them from the end of Mass. The St. Michael prayer itself was never suppressed or discouraged; it simply stopped being required. Many Catholics kept saying it privately, and in recent decades many parishes have brought it back after Mass by local custom.

For Michael himself, his place in Scripture and his great shrines, read our profile of St. Michael the Archangel. For the Church's teaching on angels in general, see our guide to angels and the nine choirs.

3. Did Leo XIII Have a Vision Before Writing It?

A popular story says Leo XIII wrote the St. Michael prayer after a terrifying vision, and that story is unverified. In the usual telling, after celebrating Mass (often dated 13 October 1884) the Pope stopped, turned pale, and later said he had overheard Satan boast that he could destroy the Church if given enough time and power, and God allowing him a period of trial (75 or 100 years, depending on the version). Leo then went to his study and wrote the prayer.

Here is what is known. The written accounts appear decades after Leo's death in 1903. They disagree on important details: the date, the length of time granted, what Leo saw or heard, and who witnessed it. No contemporary document from Leo or his household confirms it, and Leo's own writings do not mention it. The story may preserve some real memory of how seriously Leo took the spiritual battle, or it may have grown in the retelling. Nobody can show which.

So hold it loosely. Do not build your faith on it, and do not pass it on as fact. You do not need it. The prayer stands on Scripture and on the authority of the Pope who wrote it, and the battle it describes is plain in the New Testament. Be very wary of anyone who uses the vision story to set dates or to claim the Church's end is scheduled. No one knows the day or the hour (Mark 13:32).

4. What the St. Michael Prayer Means, Line by Line

The St. Michael prayer packs the Bible's teaching on Michael and on spiritual warfare into a few lines. Pray it once slowly with these notes.

• "St. Michael the Archangel": Michael is named in Scripture as "one of the chief princes" (Daniel 10:13), "the great prince who has charge of your people" (Daniel 12:1), and "the archangel" (Jude 9). His name means "Who is like God?", which is the whole answer to Satan's pride.
• "defend us in battle": the battle is real and it is spiritual. "We are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness" (Ephesians 6:12).
• "the wickedness and snares of the devil": the devil works mostly by deception and traps. "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil" (Ephesians 6:11).
• "May God rebuke him, we humbly pray": these words come from Jude 9, where even Michael "did not presume to pronounce a reviling judgment" on the devil, "but said, 'The Lord rebuke you.'" You do not take on Satan in your own name. You ask God to do it.
• "O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God": Michael's power is borrowed. Everything he does, he does by God's strength.
• "thrust into hell Satan": this echoes Revelation 12:7-9, where "Michael and his angels" fought the dragon, and "the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan."
• "who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls": almost word for word from 1 Peter 5:8. The devil's goal is your soul. He is patient, and he is looking for your weak spot.

Notice the humility in it. The prayer never boasts, never commands the devil and never claims power of its own. That shape matters, and it is the key to the next two sections.

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5. What Is the Long St. Michael Prayer?

The "long St. Michael prayer" found online is usually taken from a different text: the Exorcism against Satan and the Apostate Angels, which Leo XIII published in 1890 for use by bishops and by priests authorised to perform exorcisms. It opens with a long invocation of St. Michael ("O glorious Prince of the heavenly host...") built on Ephesians 6:12 and Revelation 12, and then moves into the exorcism proper, which addresses Satan and the evil spirits directly and commands them in the name of Christ to depart.

An abbreviated form of that text was later placed in the Roman Ritual, and it remains in the current Rite of Exorcism (1999) among the prayers for particular circumstances of the Church. The rubric there places such prayer under the bishop, with meetings of the faithful held under the guidance of a priest. The short prayer to St. Michael, by contrast, appears in the same book among the prayers the faithful may use privately.

So there are two very different things going by the same name:

• The short St. Michael prayer (section 1): a petition to Michael, for everyone, everywhere, any time.
• The long "St. Michael prayer": in fact Leo XIII's exorcism formula, or an extract of it, written for authorised clergy.

This page does not reproduce the long text, for the reason given in the next section. If someone has handed you a printed "long St. Michael prayer", look at it carefully. If it contains direct commands to Satan or to evil spirits ("we drive you from us", "depart", "begone"), it is an exorcism text. Put it down and pray the short prayer.

6. Can Lay Catholics Pray the Long Version? The 1985 CDF Letter

Lay Catholics should not use the long version. In a letter to bishops dated 29 September 1985, known by its opening words Inde ab aliquot annis and signed by its prefect, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said it is not licit for the faithful to use the formula of exorcism against Satan and the apostate angels published by order of Leo XIII, whether in extracts or, still less, in its full text. Bishops were asked to remind the faithful of this.

The letter rests on canon 1172 of the Code of Canon Law, which says no one may lawfully perform exorcisms on the possessed without the special and express permission of the local bishop, who should grant it only to a priest of piety, knowledge, prudence and integrity of life. The same letter also asked bishops to stop people without that faculty from leading prayer meetings in which demons are addressed directly or questioned about their identity.

The distinction is simple:

• Deprecatory prayer (asking): you speak to God, to Mary, to Michael and the saints and ask them to deliver and protect. "May God rebuke him." Every Catholic may pray this way, for themselves and for others, at any time.
• Imperative prayer (commanding): you address the evil spirit directly and order it out. In the solemn form, over a possessed person, this is exorcism, reserved to a priest authorised by his bishop. Lay people should not command, interrogate or name demons over others.

Some writers argue that a strictly private, personal use of the long invocation is permitted, and the debate continues among priests and canonists. The safer course, and the one most consistent with the 1985 letter, is to leave Leo's 1890 text to the clergy. The International Association of Exorcists issued a warning in the same direction in 2020. Obedience here protects you. Recall the sons of Sceva, who tried to cast out demons in a name they did not know, and fled the house wounded (Acts 19:13-16).

The letter also stresses that none of this stops the faithful from praying, as Jesus taught us, to be delivered from evil. The Church gives you more than enough: the short St. Michael prayer, the Our Father, the Rosary, holy water, the sacraments. Our guide on casting out demons sets out in full what lay people may and may not do, and our guide to spiritual warfare gives a daily battle plan.

7. The Revival: John Paul II, Francis and the Dioceses

The St. Michael prayer has come back into wide use since the 1990s, pushed by popes and bishops. Here is the record:

• St. John Paul II, 1994. At the Regina Caeli on 24 April 1994, he noted that the prayer was once recited at the end of every Mass and asked Catholics not to forget it and to pray it for help in the battle against the forces of darkness and the spirit of this world, citing Ephesians 6.
• Pope Francis, 2013. On 5 July 2013, with Benedict XVI present, Francis blessed a new statue of St. Michael in the Vatican Gardens and consecrated Vatican City State to St. Joseph and St. Michael the Archangel, asking Michael to defend us from the Evil One.
• Pope Francis, 2018. In late September 2018, amid the abuse crisis and divisions in the Church, Francis asked Catholics to pray the Rosary every day in October and to end it with the ancient Marian prayer Sub tuum praesidium and the prayer to St. Michael, asking protection for the Church against the devil, who seeks to divide.
• Dioceses and parishes. Since 2018 many bishops, particularly in the United States, have asked or encouraged parishes to pray the St. Michael prayer after Mass, and many parishes that never dropped it kept going. It is a matter of local custom, so practice varies from parish to parish.

The lesson is plain. Three popes in a row, all well aware of how this prayer can be misused, have told Catholics to keep praying it. If your parish does not pray it after Mass, pray it yourself on the way out of the door.

8. How and When to Pray the St. Michael Prayer

Pray the St. Michael prayer daily, at a fixed time, and again whenever you are tempted or afraid. Here is a practical plan.

1. Every morning, after the Morning Offering. Our page on Catholic morning prayer gives a 5-minute routine it fits into.
2. After Mass, kneeling, whether or not the parish says it aloud.
3. After the Rosary, following the Sub tuum, as Pope Francis asked in 2018. Our Rosary guide shows the full order.
4. At night, after your examen. Our page on Catholic night prayer shows how.
5. In temptation, the moment it starts. Say it under your breath. Then change what you are doing: leave the room, close the app, call someone.
6. Over your home and family, walking through the house with holy water, praying it for those who live there.
7. On the feast of the Archangels, 29 September (Michaelmas), go to Mass if you can.

Then do the harder part. The devil's usual footholds are ordinary ones: unconfessed sin, unforgiveness, occult dabbling and despair. Go to confession, forgive the person you are holding a grudge against, and throw out anything occult in your home. Our guide to tarot, astrology and the occult explains why.

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9. More Prayers to St. Michael

Alongside Leo XIII's prayer, you can speak to St. Michael in your own words, as long as you keep the same shape: ask, and rely on God's power. These original prayers keep that shape.

For a full collection of prayers for your home, family and travels, see our Catholic prayers for protection. Lost for words for your own situation? Our free prayer generator writes a personal prayer in seconds, and our patron saint finder can match you with a saint for your need.

10. Do Protestants and Orthodox Pray to St. Michael?

Most Protestants do not pray to St. Michael, the Orthodox venerate him deeply, and Anglicans keep his feast. Here is each view, stated fairly.

• Protestants generally hold that prayer should be addressed to God alone, and they see asking angels or saints for help as unnecessary or wrong, citing 1 Timothy 2:5 ("one mediator between God and men"). Many still honour Michael as the archangel of Scripture and read Revelation 12 as a picture of Christ's victory.
• The Catholic response: asking Michael to pray and act for us no more replaces Christ's mediation than asking a friend to pray for you does. Every power Michael has is God's, and the prayer itself says "by the power of God". Scripture shows angels sent to help God's people again and again (Daniel 10:13; Acts 12:7-11; Hebrews 1:14).
• Eastern Orthodox Christians keep the Synaxis of the Archangel Michael and the Bodiless Powers on 8 November and pray to Michael often, with many churches dedicated to him.
• Anglicans keep Michaelmas, the feast of St. Michael and All Angels, on 29 September, a date also kept by Catholics and Lutherans.

For the wider debate on praying to saints and angels, see our guide to the saints and the communion of saints and our Catholic and Protestant comparison.

11. Start Today: A 7-Day St. Michael Plan

The way to make the St. Michael prayer part of your life is to pray it at the same moment every day for a week, then build the rest of your defences around it.

1. Day 1: learn the prayer by heart. Say it three times today.
2. Day 2: read Revelation 12 and Jude 9. Pray the prayer slowly afterwards.
3. Day 3: make an honest examen. What doors are open in your life? Write them down.
4. Day 4: go to confession, or book it. Nothing closes doors like absolution. Our confession guide walks you through it.
5. Day 5: clear out anything occult from your home and pray the prayer over each room with holy water.
6. Day 6: forgive one person by name, out loud before God.
7. Day 7: go to Mass and pray the prayer after it, kneeling. Keep going tomorrow.

Then make it permanent: morning, after Mass, after the Rosary, at night, and in every temptation. The devil hates a soul that prays every day, because that soul is hard to surprise.