They also share a grammar that is worth noticing before you say any of them. Every one of them asks. Not one of them commands.
Historical Context
The Prayer to Saint Michael
Leo XIII wrote this in 1886 and ordered it said at the end of every Low Mass throughout the Church — a practice that continued until the liturgical reforms of the 1960s, which is why anyone who was at Mass before then knows it by heart and anyone who came later often does not.
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 other evil spirits
who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.
Look closely at the middle line. “May God rebuke him, we humbly pray” — the prayer does not rebuke the devil, and neither does Michael on his own authority. It asks God to do it, and Michael acts “by the power of God.” Even the archangel is petitioning. That is the pattern.
Angel of God
The shortest of them, taught to Catholic children for generations, and the one to say at a door or a bedside:
Angel of God, my guardian dear,
to whom God’s love commits me here,
ever this day be at my side,
to light and guard, to rule and guide.
Amen.
The Catechism’s line on this is worth holding alongside it: “Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life” (CCC 336). Stands — present tense, already posted, not dispatched when things get bad.
Psalm 91
The Church’s own protection prayer, and the one she puts at Night Prayer on Sundays so that it is the last thing said before sleep.
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High,
who abides in the shadow of the Almighty,
will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress;
my God, in whom I trust.”
You will not fear the terror of the night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.
For he will give his angels charge of you,
to guard you in all your ways.
— Psalm 91:1–2, 5–6, 11
The Lorica of Saint Patrick
A lorica is a breastplate — the Latin word for body armour — and in the early Irish Church it was a whole genre of prayer said for protection. This one is traditionally dated to Patrick himself in 433, but the text as we have it is eighth-century and anonymous; it survives in the eleventh-century Liber Hymnorum. The famous section is this:
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
Amen.
It works by enclosure rather than by defence. There is no enemy named anywhere in it — the whole prayer consists of filling every direction with one Person, until there is nowhere left for anything else to stand.
What a Protection Prayer Is Not
A great deal of what circulates online under this heading is written in a register that is not Catholic, and it is worth being able to spot it. The formulas look like this: I decree. I bind. I cancel every evil assignment. I put an end to. I command the spirit of. I declare over my household.
That is the grammar of command, and it comes out of Word-of-Faith and deliverance-ministry preaching rather than the Catholic tradition. Compare it with Leo XIII, who has the Prince of the heavenly host say “may God rebuke him, we humbly pray.” Catholic prayer of protection petitions; it does not issue instructions to the spiritual world, because the authority is not ours to exercise.
There is a practical edge to this as well. Solemn exorcism is reserved to a priest with the express permission of his bishop, and the Church is deliberately strict about it. Anyone who tells you that a prayer you can read off a screen does that work is selling you something.
Best Times for This Prayer
- At the end of the day, with Psalm 91, before sleeping.
- On 29 September, the feast of St Michael and the archangels.
- Before travelling, and before anything you are afraid of.
- At the door of a house, for the household in it.
- On St Patrick’s Day, 17 March, for the Lorica.
- When you are frightened at night and want something to say that is not your own words.
Scripture Connection
“Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” — Ephesians 6:11
Paul’s image is the origin of the whole lorica tradition, and the detail people skip is the verb. Not advance, not attack — stand. The armour in that passage is entirely defensive apart from one sword, and its purpose is to let you still be standing at the end. That is a more modest and more achievable request than most protection prayers make, and it is the one Scripture actually authorises.
Related prayers
The other two named archangels are on the site: St Raphael, asked for healing and for travellers, and St Gabriel. Michael himself does not have a page here yet, which is why his prayer is given in full above.
The St Benedict devotion is the other great protection tradition, carried on the medal with its initials for Vade retro Satana. St Christopher is the one for travellers, and the Memorare is the prayer for when you have no words of your own left.
