It has come back in a great many parishes since. The text is below, with the longer 1890 version, and a note on what the prayer is not for.
Historical Context
Michael is named four times in Scripture and every appearance is a confrontation. He disputes with the prince of Persia in Daniel, contends with the devil over the body of Moses in Jude, and in Revelation leads the armies of heaven against the dragon. He is not a gentle figure and the prayer does not pretend otherwise.
The Prayer to Saint Michael
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.
Read the middle line slowly, because it is the theological hinge and it is almost always skimmed. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray. The prayer does not rebuke the devil. Neither does Michael on his own authority — he acts “by the power of God.” The greatest of the angels is petitioning, not commanding, and that tells you what posture the rest of us are in.
What his name means
Michael is a question, not a statement. The Hebrew behind it asks mi ka’el — who is like God? — rendered in Latin as Quis ut Deus, and it is the phrase painted on his shield in a thousand images.
The force of it is that it is a reply. Satan’s sin in the tradition is the claim to be like God; Michael’s name is the question that answers it, and the answer is nobody. Which is why the prayer works the way it does: the whole of it rests on a comparison that has already been settled.
The Longer 1890 Prayer
Leo XIII wrote an extended version four years later. The opening is the part still commonly prayed:
O glorious Prince of the heavenly host,
Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in the battle and in the struggle
which is ours against the principalities and powers,
against the rulers of this world of darkness,
against the spirits of wickedness in high places.
Come to the aid of man, whom God created immortal,
made in his own image and likeness,
and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of the devil.
Amen.
One caution about this text. The full 1890 version contains material framed as an exorcism, and it circulates online with the suggestion that anyone may use it that way. That is not how the Church treats it. Solemn exorcism is reserved to a priest with the express permission of his bishop, and deliberately so. Saying the prayer for protection is right and encouraged; using it as a rite you perform on someone is not yours to do, and anyone telling you otherwise is not speaking for the Church.
Why soldiers and police carry his medal
Because the patronage is old and was made formal. Knights took Michael as their patron through the Middle Ages, and in 1950 Pius XII proclaimed him protector of paratroopers, a patronage later extended across the armed forces of several countries. Police officers, paramedics and anyone whose work runs toward danger rather than away from it claim him for the same reason.
The medal usually shows him with a raised sword and a foot on the dragon. Sometimes he is holding scales instead — that is the older image, of Michael weighing souls at the judgement, and it is why he is asked for at deathbeds as well as in danger.
A Prayer for Someone in Danger
Saint Michael, you did not shrink from the fight.
Stand beside the one I am praying for tonight,
who is going somewhere I cannot follow.
Give them a steady hand and a clear head.
Bring them home.
And if the worst comes, be there at the scales.
Amen.
Best Times for This Prayer
- On 29 September, Michaelmas, his feast with Gabriel and Raphael.
- After Mass — where the old custom has been restored, this is where it belongs.
- At the end of the day, over a house and the people in it.
- By and for soldiers, police, paramedics and firefighters, before a shift.
- When you are genuinely frightened and want words that are not your own.
- At a deathbed, with the older image of Michael in mind.
Scripture Connection
“Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they were defeated.” — Revelation 12:7–8
The tense is what matters, and it is the thing that makes this a prayer rather than a war cry. The battle in Revelation is reported as finished — they were defeated. Christian protection prayer is not asking for an uncertain outcome; it is asking to be kept inside a victory that has already been won somewhere else. That is also why the Church can be so relaxed about the devil and so strict about exorcism at the same time.
Related prayers
The Prayer for Protection sets this alongside Psalm 91, the guardian angel prayer and the Lorica of St Patrick. The other two named archangels each have a page: St Raphael, asked for healing, and St Gabriel, who shares the 29 September feast.
For Michael at the hour of death rather than in danger, see the Prayer for a Happy Death. The St Benedict medal is the other great protection devotion, carrying the initials of Vade retro Satana.
