Prayed after Low Mass, 1884-1964 (the St Michael prayer added 1886)

The prayers a pope ordered said after every Mass for eighty years.

Pope Pius IX had already prescribed prayers after Mass in the Papal States in 1859. In 1884 Pope Leo XIII extended a set of prayers to be recited after every Low Mass throughout the universal Church. The prayer to St Michael the Archangel, the best known of the set, was added in 1886, and an invocation to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus was added in 1904 under Pius X. The Second Vatican Council’s implementing instruction Inter Oecumenici (26 September 1964, §48j, in force from 7 March 1965) suppressed the Leonine Prayers as a mandatory part of the Mass – private and parish recitation of them, especially the St Michael prayer, has continued and been encouraged since.

The Prayers

Three Hail Marys, then the Hail Holy Queen, then:

V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

O God, our refuge and our strength,
look down in mercy on Your people who cry to You;
and by the intercession of the glorious and immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of God,
of St. Joseph her spouse,
of Your blessed apostles Peter and Paul,
and of all the saints,
in mercy and goodness hear our prayers
for the conversion of sinners,
and for the liberty and exaltation of holy Mother Church.
Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.

Then the St. Michael Prayer

St. 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 you, O Prince of the heavenly host,
by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all evil spirits
who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

And Finally

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us. (three times)

About These Prayers

They were instituted for the freedom of the Church, at a time when the papacy had just lost the Papal States, and were later offered for the conversion of Russia. They were discontinued in 1964 as part of the liturgical reform — not abolished, simply no longer prescribed — which is why parishes may and do pray them still.