The medal of St. Benedict

For protection — and what those letters on the medal mean.

St. Benedict founded Western monasticism and wrote a Rule still followed fifteen centuries later. His medal is among the most widely worn sacramentals in the Church, and almost nobody who wears one can read it. The letters are the initials of a Latin prayer of protection.

The Prayer

Glorious St. Benedict,
who taught us the way to religious perfection
by the practice of self-conquest,
obtain for me the grace to be freed
from what holds me bound.

Protect me and my household from all harm of body and soul.
Be with me in temptation,
steady me in trouble,
and at the hour of my death
let me be found faithful.

St. Benedict, pray for us. Amen.

What the Medal Says

Around the cross on the back: C S S M L — N D S M D, for Crux sacra sit mihi lux, non draco sit mihi dux — May the holy cross be my light, may the dragon never be my guide.

Around the edge: V R S N S M V — S M Q L I V B, for Vade retro Satana, numquam suade mihi vana; sunt mala quae libas, ipse venena bibas — Begone Satan, never tempt me with your vanities; what you offer me is evil, drink the poison yourself.

On the face: the saint holding his Rule and the cross, with Eius in obitu nostro praesentia muniamur — May we be strengthened by his presence in the hour of our death.

About This Devotion

The medal is blessed by a priest and worn, hung by a door, or buried at the corners of a property. Like every sacramental, it is not a charm: it works as a sign of faith and a reminder of the cross, and the protection it signifies comes from Christ, not from the metal.