The St. Michael Prayer in Latin

Leo XIII’s prayer, in the language he wrote it in.

Pope Leo XIII composed this prayer in 1886 and ordered it said after every Low Mass, a practice that continued until 1964 and has been widely revived in parishes since.

In Latin

Sancte Michael Archangele,
defende nos in proelio;
contra nequitiam et insidias diaboli esto praesidium.

Imperet illi Deus, supplices deprecamur:
tuque, Princeps militiae caelestis,
Satanam aliosque spiritus malignos,
qui ad perditionem animarum pervagantur in mundo,
divina virtute in infernum detrude. Amen.

In English

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.

About This Prayer

Note the grammar of the central petition: it is God who rebukes Satan — imperet illi Deus — and Michael who acts by God’s power, not his own. The prayer is careful about this. No creature, angel or human, has authority over the devil in its own right.