Always extremely zealous in defending divine honor, Saint Michael the Archangel never fails to protect the Mystical Body of Christ, especially in times of greatest danger.
Newsroom (24/01/2025 18:46, Gaudium Press) It was still the beginning of creation, and the Angels were on trial. Overflowing with love for these works of his hands, God had decided, as is widely believed among renowned theologians, to reveal to them the plans he carried in his heart: the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity, and the election of a perfect human creature as his mother, who would be the Queen not only of men, who were yet to be created but of the entire universe, including angelic beings like Saint Michael the Archangel.
The sublime revelation was a divisive factor among the pure spirits: some accepted it, others rejected it. The rebels were led by the greatest of the Angels: Lucifer. The latter, unwilling to submit to a nature inferior to his own, cried out: “Non serviam! – I will not serve!” His words had barely finished echoing through the heavens when St. Michael responded to the affront with a cry a thousand times more powerful: “Quis ut Deus?! – Who is like God?” At the voice of the Prince of the Heavenly Militia, the good angels gathered under his command to expel from Paradise those who dared to rise against the Creator’s designs. The victory was resounding.
Illustrious theologians, such as St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, place this great confrontation on the first day of creation, narrated in Genesis: “God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness” (1:4). However, we only have to continue reading the Holy Book to understand that the war had only just begun.
Lucifer and his followers would not surrender easily: they wanted revenge and would use the human race – so closely linked to the cause of their revolt – to carry it out. Victory would no longer depend solely on the force of action of the angelic spirits, but on how human weakness would react to it. The initial attack inflicted by the evil angels in this new scenario would have the unfortunate consequence of sin, which brought the curse down on all of humanity.
Throughout history, the devil’s attacks against the realization of divine plans have only grown. Having won the consent of so many souls to his infernal solicitations, the enemy boasted of the vices and sins into which, instigated by him, men were sinking. All this time, however, St. Michael did not remain inert.
Archangel of Israel… and the “New Israel”
It was in the hands of this “Great Prince” (Dan 12:1) to guard the chosen nation. Such an excellent patron was the support of the patriarchs, the inspiration of the prophets, the consolation of the righteous, in short, the defense of the children of Israel. What a privilege, even for an Angel, to be entrusted with guarding the people from which Mary Most Holy would be born, and from her, the “Firstborn of all creation” (Col 1:15)!
Yes, what a privilege and, forgive us St. Michael, what a heartbreak… How could one imagine that the Messiah’s sicarios would emerge from the same chosen nation? For the unthinkable happened: the Archangel saw his Lord crucified and killed by those of whom he was the custodian. At this height of evil, the Patron of Israel was still there, inspiring pain and repentance in those hardened hearts.
Darkness fell in the middle of the day, there were terrible earthquakes, and the veil of the Temple was torn. Why not also see in these events St. Michael’s indignation against the infamous sin of deicide? Such calamities seemed to be an echo, on this earth, of that cry which had resounded in the heavenly vault and had made the rebellious angels fearful, precipitating the once “light-bearing” spirit, Lucifer, into the abyss. It was now the unfaithful Jews who, imitating the attitude of the chief of demons, cried out: “I will not serve!” (Jer 2:20). Like the revolted angel, the authorities of the deified people would lose the honor of radiating the light of Divine Revelation to the world, and would be cast into the darkness of error, for “a veil covers their hearts” (II Cor 3:15).
At the moment, however, when blood and water gushed from the Savior’s open side, the people of the Eternal Covenant were born, the “New Israel”, the Holy Roman Catholic Church, of which Saint Michael became the protector.
Zealous defender of the Holy Church
Hermas, a very unique character, a former Greek slave and brother of Pope Pius I, wrote one of the earliest works of Christian literature, called The Shepherd.
This book, which was much appreciated – we might even say venerated – by the faithful of the early days, is full of accounts of mystical experiences, in one of which the very intimate relationship between St. Michael and the Holy Church, still in its infancy, is delineated: “The great and glorious Angel is Michael, who holds power over this people and governs them. He is the one who gives the law and puts it into the hearts of those who believe”.
Undoubtedly, the Mystical Body of Christ needed a powerful guardian so as not to abandon the Divine Law in the face of the battles to come. The devil, driven by his implacable hatred of Christianity, would not waste an instant and would seek to suffocate it in its first years of life.
In ancient times, the Church was forced to hide in the catacombs; being a Christian was considered an abominable crime. The Romans, for example, used to amuse themselves by throwing innocent people to the beasts or condemning them to the cruelest forms of torture, while a fevered assembly enjoyed the atrocious spectacle.
Immersed in such terrible persecution, it was hard to believe that the Church would hold out for long… The devil was about to claim victory when an unexpected angelic intervention thwarted his plans.
“With this sign, you will conquer!”
It was 312. The throne of the Roman Empire was vacillating between two men: Constantine and Maxentius. Although both were pagans, the former was born of a Christian woman: St. Helena. He decided to advance against Rome to take it from his rival.
After several days of forced marching, his small army of forty thousand men was not in the most favorable condition to engage in combat against a numerically far superior adversary.
Unsure, Helen’s son decided to seek help from above: he prayed to his mother’s God. When he finished his prayer, he could see an immense luminous cross in the sky, which read: “With this sign, you will conquer”. The following night, the vision was repeated in a dream and Constantine, realizing that this was a supernatural event, ordered a cross-shaped banner to be made to lead the ranks of his army.
The battle took place on October 28 and, despite the bad omens, Constantine crushed Maxentius’ troops.
A year later, in 313, as a sign of gratitude for the miraculous victory, the sovereign signed the Edict of Milan, which put an end to the persecutions against the Church and granted Christians freedom of worship. At last, the true religion could breathe a different air from that of the catacombs.
However, it wasn’t until 314 that Constantine was able to fully understand the cause of his success. In a dream, a man shrouded in light appeared to him and said: “I am the Archangel Michael, the commander of the heavenly militia, the protector of the Christian faith. It was I who, while you were fighting against the wicked tyrants, made your weapons victorious.”
A Woman clothed in sunshine
There are still countless examples of the Archangel’s infallible action throughout history, but it is impossible to list them all. Fortunately, the Holy Spirit has given us an admirable compendium in this regard, in a scene described in the Book of Revelation.
At the beginning of chapter twelve, St. John recounts a great vision: a Woman dressed as the sun appears in the firmament, crowned with twelve stars and with the moon under her feet. She is pregnant and groans in labor pains. Then another great sign appears: a Dragon, the color of fire, who stands in front of the Woman to devour her child as soon as it is born. She fled into the desert, where God had prepared a refuge for her. Immediately after this description, the Apostle adds: “There was a battle in heaven. Michael and his Angels had to fight the Dragon. The Dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail. And there was no place in heaven for them” (12:7-8).
These are very enigmatic scenes – as is the whole Book of Revelation – but it is striking that St. John tells them together. The Dragon who pursues the Woman is the same one who was defeated by St. Michael, and the fight between the two is based on her: he attacks her, and he defends her.
Who is this mysterious Woman? The Virgin Mary herself? Many say so; it’s a traditional and beautiful application, but not the only one. Some Church Fathers and ecclesiastical writers have found reasons to add another interpretation: the one that identifies the Woman with the Holy Church.
Just as the Lady of the Apocalypse was persecuted by the Dragon, the Church is attacked by the devil and his minions. And just as St. Michael defeated the monster that threatened the Woman, he also shows extreme zeal when it comes to protecting the Mystical Bride of Christ, especially in times of greatest danger.
St Michael’s final victory
When will the final battle take place? What will that happy day be like, when the Dragon Will is definitively plunged into the abyss?
As for when there’s nothing to say; the future belongs to God. But as for how, many private revelations give us some idea.
In this regard, Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich, a great 19th-century mystic, is very enlightening. Amid the symbolic veils of the story, we can discern some outlines of what will be the ultimate clash:
“I saw again St. Peter’s Church with its great dome. Above it shone the Archangel St. Michael, dressed in red, holding a great battle flag in his hands. The earth was an immense battlefield. […] The Church was bloody, like the Archangel’s garment. I heard people say to me: ‘You will have a baptism of blood’. The longer the battle went on, the more the bright red color of the Church faded and it became more transparent.
Almost three years later, Anne Catherine Emmerich wrote down a new revelation, in which she gave more details about this purification of the Church amid the fighting:
“I saw the Church of St. Peter destroyed, except for the choir and the high altar. St. Michael, armed and girded, went down into the church and with his sword prevented many evil shepherds from entering, and drove them into a dark corner […]. Everything that had been destroyed in the church was rebuilt in a few moments so that divine worship could be celebrated. Priests and laypeople came from all over the world bringing stones to rebuild the walls, since the foundations had not been destroyed by the demolishers.”
At the time of the Roman persecution, the enemies of the Holy Church sought to destroy it by force, arms, and open persecution. Nowadays, however, their methods seem more intelligent: they know they can’t kill her, so they try to disfigure her as much as they can.
But she has nothing to fear, for at her side is the one whose mere presence fills the enemies of the Most High with dread. The Archangel St. Michael, who defeated the devil in heaven’s prœlium magnum and has been able to defeat him countless times on earth, will also provide the ultimate victory
Text taken from the Heralds of the Gospel Magazine no. 249, September 2022. By Lucas Rezende de Sousa.
Compiled by Dominic Joseph
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