A Short Excerpt from
Pope Leo XIII and the Prayer to St. Michael
by
Kevin J. Symonds
1
History of the Prayer
The Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel was part of a series of prayers that were said after Low
(or “recited”) Mass from 1886 to 1964.[1] The journal Ephemerides liturgicae published an article in
1955 by an author identified only as “I.P.” which relates the reason for the Prayers’ creation. [2] The
article notes that the Prayers actually originated with Pope Pius IX (r. 1846-1878).
Pius was very concerned about the times in which he lived, as there was considerable social
upheaval throughout Europe. In response, he ordered a series of prayers for peace to be recited
after private Masses in 1859.[3] Priests, while kneeling, were to say three times with the people
theAve Maria, then the antiphon Salve Regina followed by a prayer composed of four different
orations taken from different Masses.[4]
Pius’ immediate successor, Pope Leo XIII (r. 1878-1903), twice modified the prayers. The first
modification was mandated on January 6, 1884 when Leo issued the Decree Iam inde through the
Sacred Congregation of Rites.[5] Part of the modification replaced the four ending orations with
one:
From the year 1859 Pope Pius IX, of holy memory, prescribed that in all the churches of the Papal
States, certain prayers, to which he added indulgences, should be recited after the Holy Sacrifice of
the Mass, in order to obtain the help of God needful in times of such difficulty and trial. And as the
Catholic Church, surrounded by evils that are always grave (and which threaten imminently to
become yet more grave) has so great a need of the special protection of God, our most holy Lord
Pope Leo XIII has thought fit that these prayers, slightly altered in parts, should be recited
throughout the whole world. That the prayer, in common of united Christendom, may implore
from God that which concerns the good in common of Christianity, and that by an increase in the
number of petitioners, the benefits of the Divine Mercy may be more easily obtained. Wherefore,
by this present Decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, his Holiness has commanded that for
the future, in all churches of the City and of the Catholic world, the prayers that follow below,
enriched with an indulgence of 300 days, shall be recited, kneeling, at the end of each Mass without
music.[6]
According to Pizzoni, the Holy Father did this because of “the fear of more troublesome evils
which [his] predecessor had busied himself to drive back.”[7]
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Notes on Chapter One:

[1]
See Inter Oecumenici “Instruction on the Implementation of Liturgical Norms, Consilium (Sacred
Congregation of Rites), September 26, 1964 (Acta Apostolicae Sedis 56 [1964)] 888), paragraph 48 (j). The
entire series of prayers after Low Mass became known as the “Leonine Prayers” after 1884. They are still
commonly referred as such to this day.

[2]
At the end of the first paragraph there is a footnote in Latin which gives two names—“R. Ioanne Valerio”
and “R. I[oseph ?] Pizzoni, C.M.” Pizzoni is referred to as a “epitomatore”, a kind of editor. At the very end of
the journal, a “Joseph Pizzoni” is mentioned as being the moderator and sponsor of the journal. It is
presumed that, in fact, Father Pizzoni is the author, and is refered to as such in this work. See Ephemerides
Liturgicae, (Roma: Directio et Administratio, 1955), 69: 54-60. HereafterEphemerides followed by page
number.

[3]
Pizzoni
cites
the
publication Analecta
Iuris
Pontificis as
his
source.
Cf.http://archive.org/details/analectajurispon04rome (Accessed 11 July, 2013). I discovered there were
some discrepancies in the transcription of the prayers as they appeared in the Analecta to
theEphemerides article (not the least of which was the misspelling of the name of the Analecta itself! [Analecta
Iuris Pontificii, not “Pontificis”]). I have taken the liberty to correct these in the reproduction of these prayers
at the end of the present book.

[4]
Ephemerides, 54-55. The different Masses were as follows: Missa B. Mariae Virginis (Mass of the Blessed
Virgin Mary), Missa pro remissione peccatorum (Mass for the Forgiveness of Sins), Missa pro pace(Mass for Peace),
and Missa pro inimicis (Mass for Enemies). Having several orations is customary in the Roman liturgical
tradition. See the various prayers in De Processionibus of the Rituale Romanum(Parisiis: Jacobum Lecoffre et
Socios, 1853), 437ff.

[5]
Acta Sanctae Sedis Volume 16 (1883-1884), 239-240.

[6]
Supplement to The Tablet, January 12, 1884, page 33. Cf: http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/article/12th-january-
1884/33/decisions-of-roman-congregations (Accessed 8 June, 2014). I have taken the liberty of making
minor changes to the above text in order to make it more readable to a contemporary English-speaking
audience. The Latin text of the prayers is available in the Appendices to this book.

[7]
Ephemerides, 56. The Latin text in Ephemerides reads, “Causa allata: malorum timor graviorum iis quae decessor
propulsare sategerat.” To this effect, Pizzoni cites the liturgical scholar P. Jungmann on the prevalent
“Kulturkampf.” It also talks about Leo XIII’s Encyclical Humanum genus (on Freemasonry) of April 20, 1884.
At the end of this Encyclical, says Pizzoni, Pope Leo made a prayer that appears to have some influence
over later developments.