The diabolical vision of Leo XIII and devotion to Archangel Michael

Many of us remember how, before the liturgical reform due to the Second Vatican Council, the celebrant and the faithful knelt at the end of each mass, to recite a prayer to the Madonna and one to St. Michael the Archangel. Here is the text of the latter, because it is a beautiful prayer, which can be recited by everyone with fruit:

«St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our help against the wickedness and snares of the devil. Please beg us: may the Lord command him! And you, prince of the celestial militias, with the power that comes to you from God, send Satan and the other evil impulses that go around the world to perdition of souls ».

How did this prayer come about? I transcribe what was published in the journal Ephemerides Liturgicae, in 1955, pages. 5859.

Domenico Pechenino writes: «I don't remember the precise year. One morning the great Pope Leo XIII had celebrated Holy Mass and was attending another, thanksgiving, as usual. Suddenly he was seen energetically lifting his head, then fixing something above the head of the celebrant. He looked fixedly, without blinking, but with a sense of terror. and wonder, changing color and features. Something strange, great happened in him.

Finally, as if coming back to himself, giving a light but energetic touch of hand, he gets up. He is seen heading towards his private office. Family members follow him with concern and anxiety. They say softly to him: Holy Father, aren't you feeling well? I need something? Answers: Nothing, nothing. After half an hour he had the Secretary of the Congregation of Rites called and, handing him a sheet, he asked him to have it printed and sent to all the Ordinaries of the world. What did it contain? The prayer that we recite at the end of the Mass together with the people, with the supplication to Mary and the fiery invocation to the Prince of the heavenly militias, imploring God to send Satan back to hell ».

In that writing, orders were also made to say these prayers on their knees. The above, which had also been published in the newspaper The week of the clergy, on March 30, 1947, does not cite the sources from which the news was drawn. However, the unusual way in which he was ordained to recite that prayer results, which was sent to the Ordinaries in 1886. In confirmation of what P. Pechenino writes, we have the authoritative testimony of card. Nasalli Rocca who, in his Pastoral Letter for Lent, issued in Bologna in 1946, writes:

«Leo XIII himself wrote that prayer. The phrase (the demons) that roam the world to perdition of souls has a historical explanation, referred to us several times by its particular secretary, Msgr. Rinaldo Angeli. Leo XIII truly had the vision of the infernal spirits gathering on the eternal city (Rome); and from that experience came the prayer that he wanted to recite throughout the Church. He prayed this prayer in a vibrant and powerful voice: we heard it many times in the Vatican basilica. Not only that, but he wrote of his own hand a special exorcism contained in the Roman Ritual (edition 1954, tit. XII, c. III, pag. 863 et seq.). He recommended these exorcisms to bishops and priests to recite them often in their dioceses and parishes. He often recited it throughout the day. "

It is also interesting to take into account another fact, which further enriches the value of those prayers that were recited after each mass. Pius XI wanted that, in reciting these prayers, there should be a particular intention for Russia (allocation of June 30, 1930). In this allocution, after recalling the prayers for Russia to which he also solicited all the faithful on the anniversary of the patriarch St. Joseph (March 19, 1930), and after recalling the religious persecution in Russia, he concludes:

"And so that everyone can effortlessly and uncomfortably continue in this holy crusade, we establish that those preci that our predecessor of happy memory, Leo XIII, commanded that they be recited after the mass by the priests and the faithful, are said to this particular intention, namely for Russia. Of this the Bishops and the secular and regular clergy take care to make their people and those present at the Sacrifice informed, nor do they fail to recall the above in their memory "(Civiltà Cattolica, 1930, vol. III).

As can be seen, the tremendous presence of Satan was kept very clearly in mind by the Popes; and the intention added by Pius XI touched the center of the false doctrines sown in our century and which still poison the life not only of peoples, but of theologians themselves. If then the provisions of Pius XI were not observed, it is the fault of those to whom they were entrusted; they certainly integrated well with the charismatic events that the Lord had given to humanity through the apparitions of Fatima, while being independent of them: Fatima was then still unknown in the world.