When I worked at the B. H. Roberts Foundation, I was the primary researcher for the Adam-God Theory project. As part of that project, I did a lot of work on traditions concerning the archangel Michael.
In
preparation for my dialogue on Catholic/LDS Mariology (scheduled for Saturday,
November 29), I read The Raccolta (1950 ed.). contained
therein is this devotion to the archangel Michael:
ANGELICAL CROWN IN HONOUR OF ST. MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL.
It is a pious tradition, that the Archangel Michael revealed to a holy
person that he would be well pleased by his bringing into use the following
prayers in his honour and in honour of all the angelic host; and that he would
repay those who practised this devotion with signal favours, particularly in
such times as the Catholic Church should experience some special trial. In this
belief, a holy Carmelite nun, of the convent of Vetralla, in the diocese of
Viterbo, who died with the reputation of sanctity in the year 1751, made it her
delight to practise this method of prayer, commonly called the “Angelic Chaplet”;
and it was at the instigation of the nuns of her convent that his Holiness Pius
IX., by a decree of the S. Congr. of Rites, dated August 8, 1851, granted the
following Indulgences:
i. An indulgence of seven years and seven quarantines every time the
Chaplet is said.
ii. An indulgence of 100 days daily to any one who carries this
Chaplet about him or kisses the medal with the representation of the holy
angels appended to the said Chaplet.
iii. A plenary indulgence once a month to everyone one who says daily
this Chaplet, on any one day when, after the Confession and Communion, he shall
pray for the exaltation of our holy Mother the Church and the safety of the
Sovereign Pontiff.
iv. A plenary indulgence, with the conditions above named, on—
1. The Feast of the Apparition to St. Michael. May 18.
2. The Dedication of St. Michael. September 29.
3. St. Gabriel the Archangel. March 18.
4. St. Raphael the Archangel. October 24.
5. Holy Angel Guardians. October 2.
To gain these Indulgences, a Chaplet must be used consisting of nine Pater
noster’s, and three Ave Marias’s after each Pater noser, with
four Paster noster’s at the end; the following corresponding salutations
being said at the same time in their proper order, with the antiphon and prayer
at the end us given below. These Chaplets must be blessed by the catual father
confessor of the convent of Vetralla, or some other priest who has obtained
faculties for this purpose.
METHOD OF PRACTISING THIS DEVOTION.
Let every one, according to his ability, begin with an act of sincere
contrition, kneeling before a representation of the holy Archangel; then let
him say with devotion the following salutations:
V. Deut in adjutorium meum intende.
R. Dontine ad adjuvandum me festina.
Gloria Patri, &c.
FIRST SALUTATION.
One Pater noster
and three Ave Maria’s, to the First Angelic Choir.
At the intercession of St. Michael and the heavenly choir of the Seraphim,
may it please God to make us worthy to receive into our hearts the fire of His
perfect charity. Amen.
SECOND SALUTATION.
One Pater noster
and three Ave Maria’s, to the Second Angelic Choir.
At the intercession of St. Michael and the heavenly choir of the
Cherubim, may God grant us grace to abandon the ways of sin, and run the race
of Christian perfection.
THIRD SALUTATION.
One Pater noster
and three Ave Maria’s, to the Third Angelic Choir.
At the intercession of St. Michael and the sacred choir of the
Thrones, may it please God to infuse into our hearts a true and earnest spirit
spent of humility. Amen.
FOURTH SALUTATION.
One Pater noster
and three Ave Maria’s, to the Fourth Angelic Choir.
At the intercession of St. Michael and the heavenly choir of the
Dominations, may it please God to grant us grace to have dominion over our
senses, and to correct our depraved passions. Amen.
FIFTH SALUTATION.
One Pater noster
and three Ave Maria’s, to the Fifth Angelic Choir.
At the intercession of St. Michael and the heavenly choir of the
Powers, may God vouchsafe to keep our souls from the wiles and temptations of
the devil. Amen.
SIXTH SALUTATION.
One Pater noster
and three Ave Maria’s, to the Sixth Angelic Choir.
At the intercession of St. Michael and the choir of the admirable
celestial Virtues, may our Lord keep us from falling into temptation, and
deliver us from evil. Amen.
SEVENTH SALUTATION.
One Pater noster
and three Ave Maria’s, to the Seventh Angelic Choir.
At the intercession of St. Michael and the heavenly choir of the
Principalities, may it please God to fill our souls with the spirit of true and
hearty obedience. Amen.
EIGHTH SALUTATION.
One Pater noster
and three Ave Maria’s, to the Eighth Angelic Choir.
At the intercession of St. Michael and the heavenly choir of Archangels,
may it please God to grant it the gift of perseverance in the faith and in all
good works, that we may thereby be enabled to attain unto the glory of
Paradise. Amen.
NINTH SALUTATION.
One Pater noster
and three Ave Maria’s, to the Ninth Angelic Choir.
At the intercession of St. Michael and the Heavenly choir of Angels,
may God vouchsafe to grant us the safe-conduct of the holy Angels through life
and death a happy entrance into the everlasting glory of heaven. Amen.
Then say four Pater
noster’s in conclusion; the first to St. Michael, the second to St. Gabriel,
the third to St. Raphael, the fourth to your Angel Guardian.
This exercise then ends with the following Antiphon.
ANTIPHON.
Michael, the glorious Prince, chief and champion of the heavenly host,
guardian of the souls of men, conqueror of the rebel angels, minister in the
house of God, our worthy captain under Jesus Christ, endowed with superhuman
excellence and virtue; vouchsafe to free us all from every evil, who with full
confidence have recourse to thee; and by thy powerful protection enable us to
make progress every day in the faithful service of our God.
V. Pray for us, most blessed Michael, prince of the Church of Jesus
Christ.
R. That we may be worthy of His promises.
PRAYER.
Almighty and eternal God, who in thy own marvellous goodness and pity
didst, for the common salvation of man, choose the glorious Archangel Michael
to be the Prince of thy Church; make us worthy, we pray Thee, to be delivered
by his beneficent protection from all our enemies, that at the hour of our
death no one of them may approach to harm us, and that by the same Archangel
Michael we may be introduced into the presence of thy high and heavenly
Majesty. Through the merits of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. (Ambrose St. John, The
Raccolta: Or, Collection of Indulgenced Prayers & Good Works [1950;
repr. Victoria, Canada: Must Have Books, 2021, 198-201)
