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Saints for real life

Patron Saint of Protection

St. Michael the Archangel

When Catholics ask for protection, the name they reach for first is Michael. Scripture places him at the head of the heavenly armies, and the Church has prayed for his defense since its earliest centuries. His great shrine in the West is a cave in the Gargano, worn smooth by pilgrims.

“Then war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels battled against the dragon.”
Revelation 12:7
Saint Michael the Archangel in armor, bearing a sword.
  • Primary patronage Protection and spiritual battle
  • Feast day September 29
  • Where to visit Monte Sant'Angelo, Puglia
  • Best for A first shrine in southern Italy, Norman history, walkers

Why Catholics turn to St. Michael

  • A narrow whitewashed street climbing through the old town of Monte Sant'Angelo. Defense in spiritual struggle The oldest instinct behind the devotion is simple: a Catholic in danger asks the archangel who fights for God to stand between.
  • The abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel rising from its tidal rock in Normandy. A guardian of places Michael's shrines sit on rocks and heights across Europe. Mont-Saint-Michel rose on a tidal island after the archangel was venerated there in the eighth century.
  • Castel Sant'Angelo on the Tiber in Rome, the bronze archangel on its summit. Rome, and a plague Castel Sant'Angelo carries his name from a tradition that Michael appeared above it as a plague lifted in the time of Gregory the Great.
  • Delacroix's mural of Jacob wrestling with the angel in the Chapel of the Holy Angels at Saint-Sulpice, Paris. Wrestling, not winning alone Catholic art keeps returning to the struggle itself. Delacroix spent years on this wall at Saint-Sulpice, in the chapel dedicated to the holy angels.

Start with the answer

Why is St. Michael the patron saint of protection?

Saint Michael the Archangel in armor, bearing a sword.

St. Michael the Archangel is the figure Catholics most commonly invoke for protection. Scripture presents Michael as the leader of the heavenly host who contends with the dragon, and Catholic devotion has long asked his intercession in spiritual struggle and in danger. His feast is September 29, and his principal shrine in the West is the cave sanctuary at Monte Sant'Angelo in Puglia.

The patronage rests on Scripture rather than on a later story. Daniel calls Michael the great prince who stands guard over God's people. The Letter of Jude names him contending with the devil. Revelation puts him at the head of the heavenly host against the dragon. In every case he is not a comforter but a defender, and that is the role Catholics ask him to take.

Michael is an archangel, not a canonized man, so there is no tomb and no relic. What the Church has instead are places where his intercession has been sought for so long that the rock itself is worn. At Monte Sant'Angelo the sanctuary is a cave, venerated since the late fifth century and visited by popes, emperors and Crusader armies on their way east. Catholics have prayed for protection in that cave for longer than most European nations have existed.

The prayer most associated with him was composed by Pope Leo XIII in 1886 and asks Michael to defend us in battle. It is worth being clear about what the Church does and does not teach here. Asking Michael's intercession is not a charm and does not guarantee any particular outcome. It is asking a member of the heavenly court to stand with us before God, which is what the Communion of Saints means.

Read more about St. Michael Visit Monte Sant'Angelo
“Then war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels battled against the dragon.”
Revelation 12:7

The Gargano, Normandy and Paris

Visit St. Michael

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Plan a pilgrimage

View pilgrimage guides
  1. A day on the Gargano The sanctuary, the steps down to the cave, and the old town above it.
  2. Or begin in Normandy Mont-Saint-Michel rewards an overnight stay, when the day crowds have gone and the tide returns.
  3. Michael in Paris Saint-Sulpice sits a few minutes from the Luxembourg gardens, and pairs with a wider Paris pilgrimage.
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Photo credits
  1. Hero. Bernard Gagnon / Wikimedia Commons. Source. CC0.
  2. Defense in spiritual struggle. Bernard Gagnon / Wikimedia Commons. Source. CC0.
  3. A guardian of places. W. Bulach / Wikimedia Commons. Source. CC BY-SA 4.0.
  4. Rome, and a plague. Julian Lupyan / Wikimedia Commons. Source. CC0.
  5. Wrestling, not winning alone. La lutte de Jacob avec l'Ange d'E. Delacroix (église St Sulpice, Paris) - Flickr - dalbera. Jean-Pierre Dalbéra / Wikimedia Commons. Source. CC BY 2.0.
  6. The cave sanctuary. Nikater / Wikimedia Commons. Source. CC BY-SA 3.0.
  7. Mont-Saint-Michel. Nono vlf / Wikimedia Commons. Source. CC BY-SA 3.0.
  8. Saint-Sulpice, Paris. Ibex73 / Wikimedia Commons. Source. CC BY-SA 4.0.