Pope Honors Memory of Leo XIII
Pope John Paul II gave his respects to former Pope Leo XIII yesterday at Castelgandolfo. Leo XII has to be one of my more favorite popes of all time. He hit on just about every topic you could imagine, from modernism to the rights of the worker. Most significantly for Catholics in the first half of the 20th century, it was Leo XIII’s powerful prayer to St. Michael that was prayed after Mass for decades after he had a vision after Mass that most remember him by.
Leo XII described this vision to his cardinals:
On October 13, 1884, after Pope Leo XIII had finished celebrating Mass in the Vatican Chapel, attended by a few Cardinals and members of the Vatican staff, he suddenly stopped at the foot of the altar. He stood there for about 10 minutes, as if in a trance, his face ashen white. Then, going immediately from the Chapel to his office, he composed the prayer to St. Michael, with instructions it be said after all Low Masses everywhere. When asked what had happened, he explained that, as he was about to leave the foot of the altar, he suddenly heard voices – two voices, one kind and gentle, the other guttural and harsh. They seemed to come from near the tabernacle. As he listened, he heard the following conversation:
The guttural voice, the voice of Satan in his pride, boasting to Our Lord:
“I can destroy your Church”
The gentle voice of Our Lord:
“You can? Then go ahead and do so.”
Satan:
“To do so, I need more time and more power.”
Our Lord:
“How much time? How much power?
Satan:
“75 to 100 years, and a greater power over those
who will give themselves over to my service.”
Our Lord:
“You have the time, you will have the power.
Do with them what you will.”
Now folks, I am not the kind of guy who just goes around believing in stuff. It took a thourough reading of St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologicae to bring me back to Catholicism. But this just sends chills down my spine. It was for this reason that I chose St. Michael as my confirmation saint. Unfortunately today, after the Novus Ordo Missae replaced the Tridentine Mass in 1960, no one prays the St. Michael Prayer after Mass anymore (as requested by Pope Leo XII himself).
Perhaps we should think about doing this again. . .