In Dedicatione S. Michaëlis Archangelis ~ Duplex I. classis

Tempora: Dominica XIX Post Pentecosten I. Octobris

Saint Michael in The Fall of the Rebel Angels by Luca Giordano

September 29 was formerly dedicated to all the angels (Introit, Collect, Gradual, Communion), wherefore Pope Boniface II, about A.D. 530, chose that date to dedicate a church in the great circus, at Rome, to St. Michael. The Mass composed for the occasion has since been appointed for the 18th Sunday after Pentecost; it still relates to the dedication of a church. The present Mass was composed more recently.

The Hebrew meaning of Michael is: who is like God, and recalls the combat which took place in heaven between "the archangel of God who deserved to be placed at the head of the heavenly host" and the devil. As we have fallen through sin into the power of Satan, it is St. Michael's part to continue the fight for our deliverance (Alleluia, Prayer after Mass): wherefore our guardian angels are subordinate to him. St. Michael conquers Satan's pride and obtains humility for us. It is also he who presides over the worship of adoration rendered to the most High, for he offers to God the prayers of the saints symbolized by incense whose smoke rises towards heaven (Offertory, Blessing of the incense). When a Christian has left this world, we pray that the standard-bearer, St. Michael, should introduce him into heaven; he is also often represented with the scales of divine justice wherein souls are weighed. His name is mentioned in the Confiteor, after that of Mary who is the Queen of Angels.

St. Michael was the protecting angel of the synagogue, as he is now of the Church which has succeeded it. To him the liturgy attributes the revelation of the future made to St. John in the Apocalypse (Epistle). (St. Andrew Missal)

℣. O Lord, hear my prayer.
℟. And let my cry come unto thee.
Let us pray.
O God, Who hast ordained and constituted the services of angels and men in a wonderful order, mercifully grant that as thy holy angels alway do thee service in heaven, so, by thy appointment, they may succour and defend us on earth.
Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end.
℟. Amen.