To the Editor:
My letter is in response to the guest column, “Christian love overcomes Satan” (July 22), about the prayer to St. Michael after Mass. When we read the history of the prayer, we learn it is from 1884 when Pope Leo Xlll, after celebrating Mass one day in his chapel, went into a trance and heard a conversation between God and Satan. The devil boasted that he could destroy the church if given an amount of time and power, and God granted him permission to try.
Pope Leo Xlll wrote the prayer to St. Michael for protection for the church and the prayer was prayed after daily Mass from then on until about 1965. Now many parishes are praying the prayer again after Mass for the church, asking for St. Michael’s help and protection that we need so much these days.
Marilyn Snyder
Davenport
