Leo XIII St Michael vision: nothing more than pious legend?

[Marie5890]

This is the best break down of the history of the purported Leo XIII vision of St Michael that was to have inspired the prayer to St Michael. There is no doubt that he penned the prayer, but what is in question is the so-called vision he is said to have had.

Thoughts and other documentation??

ewtn.com/vexperts/showmessage.asp?number=367591

 

[GaryTaylor]

This is the best break down of the history of the purported Leo XIII vision of St Michael that was to have inspired the prayer to St Michael. There is no doubt that he penned the prayer, but what is in question is the so-called vision he is said to have had.

Thoughts and other documentation??

ewtn.com/vexperts/showmessage.asp?number=367591

That was 2001, here’s an email response to EWTN on the above link.

ewtn.com/vexperts/showmessage.asp?number=318750

“I do not remember the exact year,” Fr. Domenico Pechenino reported.

“One morning Pope Leo was attending a Mass of thanksgiving. Suddenly, we saw him raise his head and stare at something above the celebrant’s head.”

shop.sophiainstitute.com/client/email_ads/LINK_stmichael.html

 

[GraceUnderFire]

I believe the story.

If you look at what has happened in the past 100 years, it’s clear that Satan has been trying to destroy the Church. But the we know how the story ends

St. Michael, ora pro nobis!

 

[patrick457]

To break it down:

Our earliest possibly reliable (not chronologically the earliest) source describing something close to the story is a reference in article that was published in an Italian journal called La Settimana del Clero in 1947 by a Fr. Domenico Pechenino, who worked at the Vatican during the time of Leo XIII. It’s essentially the link that Gary gave: Leo XIII was “attending a Mass of thanksgiving” (the year was not specified) when he seemed to be staring at “something grave and unusual.” He retired to his private office, with his attendants asking if he was well. Half an hour later he had written the St Michael prayer and “requested that it be printed and sent to all the ordinaries around the world.” What exactly Leo saw was not specified, only that it was something that startled the pope.

I do not remember the exact year. One morning the great Pope Leo XIII had celebrated a Mass and, as usual, was attending a Mass of thanksgiving. Suddenly, we saw him raise his head and stare at something above the celebrant’s head. He was staring motionlessly, without batting an eye. His expression was one of horror and awe; the colour and look on his face changing rapidly. Something unusual and grave was happening in him.

Finally, as though coming to his senses, he lightly but firmly tapped his hand and rose to his feet. He headed for his private office. His retinue followed anxiously and solicitously, whispering: ‘Holy Father, are you not feeling well? Do you need anything?’ He answered: ‘Nothing, nothing.’ About half an hour later, he called for the Secretary of the Congregation of Rites and, handing him a sheet of paper, requested that it be printed and sent to all the ordinaries around the world. What was that paper? It was the prayer that we recite with the people at the end of every Mass. It is the plea to Mary and the passionate request to the Prince of the heavenly host, (St. Michael: Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle) beseeching God to send Satan back to hell.

The second account comes from Cardinal Giovanni Nasalli Rocca di Corneliano (1872-1952), who wrote in his Litteris Pastoralibus pro Quadragesima (Pastoral Letters for Lent) for the Diocese of Bologna. In this version, Leo is said to have seen a vision of demons in Rome, which led him to write the prayer, but here it is never said as to when he saw it:

Leo XIII himself wrote that prayer. The sentence ‘The evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls’ has a historical explanation that was many times repeated by his private secretary, Monsignor Rinaldo Angeli. Leo XIII truly saw, in a vision, demonic spirits who were congregating on the Eternal City (Rome). The prayer that he asked all the Church to recite was the fruit of that experience. He would recite that prayer with strong, powerful voice: we heard it many a time in the Vatican Basilica. Leo XIII also personally wrote an exorcism that is included in the Roman Ritual. He recommended that bishops and priests read these exorcisms often in their dioceses and parishes. He himself would recite them often throughout the day.

So essentially we have two stories for the cause of the development of the prayer here:

• Pope Leo XIII at a certain Mass seeing “something above the celebrant’s head” (what he saw is never specified) that caused “horror and awe;” the Prayer to St. Michael was written half an hour later after the pope retired to his office (Fr. Pechenino’s account)
• Pope Leo XIII seeing demons in Rome (when he saw it is never specified); the prayer is said to be “the fruit of that experience” (Msgr. Angeli’s account)

 

[patrick457]

(Continued)

We know that the ‘Leonine Prayers’ originated in 1884, when Leo XIII ordered certain prayers to be said after Low Mass. Its original purpose was to ask divine help for a solution to the loss of the pope’s temporal authority after the Capture of Rome in 1870. (The issue was resolved in 1929 with the creation of Vatican City; at which the intentions of the prayer were redirected to ask for religious freedom for then-communist Russia.) The prayer to St Michael was added to the Leonine Prayers in 1886, so if we believe either or both of these stories to be true, Leo XIII must have had his vision/s before or during 1886.

Pardon the technical jargon, but that would mean that the terminus ante quem (the latest possible date) for this event would be 1886 - when the prayer was disseminated. Fixing the terminus post quem (earliest possible date) is slightly harder, but we might use Leo XIII’s ascension to the papacy (1878). That would give us a period between 1878-1886 for the possible time Leo saw this vision(s), with an 1884-1886 date more likely (as per the implication in Fr. Pechenino’s account).

The two accounts agree in one thing: a certain vision that Leo was the reason he wrote the St. Michael prayer. Only one of the accounts specify what the vision was: it involved “demonic spirits who were congregating on the Eternal City,” and only one specifies when this vision occurred (at a certain Mass, exact year not specified). (Of course, I’m just assuming here that both accounts describe the same vision/event.)

So all in all, this is what we know in a nutshell (combining the two accounts together and assuming they refer to the same event): a certain vision Leo XIII had during or somewhere before 1886 was the impetus for his composition of the St. Michael prayer. This vision, which he saw during a Mass, was said to have involved demons flocking to Rome. He was so shocked by what he saw that he went to his private office and wrote the prayer within half an hour.

In the next post, I’m gonna look at the popular accounts next.

 

[patrick457]

This time let’s look at the ‘popular’ versions of the Leo XIII story: the one dramatic ones, I mean.

The first ‘popular’ variant of the story to appear in print was in a 1933 German Sunday newspaper article (Konnersreuther Sonntagsblattes - Konnersreuth in Bavaria?) This is how the account runs, Google translated (so pardon the slight clunkiness):

After Leo XIII one morning had celebrated Mass, he went to a meeting with the Cardinals. But suddenly he sank down in a swoon. The hurrying doctors found no reason to this impotence, although the pulse almost ceased. Suddenly he awoke and was fresh as before. He then told us that he had seen a terrible picture. He could see the seduction and the ravages of the devil coming times in all countries. In this distress St. Michael the Archangel appeared and threw Satan back with all his devils in the infernal abyss. Then Leo XIII ordered shortly after 1880, the general prayer to St. Michael on.

You might notice that while this version agrees with Fr. Pechenino’s account on the basics (a Mass, a vision of Leo XIII’s that caused him to write the prayer to St. Michael), it contradicts the latter in a number of places:

• In Pechenino’s version, Leo was attending a Mass; he was not apparently celebrating it himself (the reference to him “[staring] at something above the celebrant’s head” implies as much) as this version seems to imply
• This version has Leo meeting with the cardinals after Mass when he suddenly fainted and his pulse stopped; the implication was that he saw the vision around this time. Again in contradiction to the Pechenino story, where Leo sees the vision during the Mass without fainting at all
• The story goes on to specify what the vision contained (“the seduction and the ravages of the devil in all countries” in the future, St. Michael appearing and driving the devil back), which of course is undescribed in the Pechenino story
• This German version claims that the recitation of the St. Michael prayer was instituted “shortly after 1880.” As mentioned earlier, the prayer was only appended to the Leonine prayers (instituted in 1884) in 1886.

This version is replicated almost word-for-word in a 1935 pamphlet (Carl Vogl’s Begone Satan: A Soul-Stirring Account of Diabolical Possession in Iowa, translated into English by Celestine Kapsner, O.S.B.).

A rather peculiar circumstance induced Pope Leo XIII to compose this powerful prayer. After celebrating Mass one day he was in conference with the Cardinals. Suddenly he sank to the floor. A doctor was summoned and several came at once. There was no sign of any pulse-beating;] the very life seemed to have ebbed away from the already weakened and aged body. Suddenly he recovered and said: “What a horrible picture I was permitted to see!” He saw what was going to happen in the future, the misleading powers and the ravings of the devils against the Church in all countries. But St. Michael had appeared in the nick of time and cast Satan and his cohorts back into the abyss of hell. Such was the occasion that caused Pope Leo XIII to have this prayer recited over the entire world at the end of Mass.

You might notice that the chronological blunder in the 1933 story is omitted in this version.

 

[patrick457]

(Continued)

Now just a year before Begone Satan was published, another German priest, a Fr. Bers, tried to trace the origin of the story and declared that, though the story was widespread, nowhere could he find a trace of proof. Fr. Bers also provided a third source, a priest who visited Leo XIII in 1886, just around the time the prayer was promulgated:
When the prayers which the priest says after Mass were being instituted, I happened to have a short audience with the Holy Father. During the conversation Leo XIII mentioned what he was going to prescribe and recited all the prayers from memory. This he did with such deep-seated conviction of the power of the cosmic rulers of this darkness and of the beguilement which they cause, that I was quite struck by it.

Fr. Bers comments that: “it can be safely assumed that the Holy Father would have spoken of the vision if he had had it — or that at least the reporter would have mentioned it — since it would have been most relevant to the general purport of the statement. Consequently, the argument “from silence” seems to indicate clearly that the “vision” had been invented in later times for some reason, and was now feeding upon itself “like a perpetual sickness.””

But then again, I personally don’t any reason why Leo would have chosen to speak of this vision. The argument from silence is not as strong as Fr. Bers would have it to be (his personal silence does nothing to confirm or deny the fact that this actually happened), especially that now we have Fr. Pechenino’s and Msgr. Angeli’s - those who at least have some level of credibility and verisimilitude than these popular versions - accounts (vague as they are). Now one might imagine that Fr. Pechenino and Msgr. Angeli were just repeating some sort of urban legend that originated within the Vatican and then spread out and became the basis for these popular stories, but I think we should at least give them the benefit of the doubt for the basics: a certain event (involving Leo XIII seeing something) being the impetus for the prayer’s dissemination.

The second part of Fr. Ber’s conclusion: "the “vision” … was now feeding upon itself “like a perpetual sickness,” is however true IMHO. Like a virus, the urban legend didn’t die with Fr. Bers or Fr. Pechenino but multiplied and developed even further to almost over-the-top heights: in the latest versions, Leo doesn’t just see a vision or faint - he collapses shrieking to the floor! It’s not enough that St. Michael just appears in the nick of time to beat the devil, the devil has to bet with God Himself and choose the 20th century as ‘his’ time. You might notice that while the 1930s version of the vision ends on a somewhat positive note - Satan wreaks havoc, Michael beats Satan - the later versions of the story somehow give more negative visions in place of this one (Satan’s choosing the 20th century, etc.) You might say it’s a tad too suspicious, especially coming from types who condemn anything Vatican II-related.

 

[Chatter163]

In the end, what difference does it make? Pope Leo wrote the prayer to St. Michael, and we Catholics say it regularly for good purpose. Anything else is secondary.

 

[Marie5890]

Patrick, thanks so much for the breakdown of what is known. Greatly appreciated.

In historical context, given the time period, the penning of the prayer was only a decade or so after the Papal States were gone and the Vatican had no property, the Lateran Treaty still many decades away. Leo may have felt very vulnerable, felt very much in a battle with the politcal powers at the time.

Again, I appreciate all the context. Very helpful indeed.