St. Michael

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I believe it indicates judgment is being made, but idk for sure
 
It’s for the weighing of souls.

paintedchurch.org/sleigmic.htm

From the link : ""The pans of the balance have gone almost completely, but a single soul can be seen in the righthand (onlooker’s left) one. The scales tilt in this soul’s favour as the Virgin, standing at the left, intervenes by placing her rosary on the balance bar. “”
 
I’ve always been under the impression that St. Michael is holding a spear. He is driving Lucifer and his followers into hell.
 
It is a balance, such as has long been used as a symbol of justice. Evidently there is also this tradition of imagining St. Michael as weighing souls to determin their worth- a very pre-Christian image.

If a strong artistic tradition had developed of pictureing St. Michael with a balance, that alone could be enough to explain why this particular artist put one in his hands. Conventions of that sort were (and sometimes still are) used so that the person looking at the picture can readily identify who they were looking at. Hence, for example, St. Peter typically holds two keys and St. Paul typically is bald and holds a sword.
 
I have heard that it is becuase he executes God’s Will and upholds His Judgements.
 
The Church teaches that Saint Michael has four main roles.
  1. He is the leader of the Army of God.
  2. He carries the souls of all the deceased to heaven, giving each soul the chance to redeem itself before passing. Catholic prayers often refer to this role of Michael.
  3. In his third role, he weighs souls in his perfectly balanced scales.
  4. St. Michael is the guardian of the Church.
As we can see from St. Michael’s third role, he weighs souls based on their deeds during their life on earth. This happens on Judgement day.

O glorious prince St. Michael,
chief and commander of the heavenly hosts,
guardian of souls, vanquisher of rebel spirits,
servant in the house of the Divine King
and our admirable conductor,
you who shine with excellence
and superhuman virtue deliver us from all evil,
who turn to you with confidence
and enable us by your gracious protection
to serve God more and more faithfully every day.
Amen.

Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle;
be our protection against the wickedness
and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray:
and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host,
by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits
who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.
:bible1::amen:
 
In past centuries, St. Michael was strongly associated with the souls of people dying. One of the warrior and guardian angels’ tasks was to escort faithful souls to Heaven, and of course St. Michael is everybody’s favorite warrior angel. That’s why there’s a lot of mention of him in the old EF Requiem Mass, which prays that the Devil won’t get the souls and that St. Michael will protect them.

I don’t know why people don’t have as much devotion to St. Michael as a protector and weigher of souls these days.
 
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