Hi! Welcome to “Dusty Phrases.” You will find below an ancient phrase in one language or another, along with its English translation. You may also find the power to inspire your friends or provoke dread among your enemies.
This awesome Latin phrase is probably one you can use in your daily life. Like, if you are the introverted spouse relying on your extroverted spouse at a restaurant to flag down the wait staff and let them know that they brought you the wrong order… you might make use of this line to your talkative/aggressive partner in that situation.
Or maybe if you’re a home school kid who is learning Latin with your siblings, and one of you needs to tell your mom that you broke the TV in the midst of some indoor sibling tomfoolery, well, you might whisper this to the one slated to do the talking.
The most common use of this Latin phrase though is as part of a Roman Catholic prayer said to the Archangel Michael. (via wiki)
In the Leonine Prayers
In 1886, Pope Leo XIII added a Prayer to Saint Michael to the Leonine Prayers, which he had directed to be prayed after Low Mass two years earlier.
Sancte Míchael Archángele, defénde nos in próelio; contra nequítiam et insídias diáboli esto praesídium. Imperet illi Deus, súpplices deprecámur, tuque, Prínceps milítiae caeléstis, Sátanam aliósque spíritus malígnos, qui ad perditiónem animárum pervagántur in mundo, divína virtúte, in inférnum detrúde. Amen.
Blessed Michael, archangel, defend us in the hour of conflict. Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil (may God restrain him, we humbly pray): and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God thrust Satan down to hell and with him those other wicked spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.
The English translation which was used in Ireland is quoted in James Joyce‘s novel Ulysses. Variant English translations include: “Holy Michael”, “Saint Michael”, “defend us in battle”, “malice and snares”, “may God rebuke him”, “thrust into hell”, “all evil spirits”, “prowl about the world seeking the ruin”, and “roam throughout the world seeking the ruin”.
The prayer’s opening words are similar to the Alleluia verse for Saint Michael’s feasts on 8 May and 29 September in the Roman Missal of the time, which ran:
Sancte Michael, defende nos in proelio ut non pereamus in tremendo iudicio.
Saint Michael, defend us in battle that we might not perish at the dreadful judgment.
The ‘Leonine Prayers‘ originated in 1884, when Pope Leo XIII ordered certain prayers to be said after Low Mass, in defense of the independence of the Holy See. God’s help was sought for a satisfactory solution to the loss of the Pope’s temporal sovereignty, which deprived him of the independence felt to be required for effective use of his spiritual authority. The prayer to St Michael described above was added to the Leonine Prayers in 1886.
The Pope’s status as a temporal leader was restored in 1929 by the creation of the State of Vatican City, and in the following year, Pope Pius XI ordered that the intention for which these prayers should from then on be offered was “to permit tranquility and freedom to profess the faith to be restored to the afflicted people of Russia”.
The practice of reciting this and the other Leonine prayers after Mass was officially suppressed by the 26 September 1964 Instruction Inter oecumenici which came into effect on 7 March 1965.
Removing the obligation to recite this prayer (along with the three Hail Marys, the Hail Holy Queen, and the prayer for the Church) after Low Mass did not mean forbidding its use either privately or publicly in other circumstances. Thirty years later, Pope John Paul II recommended its use, saying:
May prayer strengthen us for the spiritual battle that the Letter to the Ephesians speaks of: “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might” (Ephesians 6:10). The Book of Revelation refers to this same battle, recalling before our eyes the image of St Michael the Archangel (cf. Revelation 12:7). Pope Leo XIII certainly had this picture in mind when, at the end of the last century, he brought in, throughout the Church, a special prayer to St Michael:
“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 evil spirits who wander through the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.”
Although this prayer is no longer recited at the end of Mass, I ask everyone not to forget it and to recite it to obtain help in the battle against the forces of darkness and against the spirit of this world.
On 29 September 2018, Pope Francis asked Catholics everywhere to pray the Rosary each day during the following month of October and to conclude it with the ancient prayer “Sub tuum praesidium” and the Leonine prayer to Saint Michael. He asked them “to pray that the Holy Mother of God place the Church beneath her protective mantle: to preserve her from the attacks by the devil, the great accuser, and at the same time to make her more aware of the faults, the errors and the abuses committed in the present and in the past, and committed to combating without any hesitation, so that evil may not prevail”.
A month earlier, Pope Francis called more generically to “a penitential exercise of prayer and fasting” in view of scandals concerning Catholic Church sexual abuse cases.
I guess I had just had a stroke because when I saw this notification I thought “oh neat, Dusty’s doing phrases now” and then I remembered you’ve been doing that for years. Defénde nos in próelio indeed.
I guess I had just had a stroke because when I saw this notification I thought “oh neat, Dusty’s doing phrases now” and then I remembered you’ve been doing that for years. Defénde nos in próelio indeed.
Lol. I keep trying to retire this topic, but I keep running into a Latin phrase on a day when I’m not sure what else to write about.