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Origin of the Exorcism Prayer
On October 13, 1884, after Pope Leo XIII had finished celebrating Mass, surrounded by a number of cardinals and members of the Vatican staff, he suddenly stopped at the foot of the altar. He stood there for about ten minutes in ecstasy, his face white with light. Then, immediately leaving the chapel for his office, he composed the prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel with instructions that it be said everywhere after every Low Mass.
Powerful Invocation to Saint Michael
When asked what had happened, he explained that just as he was about to leave the foot of the altar:
After Mass, I heard two voices, one gentle and good, the other guttural and harsh; they seemed to be coming from the side of the tabernacle. It was the devil speaking to the Lord, as in a dialogue. This is what I heard:
The guttural voice, the voice of Satan in his pride, crying out to the Lord, “I can destroy Your Church.”
– The gentle voice of the Lord: “You can? Then do it.”
– Satan: “To that end, I need more time and power.”
– Our Lord: “How much time? How much power?”
– Satan: “Seventy-five to a hundred years and more power over those who place themselves in my service.”
– Our Lord: “You have the time, you will have the power. Do with it what you will.”
Then I had a terrible vision of hell: I saw the earth as if it were enveloped in darkness, and from a deep pit I saw a legion of demons streaming out over the world to destroy the works of the Church and to attack the Church itself, which I saw in dire straits. Then Saint Michael appeared and drove the evil spirits back into the abyss. And I saw Saint Michael the Archangel intervene, not at that moment, but much later, when the people would multiply their fervent prayers to the Archangel…
After this vision, Leo XIII wrote two documents: prayers to be recited after Low Mass and a brief exorcism. We have the irrefutable testimony of Cardinal Giovanni Nasalli Rocca di Corneliano (1872-1952) who, in his Pastoral Letter for Lent distributed in Bologna in 1946, writes:
“Leo XIII composed this prayer himself. The phrase, ‘Satan and his legions of evil spirits who prowl about the world for the loss of souls,’ has a historical explanation that his private secretary, Monsignor Rinaldo Angeli, has told us many times. Leo XIII really had a vision of infernal spirits gathering around the Eternal City, and it was from this experience that the prayer he wanted the whole Church to recite was born. He said this prayer with a vibrant and powerful voice: we have heard it very often in the Vatican Basilica.
“And that is not all. He also wrote with his own hands a special exorcism that appears in the Roman Ritual. He recommended to bishops and priests to recite these exorcisms often in dioceses and parishes. He himself did it all day long.”
