Also called Angel of God prayer, Prayer to Saint Michael, Saint Patrick's Breastplate, lorica
Christian protection from evil has long been sought through short prayers to one's guardian angel and to the Archangel Michael, and through older breastplate prayers that wrap the speaker in God's protection.
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Take care: If you feel persistently threatened or afraid, talk to someone you trust, a pastor or a medical professional. Candles must never be left burning unattended.
In 1886 Pope Leo XIII added a prayer to Saint Michael to the prayers said after Low Mass, which he had ordered two years earlier. It was said after Low Mass worldwide until 1964, and many parishes and families have returned to it in recent years.
This children's prayer to the guardian angel was once ascribed to Anselm of Canterbury, but scholars now link it to his contemporary Reginald of Canterbury, whose Life of Saint Malchus contains a very similar verse. It is usually the first prayer Catholic children learn after the Our Father and Hail Mary.
This Old Irish prayer of the lorica, or armor, type is attributed to Saint Patrick and called Faeth Fiada in the manuscript. It binds the speaker to the Trinity, the powers of creation and Christ on every side against spells, false teaching and harm.
Belief in a personal guardian angel draws on scripture, including Jesus's words about the angels of little ones in Matthew 18:10, and was developed by early Christian writers. The Catholic Church keeps a feast of the Guardian Angels on October 2. Saint Michael, named in Daniel and Revelation as leader of the heavenly army against the dragon, became the great protector against evil, honored at shrines such as Monte Gargano in Italy and Mont-Saint-Michel in France.
In early medieval Ireland and Britain, lorica prayers asked God to guard each part of the body like armor; Saint Patrick's Breastplate is the most famous. In 1886 Pope Leo XIII added the Prayer to Saint Michael to the Leonine Prayers said after Low Mass, where it remained until 1964. These prayers remain the Christian answer to the search for protection from evil: ask for God's help, not a spell.
A sealed jar of salt, iron nails, rosemary and other protective herbs kept by the door or buried near the house, the most popular modern protection spell and a direct descendant of the English witch bottle.
Gaelic healing charms and prayers collected in the Scottish Highlands and Islands by Alexander Carmichael, spoken over sprains, toothache and other ills with the names of Christ, Mary and Saint Bride. Folk tradition only; see a doctor for any injury or illness.
Old European ways of keeping the mare, the night spirit believed to sit on sleepers' chests, away from the bed: a holed stone on a red ribbon, slippers turned upside down, a broom behind the door. Today the mare is understood partly as sleep paralysis.
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