Saint Michael the Archangel

Michael is Hebrew and means "Who is like God?" ¹ It is not a description of him. It is what he says. The whole of the tradition about Michael is contained in that: an angel whose entire identity is the refusal to let anything else be treated as God.

He is one of the three archangels named anywhere in Scripture, alongside Gabriel and Raphael. ²

There are four references. In Daniel 10, Gabriel tells Daniel that Michael, "one of the chief princes," came to help him. In Daniel 12 he is "the great prince, who standeth for the children of thy people." The Letter of Jude describes him disputing with the devil over the body of Moses. And Revelation 12 gives the scene everyone pictures: "there was a great battle in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon." ¹

That is the entire scriptural record. Everything else said about Michael is the Church reading those four passages carefully over many centuries.

Catholic tradition assigns Michael four offices: to fight against Satan; to rescue the souls of the faithful from the enemy, especially at the hour of death; to be the champion of God's people; and to call souls away from earth and bring them to judgment. ¹

Franciscan Media puts the three archangels side by side and the distinction is useful: "Michael protects; Gabriel announces; Raphael guides." ² If you want an angel who explains things, you want Gabriel. Michael is the one you want standing between you and something.

Michael is patron of the sick and of the Church herself ¹, and is widely invoked as the patron of police officers and first responders. ³ The last is not hard to account for: his job description is running toward the thing everyone else is running from.

Michael is honored on September 29, the day long known as Michaelmas, together with Gabriel and Raphael. ¹²

Michael is not asked for guidance or comfort. He is asked for defense. ¹ Calling on him tends to mean admitting that whatever this is has gotten larger than you are.

His name is a question rather than a description: who is like God. ¹ He is the one who asks it. A surprising amount of what goes wrong in a spiritual life is some version of answering that question badly, about money or a person or a reputation or yourself.

One of his four offices is to meet the faithful at the hour of death. ¹ The Church has thought for a very long time that nobody makes that crossing alone, and people sitting with the dying have leaned on it heavily.

Michael protects, Gabriel announces, Raphael guides. ² If your work is to stand between other people and something dangerous, he is the one the Church put in that place.