President Donald Trump posted the Saint Michael the Archangel prayer on social media Sunday night along with a painting by 17th century artist Guido Reni.
The Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of St. Michael the Archangel on September 29.
Pope Leo XIII composed the prayer in 1886. The shortened version for use by the laity and posted by Trump, reads:
Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Prior to the liturgical changes and the Second Vatican Council, the prayer was recited after Low Masses.
The social media post comes just weeks after Trump posted “Happy Birthday Mary” on the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Some conservatives thanked Trump for his comments.
“THE SWORD AND SHIELD OF ST MICHAEL HAVE BEEN INVOKED,” conservative commentator Jack Posobiec, a Catholic, wrote in response on X (formerly Twitter).
“Make no mistake, our nation is under spiritual attack. Politics isn’t just politics … it’s a battle of good versus evil, spiritual warfare,” Catholic commentator Liz Wheeler wrote. “I’m glad Pres. Trump recognizes this. May God have mercy on our nation.”
Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, who prowl about… pic.twitter.com/Z3RoeGUslh
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2024
Others, like atheist Colin Wright, told Trump (or Posobiec) to “Chill out bro.” James Lindsay, a critic of wokeness, also claimed there was some darker message to Trump’s post calling for the defeat of the Devil.
“I grew up Catholic,” Lindsay posted, before suggesting the post was part of some plot to ensnare Christians in a “cult.” Lindsay said, “Michaelmas was not a thing, ever, with any Catholic I knew” and “Most Americans, even Catholics, don’t know anything about Archangel Michael except in a very vague sense.”
Joining Lindsay in seeing some dark plot by those calling for the God to cast out the devil was left-wing University of California Berkeley Professor Robert Reich who called the post “terrifying.”
“Trump increasingly suggests that he is God’s chosen instrument of wrath and that his opponents are ‘evil spirits’ to be ‘cast into hell’,” President Bill Clinton’s Labor Secretary wrote on X.
The posting of the prayer comes as President Trump hopes to win over Catholic voters ahead of the November elections. While Trump has faced scrutiny for opposing federal limits on abortions, saying he supports “reproductive rights,” and supporting mandatory insurance coverage of embryo-destroying in-vitro fertilization, he has been supportive of certain Christian concerns such as “family values,” earning the backing of the group Catholics for Trump.
While Trump has raised concerns among the faithful for his stances on social issues, well-respected theologians have said Catholics should vote for him as the lesser of two evils.
“It is a pity that the Republican Party has failed to produce any candidate better than Donald Trump, but Kamala Harris certainly represents the greatest evil to be avoided,” Professor Roberto de Mattei wrote. “Trump deserves to be criticized on many points, but it is not fair to gift victory to Harris by voting for her or abstaining from voting.”
Catholics can “tolerate a lesser evil,” by voting for Trump, De Mattei explained.
“In light of this principle, a Catholic can never vote for or approve an abortion law, even a minimal one, but he or she can vote for a candidate who is not an integral anti-abortionist,” he wrote. “That is why it is permissible for an American Catholic to vote for Donald Trump, whose positions on abortion, as Edward Feser notes, leave much to be desired.”
Father Chad Ripperger has made similar comments about voting for the lesser of two evils.
This is not the first time Donald Trump has been associated with St. Michael. In June, Father James Altman told LifeSiteNews that he had been asked by Hollywood film producer Oscar Delgado to get a statue of St. Michael into the former president’s hands. Unsure he would be able to succeed, the priest took the statue with him to Mar-a-Lago, where he was introduced to Barron Trump. Altman then gave Barron the statue to pass on to his father.
“So blessed I was in God’s providence to run into the one person I could give that to who would get it to him,” Altman said. “And I hear back that it’s on his desk and perhaps on his bedstand now.”