On Saturday, September 29th we will celebrate the Feast Of St. Michael The Archangel. Holy Mass will be celebrated at 9am.
In Hebrew, Michael means “who is like God” which is traditionally interpreted as a rhetorical question: “Who is like God?” (which expects an answer in the negative) to imply that no one is like God. In this way, Michael is reinterpreted as a symbol of humility before God. In the Old Testament Michael is mentioned three times in the Book of Daniel, once as a “great prince who stands up for the children of your people.” The idea that Michael was the advocate of the Jews became so prevalent that in spite of the rabbinical prohibition against appealing to angels as intermediaries between God and his people, Michael came to occupy a certain place in the Jewish liturgy.
In the New Testament Michael leads God’s armies against the forces of evil in the Book of Revelation, where during the war in heaven he defeats Satan. In the Epistle of St. Jude, Michael is specifically referred to as an “archangel.”
Icons of St. Michael appeared in the 4th century, when he was first seen as a healing angel, and then over time as a protector and the leader of the army of God against the forces of evil. By the 6th century, devotions to Archangel Michael were widespread both in the Eastern and Western Churches.