St Michael the Archangel

Today is Michaelmas, the principal feast of St Michael the Archangel.

The Catholic Online website says that St Michael has four main responsibilities or offices, as we know from scripture and Christian tradition.

The first is to combat Satan.

The second is to escort the faithful to heaven at their hour of death.

The third is to be a champion of all Christians, and of the Church itself.

The fourth is to call men from life on Earth to their heavenly judgment.

He is also the patron of banking, grocers, the police and the armed forces. I assume the first two came about through his attribute of the scales of judgement, and the third as being a heavenly defender of law and order, with the fourth as a further instance of his being a defender of the community of the faithful as leader of the Heavenly Host against the Enemy.

Wikipedia has a lengthy, and well illustrated account of his cult in Judaism as well as the different branches of Christianity and other faiths at Michael (archangel)

I wanted to include an image of the painting of St Michael the Archangel by Carlo Crivelli and dated to circa 1476 and now in the National Gallery. However none of the images of it on the internet would actually copy and paste. This is all part of an irritating trend in copyright over the last year or so - very frustrating. So I shall have to refer readers to the illustrated article about the panel, which comes from an altarpiece, and with expandable images, on the National Gallery website at Carlo Crivelli | Saint Michael | NG788.11 | National Gallery, London

The painting is also discussed on the Kultura website at Saint Michael - Carlo Crivelli

Crivelli produced several images of Saint Michael in his very distinctively detailed and meticulously posed style.

St Michael the Archangel Pray for us