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St. Michael Redux!


Back on July 8 I posted on Pope Francis'  Dedication of the Statue of St.Michael the Archangel in Rome, at which Pope Emeritus Benedict was present. Perusing the blogs which I follow, I was intrugued by this excerpt from one of them, and so I include it here:

On October 13, 1884, after Pope Leo XIII had finished celebrating Mass in the Vatican Chapel, attended by a few Cardinals and members of the Vatican staff, he suddenly stopped at the foot of the altar. He stood there for about 10 minutes, as if in a trance, his face ashen white. Then, going immediately from the Chapel to his office, he composed the prayer to St. Michael, with instructions it be said after all Low Masses everywhere. When asked what had happened, he explained that, as he was about to leave the foot of the altar, he suddenly heard voices - two voices, one kind and gentle, the other guttural and harsh. They seemed to come from near the tabernacle. As he listened, he heard the following conversation: 

The guttural voice, the voice of Satan in his pride, boasting to Our Lord: "I can destroy your Church" 

The gentle voice of Our Lord: "You can? Then go ahead and do so." 

Satan: "To do so, I need more time and more power." 

Our Lord: "How much time? How much power? 

Satan: "75 to 100 years, and a greater power over those who will give themselves over to my service."

Our Lord: "You have the time, you will have the power. Do with them what you will." 

To read more, go here.

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