Continuing our series on the “Sword of St. Michael,” we will now examine various apparitions of St. Michael along the sacred line of seven monasteries that stretches from Ireland to Israel.
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According to tradition (recorded by Irish monks in the manuscript Libellus de Fundacione Ecclesie Consecrati Petri), St. Patrick was having a hard time expelling the last demonic creatures from the land and needed some heavenly aid.
He was able to drive the beasts to the south-western edge of Ireland and as he stretched out his hand a great heavenly host of angels appeared, with St. Michael in the lead. This “High King of the Angels” (Adrigh na Aaingeal) was visible to St. Patrick standing on a pinnacle of rock out in the middle of the sea.
This particular skellig would later be named “Skellig Michael” by the monks who lived there.
After St. Michael cast out the last of the demons and serpents from Ireland he left his shield behind on the Great Skellig.
Later when the monastery was established on the island, the monks passed down a story regarding a regular visit from St. Michael to replenish their supply of wine for the celebration of Mass. Below is a retelling of the story by Giraldus Cambrensis, a royal clerk who traveled to Ireland in the 12th century.
In the southern part of Munster, in the neighborhood of Cork, there is an island with a church dedicated to St. Michael, famed for its orthodox sanctity from very ancient times. There is a stone outside the porch of this church, on the right hand, and partly fixed in the wall, with a hollow in its surface, which, every morning, through the merits of the saint to whom the church is dedicated, is filled with as much wine as will conveniently suffice for the service of the Masses on the day ensuing, according to the number of priests there who have to celebrate them.
With these two stories St. Michael is clearly painted as a protector from demonic attacks and an angelic guardian, ready to provide for whatever is lacking.
In Ireland there also grew a belief that St. Michael was the one who kept the Evil One at bay until the end of time. Then, when this world passes away, Michael will come with Christ to take up the just to Heaven. This belief is usually taken from St. Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians.
For the Lord himself shall come down from heaven with commandment, and with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God: and the dead who are in Christ, shall rise first. (1 Thessalonians 4:15)
It is no surprise that St. Michael has been a favorite saint of the Irish for many centuries and Irish monks took this affection wherever they went.
In our next article, we will take a look at the next site of St. Michael, Michael’s Mount in Cornwall, England.
Read More: What did the monks on Skellig Michael do all day (and how did they survive)?