GOOD SHEPHERD CHURCH SEMINARY; DOCTOR OF HEALING MINISTRY LESSON FOURTEEN/ ARCHANGEL MICHAEL - PATRON OF HEALING [ONE]

Archangel Michael - Patron of Healing

      

    The local nobleman, Elvio Emanuele, was pasturing his herds on the Gargano mountain in Apulia, Italy. The year was 490 AD when the thirty-third leader Commander of the Siponto armies sat on his mount in the sunshine. As he looked around, Emanuele was dismayed to find that his most prized bull had disappeared.

  He searched for the bull, and eventually found him at the top of the mountain at a cave entrance which was concealed by bushes. Intending to drive the bull out of the cave back to the herd, Commander Emanuele loosed an arrow from his quiver at him. He was amazed when the arrow, instead of flying in the direction of the bull, turned instead on its trajectory and flew with great force back to him.

  Deeply concerned by this event, he went to seek guidance from Bishop Lawrence. Upon hearing of the strange happening, the Bishop believed there was a divine mystery underway. He advised three days of fasting and prayer.

  At the end of three days, St Michael the Archangel appeared to Bishop Lawrence. The Archangel told the Bishop that the cave to which the bull had wandered was under his special protection. He further desired that the cave grotto be dedicated as a Church. The Angel promised that within the cave sins would be forgiven, and what is asked for in prayer will be granted.

  The Bishop wavered, as the Mount was difficult to ascend and had cultic history. So Lawrence left the matter in abeyance and went on with his life.

Besieged and Delivered

Then matters took a different turn. In the year 492 AD Siponto ran into serious difficulties. The city was besieged by troops, and found itself on the point of surrender. 
Bishop Lawrence obtained a three-day truce, and prayed to Archangel Michael for assistance.

  On the third day of the truce, the Archangel visited the Bishop again and promised victory for Siponto in the distressing siege. Matters turned out favourably for the Siponto defenders who indeed proved victorious. The siege was lifted, and the lives of the inhabitants were saved.

  Bishop Lawrence was now keen to consecrate the grotto to Saint Michael as a sign of gratitude for his guidance and protection. Archangel Michael appeared to Lawrence a third time. During the apparition the Bishop was apprised that the grotto had already been consecrated by the Archangel himself.

  Thereafter Lawrence, accompanied by seven other Apulian Bishops, formed a great procession with the spiritual leaders and people of Siponto. They ascended the mountain, and found the large cave - which was like a Church hewn out of rock. They began worship to God within the cave which continues to this day.

Patron of Healing

This was not the last of Archangel Michael's interventions. In 1656 AD, a highly infectious disease - the plague - raged all over Southern Italy.

  The Archbishop of the time, Alphonse Puccinelli, was desperate, as no human means to stop the epidemic could be found.

Puccinelli turned to Archangel Michael with prayers and fasting. On 22nd September of the same year, Michael appeared to the Archbishop at his home in Monte Sant' Angelo. The Angel appeared in dazzling splendor and ordered Puccinelli to bless the stones of the grotto, engraving them with the sign of the cross and the letters MA [Michael Archangel].

  Michael promised that whoever kept those stones devoutly would be immune from the plague. Puccinelli carried out the directive, and Siponto was healed from the plague.

  Local families and spiritual leaders sent stones [carved from a part of the cave grotto wall] to all who asked for them. Those who received the blessed stones were miraculously cured.

Puccinelli, deeply grateful to Saint Michael, erected a monument to the Archangel in the square of the town. The statue was placed in front of the balcony of the room where the apparition is said to have taken place, with the following words inscribed in Latin:

TO THE PRINCE OF ANGELS

CONQUEROR OF THE PLAGUE

PATRON AND GUARDIAN

WE PLACE THIS MONUMENT

IN ETERNAL GRATITUDE

ALFONSO PUCCINELLI

1656  [1]

Can Angels Really Heal?

Yes, Reader, they can. Following the trail of the healings of Saint Michael, I travelled out to Gargano and wrote this lesson as I looked down the winding streets.

Next to me was the famed cave known as the Sacred Grotto of St Michael.

  All day I heard the stories of healings and blessings which Archangel Michael has brought about over the centuries.

The inscription above the Shrine of St Michael, reads in translation;

'This is an Awesome Place, It is a House of God and the Gate of Heaven.'

 As I watched, uncountable seekers of healing flooded through the streets to the Cave [known as the 'Celestial Basilica' because St Michael told the Bishop that he had already consecrated it].

  Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims kneel at the grotto every year to ask for the protection of St Michael.

  People come from all over the world to join in the worship of God at Mass in the Cave, and join in processions in honour of the Archangel.

  One such procession is that named 'the procession in honour of the Sword of Saint Michael'. This pays tribute to the fact that the warrior Angel Prince often appears with a sword at his side; he is the Commander of the Armies of God.

Michael the Healer

Many personal stories of Michaelic interventions of healing abound. They are personal and devoted accounts of the wonders this compassionate and noble Archangel has brought about.

  Michael's name means 'Who Is Like God', and he is known as the Angel of Protection, Healing and Victory.

  Accounts of the healings, guidance and protection of this Great Angel date back to earliest spiritual writings.

In Jewish tradition, Michael is the closest Angel to God. Michael bore witness to this when he told Bishop Lawrence, 'I am the Archangel Michael, and am always in the presence of God.' [2]

  Michael is the Commander of God's Army as well as ruler of all natural elements such as rain, wind and storms.

Angel Healings in the Early Centuries

  In early centuries Christians already regarded Michael as healer of the sick. He was given the title 'Angel of Healing' in the middle of the 1st century when he caused a medicinal spring to spring forth at Chairotopa in Phrygia, now part of Turkey.

  It is said that all the sick who bathed in the spring while invoking God and St Michael were cured. A man from Laodicea brought his little daughter - mute since birth - to the spring. She was healed.

  Even more famous were the springs Michael is reported to have drawn from the rock at Colossae, [Chonae, the present Khonas, on the Lycus] near to Chairotopa.

  Saint Michael was associated with healing waters at the ancient site of Germia [Yurme, Turkey]. Healings have been reported from arthritis, skin ailments, psoriasis, various myopathies and muscular pains and many other illnesses. [3]

   In 337AD, Michael was revered in Constantinople as both heavenly physician and military protector. Emperor Constantine attributed a victory in conflict to Michael. He built a church in Sosthenion, about 50 miles south of Constantinople.

  Constantine dedicated the church in honor of the Archangel, and named it the Michaelion.  Michael is said to have appeared to the Emperor at this sanctuary. The Shrine became a place of pilgrimage, and many miracles occurred there.

  Many sick and infirm were healed; the sick - praying for a manifestation of the Archangel - often slept in the church at night.

  In 493 AD, the Archangel appeared at Monte Gargano in Italy [since renamed Monte Sant'Angelo].

Two years after, the Archangel was sighted in Marazion, England. Michael appeared there to Cornish fishermen and hermits on the rocky island Ictis. He directed that a church be built on the summit; ever after known as St Michael's Mount.

  Then in 600 AD the Archangel turned his attention to Rome. A ghastly plague was raging which greatly depopulated Rome. In desperation, Pope Gregory 1 ordered a penitential procession to be held. At the appointed time, the procession wound through the streets of the afflicted city.

  As the praying people reached the bridge across the Tiber, angelic singing was heard. Gregory saw an apparition of a gigantic Archangel, Michael, descending on Emperor Hadrian's mausoleum.

  In his right hand Michael held a sword, which he thrust into its scabbard. Gregory understood the vision to mean that the plague would stop; it did. 

  Gregory thereupon renamed the mausoleum 'Castel Sant' Angelo' [Castle of the Holy Angel] - to honor Michael.

Michaelic apparitions

  Further angelic visitations - accompanied in many cases by healings -were attributed to Michael. In 708 AD, the Archangel appeared three times in a dream vision to Aubert, bishop of Avranches.

  Michael directed Aubert to build a monastery on a rocky outcrop a mile off the beach. Aubert did so. The site was named Mont Saint-Michel and the famous sanctuary was built.

  In 987 AD Giovanni Vincenzo built a church on Monte Pirchiriano, Italy. He did this after a dream vision in which Michael and other angels appeared, asking him to built a church on the summit of the mountain.

  The angels famously marked the then future church's location with a vision of flames, thus naming the mountain; Pirchiriano means 'the Lord's fire'.

  Michael appeared on the image which was miraculously imprinted on Juan Diego's tilma cloak during the visit of Mary to Mexico in 1531. At the bottom of the image Mary of Nazareth is depicted standing on the crescent moon supported by an angel - identified as Michael.

Archangel Michael and the Miraculous Spring

  It was a hot day on the 25th of April in 1631 - a hundred years after Mary's visit to Guadalupe - when a young Tlaxcalan man followed in procession. The local Franciscan priest was intoning prayers as the parish devotees wended their way through the streets.

  Diego Lázaro was hot, tired and thirsty. A devout convert to the relatively new religion of Christianity which was becoming popular, he wished to honor Saint Mark, Christ's disciple.

   And so it was that this son of Mexico - eighteen years old and married the year before - sang and shuffled in the feastday procession behind the holy padre.

 

  Closing his eyes in prayer, Diego stumbled slightly. Regaining his balance, he opened his eyes to meet the steady gaze of an angel surrounded by shining light.

  He closed his eyes and opened them again; there was no mistaking the Archangel San Miguel.

  Saint Michael regarded him benevolently. Unseen and unheard by those around the young processionalist, the Archangel spoke;

"Know, my son, that I am Saint Michael, Archangel. I come to tell you that it is God's Will and mine, that you tell the neighbors of this village and of its surroundings, that in a ravine, which is made of two hills and is in front of this place, can be found a spring of miraculous water for all infirmities.

  It is under a big boulder. Don't doubt what I tell you, nor put aside what I command you."

  After various events, the spring was found. Michael, regarding Diego with those deep eyes, is said to have touched the earth with a golden staff; upon which light came from heaven upon the place of the spring.

  The archangel thereupon declared; "This light which you have seen descend from heaven is the virtue which God is giving to this spring for the health and healing of all infirmities and necessities. Make it known to all." [4]

  Diego could not believe his eyes. There, welling up from under the huge rock, fresh cool water flowed - just as had been promised.

  Michael further told Diego that it was the Will of God a temple be raised in that very vicinity of the flowing spring.

  Miraculous healings began to be reported from contact with the spring water. The news spread far and wide; both the account of Michael's heavenly visitation and the healing properties of the water became famous.

  Resultant to Michael's request, the great basilica known as 'San Miguel del Milagro' [Saint Michael of the Miracle] was built.

  This beautiful Shrine in honor of the Archangel Michael stands in the Nativitas district, about 40 miles east of Mexico City.

  To this day, pilgrims continue to visit this holy well, the water of which - as Archangel Michael explained - is infused with the 'virtue of God'.

  The healings that have taken place at this holy place of Michael are so manifold that entire rooms are filled with records of the miraculous cures.

  In 1902, Pope Leo XII experienced a vision of the conflict between Christ and satan.

Resultant to this he composed the prayer to Saint Michael the Archangel for protection. This prayer is still prayed worldwide today.

 The prayer is composed as follows; 'Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in the hour of battle. Be our safeguard against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May GOD restrain him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the Power of GOD thrust satan down into hell, and with him all the other wicked spirits, who wander through the world, seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.'

Who is Michael?

  Michael is the Prince of the heavenly legions. This Archangel is the Head of God's most trusted Council; this council live continually in God's Presence.

  Michael was the first to take celestial arms against Lucifer, who changed from heavenly archangel to demonic entity, and attempted to overthrow God's Rule.

  God chose Michael as protector of the Church of God upon earth. In the Old Testament, Michael is shown to be protector of the Synagogues.

  He looks after believers in God. Saint Gabriel the Archangel told Prophet Daniel that Michael helped him to protect believers in God.

  'Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me.' [6]

Michael told Saint Eutropius the hermit, that he had been chosen as guardian angel of the Blessed Sacrament. Michael is thus the heavenly guard before the Eucharistic sacrament of the Son of God here on earth.

Michael led God's heavenly armies against satan in the battle of the overworld after Creation and proved victor.

  After the epic battle, Michael caused the fall of the Archangel from his former glory.

He uses spiritual weapons of great power and strength, evinced by the force with which the earthly arrow shot at Gargano was turned back by supernatural means.

In Rabbinic liturgy, Archangel Michael is seen as the staunch defender of Israel.

  The Book of Daniel depicts Michael as 'a great Prince who stands up for the children of your people.' [5]

Saint Michael, Patron of Healing

Saint Michael was given special mandate by GOD to heal. Michael's ongoing miracles and healings over the centuries have been so successful, that many Shrines were dedicated to his honor.

  Archangel Michael is known as a healing angel with exceptional healing force. 
This angelic Saint has the ability to help us in our daily lives, assist with spiritual protection and remove fears and negative thinking.

  Michael assists in physical healing for those in need, along with helping to heal emotions and emotional trauma.  

How can we tap into angelic healing? Some people ask for angelic healing by making pilgrimage to a Saint Michael Shrine.

  Another means is to light a prayer candle once a week at a place of worship; and to do this for nine consecutive weeks [this is known as a novena].

  Prayers to Saint Michael are of great assistance. Some people pray the prayer to Saint Michael; others the chaplet to the Archangel.

  If you are in need of help, dear Reader, why not turn to Michael for assistance? He continues his healing mission today.

  As a final word on this most excellent and noble of angels, let us remember Maria Tsalichi's young son Steve who was gravely ill and expected to die in 1939.

  Saint Michael appeared to Steve as he lay dying; and told him to tell Maria to built a Shrine to him.

As Steve awoke from his apparent last illness, he was heard explaining to the Archangel, 'Yes, but my mother has no money.'

  Maria was convinced Steve was delirious. However, the young boy then said to his mother, 'Taxiarchis [the archangel St Michael] wants you to build his shrine.'

  Steve recovered; Maria kept her promise to Taxiarchis. This took much faith and perseverance as Maria was not a wealthy woman.

  However, her devotion and gratitude to the great Archangel for his healing of her son can still be seen today; the Shrine of Saint Michael Taxiarchis stands in Tarpan Springs in Florida. 
  Saint Michael the Archangel has troubled himself many times over the sufferings and illness of those in need. He continues to do so today.

 

Questions for the Heart and Mind

1. Why do you think Archangel Michael would wish to get involved in the lives of humanity?

2. Archangel Michael loves high places, rocky areas and springs of water. Discuss why you think this is.

3. God sends messengers such as Archangel Michael in order to heal. Explore the reasons God might have for doing so.

4. Have you ever experienced an angelic encounter?

Footnotes

1. Bogacki, P Jan. 2009. 5th Ediction, 'SAINT MICHAEL SHRINE on the GARGANO' p 7. Italy; Santuario S Michele Arcangelo

2. Bogacki, P Jan. 2009. 5th Ediction, 'SAINT MICHAEL SHRINE on the GARGANO' p 5. Italy; Santuario S Michele Arcangelo

3. Chiladakis, N. 2014. The Miraculous Holy Water and Holy Fish of the Archangel Michael in Sebastea, Turkey. Mystagogy; http:/ / www. johnsanidoulos. com /2014/ 09/ the-miraculous-holy-water-and-holy-fish. html

4. Hessee. 2009.San Miguel del Milagro. htt;s: //www. flickr. com/ photos/ 8942106 @N06/  349245824

5. Old Testament; Daniel, Chapter 12, verse 1

6.Old Testament, Daniel Chapter 10, verse 13

REV CATHERINE
Use freely for any worthy purpose

Lesson One
http://lumierecharity.blogspot.ie/2014/09/good-shepherd-church-seminary-doctor-of.html

Lesson Two
http://lumierecharity.blogspot.ie/2015/12/good-shepherd-church-seminary-doctor-of.html

Lesson Three
http://lumierecharity.blogspot.ie/2015/12/good-shepherd-church-seminary-doctor-of_52.html

Lesson Four
http://lumierecharity.blogspot.ie/2015/12/good-shepherd-church-seminary-doctor-of_37.html

Lesson Five
http://lumierecharity.blogspot.ie/2016/01/good-shepherd-church-seminary-doctor-of.html

Lesson Six
http://lumierecharity.blogspot.ie/2016/01/good-shepherd-church-seminary-doctor-of_3.html

Lesson Seven
http://lumierecharity.blogspot.ie/2016/01/good-shepherd-church-seminary-doctor-of_4.html

Lesson Eight
http://lumierecharity.blogspot.ie/2016/03/good-shepherd-church-seminary-doctor-of.html

Lesson Nine
http://lumierecharity.blogspot.ie/2016/03/good-shepherd-church-seminary-doctor-of_15.html

Lesson Ten
http://lumierecharity.blogspot.ie/2016/04/good-shepherd-church-seminary-doctor-of.html

Lesson Eleven
http://lumierecharity.blogspot.ie/2016/04/good-shepherd-church-seminary-doctor-of_4.html

Lesson Twelve
http://lumierecharity.blogspot.ie/2016/04/good-shepherd-church-seminary-doctor-of_5.html

Lesson Thirteen
http://lumierecharity.blogspot.ie/2016/04/good-shepherd-church-seminary-doctor-of_6.html


Disclaimer; The information on this post is meant for information only. The information is not meant to replace your Doctor or Health professional or Herbalist care