St. Michael the Archangel
On May 8th, there is a feast day which is not as familiar to those of us in recent centuries or living outside of Europe. It is the commemoration of the apparition of St. Michael the Archangel on Mont Gargano near Manfredonia in southern Italy.
Of course, St. Michael is a very popular saint for many reasons including the fact that he has a lot of patronages among which are police officer, bakers, bankers, paratroopers, sailors, radiologists, and coopers. What do we know about St. Michael?
Starting with the angels in the Garden of Eden, who were placed there to prevent Adam and Eve from returning, angels are instrumental in many of the accounts from Scripture. And, of course, it is St. Gabriel the Archangel who is sent by God to both Zechariah and the Blessed Virgin Mary in the beginning of St. Luke's Gospel.
(If you would like to read more about angels, especially their role in Sacred Scripture, you can download a free mini book entitled Angels in the Bible.)
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The Boomerang Arrow and the First Apparition
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A Second Apparition that Saves a City
The Third Apparition and a Chapel
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The Fourth Apparition: Stopping a Plague
Today, the basilica continues to be a place of pilgrimage under the care of the Congregation of St. Michael the Archangel. It has been enlarged and expanded, but even today, you can see some of the areas that were part of the original chapel. If you make the pilgrimage to Mont Gargano, you will be joining a number of saints who have done the same including St. Louis de Montfort and St. John Paul II.
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Feast Day: May 8 (Memorial) and September 29 (Memorial)
Patron of artists
Patron of bakers
Patron of bankers
Patron of emergency medical technicians
Patron of EMTs
Patron of paramedics
Patron of a holy death
Patron of police officers
Patron of radiologists
Patron of sailors
Patron of security guards
Patron of soldiers