How to Pray the Chaplet of St Michael

The prayer

The Chaplet of St Michael honors the archangel and the nine choirs of angels, asking each to help us grow in a particular virtue. Tradition traces it to Antonia d'Astonac, a Portuguese Carmelite who in the eighteenth century reported that St Michael asked for this form of prayer; this is private revelation, but the devotion was approved and indulgenced by Blessed Pope Pius IX in 1851. It is prayed on a special chaplet with nine groups of three beads, each group led by a single bead, and four beads near the medal.

To begin. Holding the medal, ask God to come to your aid, as the opening of the Divine Office does, and pray one Glory Be.

Nine salutations. For each of the nine choirs, say a short invocation in your own words asking St Michael and that choir to obtain a grace for you, then pray one Our Father on the single bead and three Hail Marys on the three beads.

1. Seraphim: a heart burning with love for God.
2. Cherubim: the grace to leave sin behind and follow Christ.
3. Thrones: true and sincere humility.
4. Dominations: mastery over the senses and freedom from disordered desires.
5. Powers: protection from the snares of the devil.
6. Virtues: strength not to give in to temptation.
7. Principalities: a spirit of obedience.
8. Archangels: perseverance in faith and good works.
9. Angels: their protection in this life and their guidance to heaven.

Four more beads. Pray one Our Father on each of the four beads near the medal: in honor of St Michael, St Gabriel, St Raphael, and your own Guardian Angel.

To close. Ask St Michael, prince of the heavenly host, to defend you and lead you to God, and pray a closing prayer such as the Prayer to St Michael the Archangel in this Prayer Book. End with the Sign of the Cross.