Ann M. Hutchison is a Fellow at the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto, and Academic Dean Emerita; in 2014 she retired from Glendon College, York University where she was Chair of the Department of English for five and a half years; she is also Associate Professor (status only) at the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto. Research on women’s literacy and women’s education in the mediaeval period led to her work on St. Birgitta of Sweden (c. 1303-73) and the English house, Syon Abbey, founded by Henry V in 1415 with an unbroken history of more than 600 years. She has written articles on the importance of St. Birgitta in England, the history of Syon and its devotional practices, co-edited a 16-century life of St. Birgitta, and edited a monograph on the Life of Sister Mary Champney. In November 2023, she was awarded a doctorate of Sacred Letters, Honoris Causa, from the University of St Michael’s College.
Michaelmas, or the Mass of St. Michael, is an old and varied celebration said to have begun in the Eastern Church in the 4th century (celebrated on 8th November) and to have spread to the Western Church in the 5th century when a basilica near Rome was dedicated in honour of Saint Michael the Archangel on 30 September, beginning with celebrations on the eve of that day, 29th September. St. Michael was venerated as the greatest of the archangels and a mighty defender of the church against Satan. Before the Fall, Lucifer, the “light bearer”, outranked Michael, but God chose this lowly archangel to lead the charge and cast out the rebel angels from Heaven, as is powerfully depicted in Milton’s Paradise Lost (see especially Book VI). With his sword “… it met/The sword of Satan with steep force to smite/… deep ent’ring shared [cut off]/All his right side; Then Satan first knew pain,/And writhed him to and fro convolved [contorted];… (320-34).
In The Book of Revelation (XII: 7-12) Satan is depicted as a dragon:
“And now war broke out in heaven, when Michael with his angels attacked the dragon. The dragon fought back with his angels, but they were defeated and driven out of heaven. The great dragon, the primeval serpent, known as the devil or Satan, who had deceived all the world, was hurled down to the earth and his angels were hurled down with him.” (Jerusalem Bible, Rev. 12: 7-9).
This has inspired numerous artistic representations of St. Michael slaying the dragon with his sword. One unusual, but particularly apt, example is the bronze sculpture created in 1958 by Jacob Epstein (1880-1959) for the new Coventry Cathedral. Prominent on an outer wall, the statue greets visitors entering the new cathedral which has arisen beside the ruins of the original mediaeval cathedral dedicated to St. Michael and bombed in 1940 by the Nazis in World War II. Unusually, St Michael holds a spear in an upright position, rather than a sword pointing downward, and he stands triumphantly over a writhing Satan who is depicted as a human with horns, rather than a dragon.
Michael appears elsewhere in the Bible. His name in Hebrew translates as a rhetorical question “Who is like God?” to which the answer is “There is none like God” or “There is none as famous and powerful as God”. There are later depictions of Michael with the Latin translation of his name on his shield “Quis est Deus”. He is viewed as a mighty warrior, defender and advocate. In the Book of Daniel (10:9-11:2) Michael, called a prince (10:13,21), appears to Daniel after he has seen a vision during his battles with the kings of Persia and tells Daniel that he has been sent to help him by reinforcing his strength and supporting him. In the Letter of Jude Michael is briefly mentioned as one who did not use the language of abuse even when arguing with Satan about the corps of Moses (verse 9).
St. Michael is also said to have responded to the prayers of Pope Gregory the Great (as he later became) when near the end of the 6th century a severe plague ravaged the city of Rome, even claiming the life of Pope Pelagius II. It was an extraordinarily difficult time for the people of the city, and on his election as Pope (590-604), Gregory I immediately set out to call upon the mercy of God. He organized a massive procession around the city, inviting everyone to pray to God that the plague would be lifted. As the procession was going around the city, St. Gregory reached the Mausoleum of Emperor Hadrian and saw an angel of the Lord standing atop the castle wiping a bloody sword and sheathing it, and he understood that that marked the end of the plague. Eventually a statue of St. Michael the Archangel, sheathing his sword, was placed on the top of Castel Sant’Angelo; it remains a constant reminder of the mercy of God and how he responded to the prayers and supplications of the people.
There are a number of similar examples of St. Michael guarding what might be viewed as a sanctuary. Mont-Saint-Michele in Normandy, Mount Saint Michael in Cornwall, Skellig Michael in County Kerry, Ireland, and the remaining tower of St. Michael’s Church on the Glastonbury Tor, are among the most well-known. Since Michaelmas falls near the equinox, in the northern hemisphere this holy day is associated with the beginning of autumn and the shortening of days. It was one of the English, Welsh and Irish quarter days when accounts such as rent had to be settled, as is evoked vividly near the beginning of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles. Michaelmas in an extended sense denotes autumn and is associated with the beginning of the academic year and in many universities in the UK (such as Oxford and Cambridge), Ireland and some Commonwealth countries is the name of the first term. In keeping with this tradition, the University of St. Michael’s College marks the beginning of each academic year with a mass on or near the 29th September and welcomes back its community and its new students. This year Michaelmas is being celebrated on 26th September since the 29th falls on a Sunday.
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