Saint Michael’s Lent is a traditional observance of prayer and fasting practiced from the feast of the Assumption on Aug. 15 to Michaelmas Day, now known as the feast of the Archangels on Sept. 29.
It is not a liturgical season but a devotional practice made popular by Saint Francis and taken up today by the men’s ministry Exodus 90.
1) The saints practiced Lent at other times of the year.
Lent is the only penitential season currently on the calendar of the Roman Rite, but saints have practiced them at other times of the year.
Saint Benedict reminds his monks that they should practice the disciplines of Lent for the entire year, but at least from the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross in September to Easter, a time known as the monastic fast.
Saint Francis Paola founded the Order of Minims, which held to the old Lenten practices all year–one meal a day and no animal products.
2) Saint Francis of Assisi practiced Saint Michael’s Lent to honor the angels.
Saint Francis of Assisi often practiced additional times of penance leading up to major feast days. One of the most important for him was Saint Michael’s Lent, showing his devotion to the great defender of the Church.
He went up Mount La Verna (Alvernia) to spend time in solitude, accompanied by his beloved birds, while praying and fasting for his brothers
Saint Bonaventure describes how he honored the angels through Saint Michael’s Lent:
“He was bound by ties of inseparable affection unto the Angelic spirits that do glow with wondrous fire to approach God, and in the kindling of elect souls, and out of devotion unto them he would fast for forty days from the Assumption of the glorious Virgin, remaining instant in prayer throughout that time. Unto the Blessed Michael Archangel,—inasmuch as his is the ministry of bringing souls before God,—he cherished an especial love and devotion, by reason of the ardent zeal that he had for the salvation of all such as should be saved.”
3) It focuses on spiritual warfare.
Saint Michael cast Satan out of Heaven, and this summertime Lent also involves spiritual warfare. Up on the mountain, Francis came under assault from the enemy though he was supported in this battle by the holy angels.
The Little Flowers of St. Francis describes how Francis “persevered in that fast, and although he endured many assaults of the devil, nonetheless he received many consolations from God, not only by visits of angels.”
It also gives a particular example:
“Suddenly the devil came in a terrible form, with storm and mighty ruin, and to smite him and thrust him down the abyss” off the cliff of the rock. Francis turned toward the rock face and was drawn into a sheltered place, escaping this attack.
4) Saint Francis received the stigmata during Saint Michael’s Lent.
As Saint Francis was drawn close to the angels in prayer, he was lifted to encounter God.
On one of these occasions, flaming seraphim appeared to him, as Saint Bonaventure describes it, and impressed on his body the “likeness of the Crucified, engraved, not on tables of stone or of wood, by the craftsman’s hand, but written on his members of flesh by the finger of the Living God.”
Within the spiritual battle, Francis offered himself as a living sacrifice and was drawn in a special way to the Cross, modeling the only way to overcome the attacks of the enemy.
5) Saint Michael’s Lent is making a comeback today.
Catholics are rediscovering many lost treasures of their faith today. Exodus 90 in particular helps men follow Saint Francis up the mountain to encounter Christ with the help of the angels.
Men are invited to enter into Saint Michael’s Lent through daily prayer, establishing a fraternity with other men, and entering into sacrificial practices such as fasting, abstaining from media, and making an hour-long night vigil once a week.
Following the Book of Tobit, this year’s reflections focus on the importance of healing within spiritual warfare.
Spiritual guide Father Carlos Martins of The Exorcist Files will offer weekly videos.
In addition, the program also offers a model of healing through the story of an Exodus man reconciling with his family with the help of an Iraq war veteran in “Heal Me, I’m Broken.”