Episode 932: Where have you gone St Michael?

Another example of the arbitrary and oppressive nature of what Mgr. Bugnini called “simplification” of the Calendar is the suppression in 1960 of a feast of major importance in the life of the Church: the Apparition of St. Michael (May 8).

For centuries before 1960, there were two feasts of St. Michael in the Universal Calendar: May 8 and September 29. But they were designated by the Liturgical Commission as an unnecessary “duplication,” and the Apparition of St. Michael was thrown out along with the other “unwanted” feasts in the 1960 Calendar.

As with the previously mentioned feasts eliminated in the same year, it involved the building of a place of worship to commemorate miraculous events. According to the Roman Breviary, the feast was instituted to thank God for a military victory achieved at Monte Gargano, Italy, on May 8 , 663, through the intercession of St. Michael. The battle was described by the 8th century Benedictine historian, Paul the Deacon, thus:

“When the Greeks of that time came to plunder the sanctuary of the holy Archangel [Michael] situated upon Mount Garganus (Gargano), Grimuald [King of the Lombards], coming upon them with his army, overthrew them with much slaughter.”

What is remarkable about this incident is that the Archangel had promised to protect the sanctuary – now the oldest shrine in the West dedicated to St. Michael – when he appeared there in 492.

The pre-1960 Breviary gives a full account of the circumstances. From this we learn that St. Michael appeared at the end of the 5th century to the Bishop of the nearby town of Siponto, with a message concerning a cave in Monte Gargano: (3) namely, that the grotto should become a shrine dedicated to St. Michael who would take it under his protection.

However, as such miraculous occurrences simply have no meaning in progressist circles of the Catholic Church, Bugnini dismissed them as “not historical,” implying that they were not worthy of credibility. Instead, liturgical “experts” have chosen to believe something of their own invention: that the Apparition of St. Michael, like many other “second feasts” of an individual Saint, was cluttering up the Liturgical Year, and should no longer occupy a place in the General Calendar.
We cannot overlook the underlying reason for the feast’s removal. By 1960, the Church was beginning to downplay the supernatural character of the liturgy to make it more acceptable to Protestants, who rejected miracles and apparitions.