Michaelmas: The Feast Day of St Michael

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St Michael the Archangel by Peter Anton von Verschaffelt

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September 29th is Michaelmas day, the feast day of St Michael the Archangel. 

In the Book of Revelation, St Michael leads God's armies in the defeat of Satan, in the war against the rebel angels. 

A beautiful bronze statue of St Michael the Archangel, the work of the Flemish sculptor Peter Anton von Verschaffelt (1710-93), crowns the Mausoleum of Hadrian, which is why it is known as the Castel Sant' Angelo. 

The statue commemorates an event which, according to legend, took place in 590 when Rome was suffering from an outbreak of the plague. Pope Gregory I (590-604) was leading a procession around the ancient tomb of the emperor Hadrian, pleading for the intercession of the Virgin Mary, when he had a vision of St Michael re-sheathing his sword, thus signifying the end of the plague. 

Michaelmas was once one of the four quarter days of the financial, judicial and academic year.

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