[Not sure if this was from 1896 or 1898. Haven’t found a precise source for its true provenance, but ‘1896’ was questioned by a random commenter on YT.]
On The St Michael Prayer:
St. Michael, His Prayer, And The Version You’ve Never Seen
What inspired this prayer? There are various versions of a story that explain it.
The basic account is that Pope Leo XIII had a terrible vision one day, shortly after saying his morning Mass. Some accounts say he collapsed; others say he was in a trance and was seen gazing in horror. Some accounts say he overheard a conversation between God and the devil; others say he simply saw a horrific vision of the works of Satan that would occur in the 20th century.
The story seems credible, though we do not have absolute evidence. For example, we have the word of a contemporary of Pope Leo XIII “who was a cardinal and knew his personal secretary,” and an unnamed man who had a short audience with the Pope and wrote about it in a German publication in 1891. After making its way to Germany, the account seems to have spread around the world.
Here is the compelling version published in 1891:
A rather peculiar circumstance induced Pope Leo XIII to compose this powerful prayer. After celebrating Mass one day he was in conference with the Cardinals. Suddenly he sank to the floor. Several doctors were summoned at once but found no pulse—the very life seemed to have ebbed away from the fragile and aging body. Suddenly he recovered and said: “What a horrible vision I have been shown!” He saw the ages to come, the seductive powers and ravings of the devils against the Church in every land. But St. Michael appeared in the moment of greatest distress and cast Satan and his cohorts back into the abyss of hell. Such was the occasion that caused Pope Leo XIII to prescribe this prayer for the universal Church.
Account by Monsignor Carl Vogl, as presented in Pope Leo XIII and the Prayer to St. Michael by Kevin Symonds
How is it that he is not (YET) canonized while his successors were speedily credentialed saints?