PRAYER TO OUR LADY QUEEN OF ANGELS

August 2: Our Lady, Queen of the Angels 

August Queen of Heaven, sovereign Mistress of the Angels, who didst receive from the beginning the mission and the power to crush the serpent’s head, we beseech thee to send thy holy angels, that under thy command and by thy power, they may pursue the evil spirits, encounter them on every side, resist their bold attacks, and drive them hence into the abyss of woe.

Most holy Mother, send thy angels to defend us and to drive the cruel enemy from us.

All ye holy angels and archangel, help and defend us.

Amen.

O good and tender Mother! Thou shalt ever be our Love and our Hope.

Holy Angels and Archangels, keep and defend us.

Amen

Today is the feast of Our Lady of the Angels of the Portiuncula, the Virgin under whose mantle Saint Francis of Assisi was wrapped; Mary’s maternal protection made it possible for blessed Francis to experience an intense Presence of the Lord and to receive his vocation to rebuild the Church.

Likewise his intimate devotion to the Blessed Mother, under whose protection did he place himself to do the Lord’s work did this place become holy for the members of the Franciscan family and for the Church universal. Without meeting Christ, little makes sense.

The Portiuncula is an ancient church dedicated to Mary under the title Our Lady of the Angels and is located in Assisi, Italy. It was a spot very dear to the heart of Saint Francis.

The Portiuncula is the place where Franciscanism developed, and where Saint Francis lived and died.

Here he began and grew in his religious life; here he founded the Franciscan Order; here he manifested his love and great devotion to the Mother of God.

When Francis knew he was dying, he requested to be brought to the Portiuncula to end his earthly life.