Knoxville bishop tells priests to stop reciting St. Michael prayer at Mass

Bishop Mark Beckman of Knoxville, Tennessee, told the priests of his diocese on October 16 to stop reciting the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel and other traditional devotions that had been added to the liturgy of the Mass, both before the entrance hymn and immediately after the dismissal. He gave the instruction in a letter to the diocesan clergy that was later published in The East Tennessee Catholic, the diocesan newspaper.

A distinction between liturgy and devotion

In the letter, Beckman drew a distinction between prayers that belong to the liturgy and those that do not. "Prayers, though not all of them, are vital elements of the liturgy of the Mass," he wrote. He said that during his visits to parishes in the diocese, which covers the eastern part of Tennessee, he had found that some churches were routinely adding prayers that are not part of the rite, which the faithful recited together.

The prayers named in the letter

The prayers Beckman identified as irregular additions include the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel, the so-called "Prayer of St. Francis," a prayer to the Holy Spirit and others the letter does not specify. He said the practices took place at different points in the celebration, sometimes before the entrance hymn and sometimes just after the final dismissal.

The Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel is a long-standing devotion in the Church. Beckman said its regular inclusion in the Mass is an addition to the rite that should be reversed to preserve the integrity of the official liturgy.

Practices across the diocese

His pastoral visits to parishes in the diocese showed him that the devotions had spread on their own in different parish communities.