An icon of St Michael the Archangel in the Chora Church in Constantinople (Istanbul). The Eastern tradition of keeping St Michael’s day on November 8th comes from fifth-century Constantinople, where the Archangel was regarded as a patron of healing. The English tradition of keeping the Feast of St Michael and All Angels on September 29th is almost as ancient, dating back to sixth-century Rome, and is shared by the Serbian Orthodox Church.
Part 1 of 2
“THE Michaelmas daisies,” says the old rhyme, “among dead weeds, Bloom for St Michael's valorous deeds.”*
The Archangel Michael’s valorous deeds are described in the Bible. St John tells us that there was war in heaven, and Michael and his angels fought against the devil and his angels, and cast them down.* One English legend says that the devil landed on a prickly bramble, which is why blackberries do not make good eating after Michaelmas, on September 29th.*
Michael also stood courteous but firm when Moses died, and the devil falsely claimed ownership. Christians should be like Michael, says St Jude, because he did not hurl insults even when contending with his arch-enemy.*
Mediaeval England took Michael as a patron of truth and justice, borrowing his name for the Michaelmas term of Universities and the Bar, and for one of the four traditional Quarter Days when rents were paid. However, long before this Michael was venerated not as an avenger, but as a healer.
The Aster amellus flowers until October; see a picture from the Hermitage of Braid in Edinburgh (Geograph Britain and Ireland website).
See Revelation 12:7-10.
The feast of St Michael is kept on November 8th ([getgregorian:11-8|F jS] NS) in the Eastern Churches; see The Defeat Of The Dark Side: Orthodox Church Celebrates Michaelmas (OrthoChristian). However, the Serbian Church keeps the feast on September 29th ([getgregorian:9-29|F jS] NS), as is traditional in Britain.
See Jude 9.
Précis
Michaelmas on September 29th is the feast of the Archangel Michael, depicted in the Bible as an angel who cast the devil from heaven, and as a model of courtesy in defiance. Since the Middle Ages, the Autumn term in education and the law has been the Michaelmas Term, but the most ancient role for Michael was as a healer. (60 / 60 words)
Part Two
John Stuttard, Lord Mayor of London, in full regalia for the Lord Mayor’s Show in November 2006. Traditionally, magistrates were appointed at Michaelmas, and the Lord Mayor of London (the ancient ceremonial office, not the modern political Mayor of London) is elected at or near Michaelmas, and the Autumn term for Universities and the Bar is named after this day.
A CHURCH named the Michalion near Constantinople was already a popular place of healings and pilgrimage in the days of fifth-century historian Sozomen, who testified to one miracle himself: a fellow barrister named Aquiline was cured of a life-threatening fever by a salve of honey, wine and pepper revealed to him during a vision of Michael inside the Michalion.*
At first, each local church had its own date for Michaelmas, but in time the East settled on November 8th, the patronal day of a late fourth-century church dedicated to St Michael in Constantinople itself; in the West it was September 29th, after a now lost Basilica of the Angels in sixth-century Rome.
Goose was the traditional Michaelmas fare in England, while in Scotland, scone-like cakes called Michaelmas struan were baked on Michaelmas Eve using grains of all kinds from the year’s harvest. After a blessing at the communion service next morning, they were given to the poor in memory of the absent or the departed.*
The doctors were horrified, because the spicy nature of the concoction (externally applied as a foot-bath) was according to their system totally wrong for the bilious nature of his complaint. As their medicines had all but killed him already, the learned Counsel was not disposed to heed their advice and ignore St Michael’s. Aquiline was a guest of Sozomen’s when he was writing this part of his history, so the authority could not be better.
The association of St Michael the Archangel with healing and the departed is reflected in St Bede’s history of the English Church and people. He tells us that John of Beverley (?-721) healed a dumb man while staying at a cottage by a graveyard dedicated to the Archangel Michael; and Michael appeared to the terminally ill Wilfrid of Hexham and York, to announce a four year extension on his earthly life courtesy of the Virgin Mary. See our stories The Bishop and the Chatterbox and St Wilfrid’s Debt.
Précis
Michael’s association with healing goes back at least to fifth-century Constantinople, as does the Eastern date for Michaelmas, November 8th. In England, enduring Michaelmas customs include serving goose on the day, and in Scotland, cakes blessed in church and distributed to the poor in memory of the those who are far away, or who have died. (56 / 60 words)
