The Eeshan Religion and Church of Metta Spirituality

Saint

ichael

M

A

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Art found on Pinterest.com

The

Prince of all Angels and Conqueror of all Plagues

Watch The Opening of the Portal to Gargano & Liscia in Saint Michael's Chapel at 'The Place'

Song featured is Atlas by Coldplay

The Apparition of Saint Michael the Archangel in Gargano Italy

taken from Story of Gargano

In the year 492, a bull strayed from the herd of a rich land owner from the nearby town of Siponto, which lay at the foot of Mount Gargano. The bull found its way into a cave near the summit of the mountain. The herdsman, hoping to frighten the bull out of the cave, fired an arrow into its dark recesses. Quite shockingly, the arrow miraculously returned, wounding the man who fired it. In the face of such a strange and miraculous occurrence, the man and his companions who witnessed the event sought the council of their local bishop. He recommended three days of prayer and fasting to discern the meaning behind the phenomenon. On the third day, these pious practices were answered when St. Michael appeared to the bishop and said:

"You have done well to ask God what was hidden from men.

A miracle that struck the man with his own arrow, so that it was

clear that all this happens by my will.

I am the Archangel Michael and I am always in the presence of God.

The cave is sacred to me. And since I have decided to protect this place

and its inhabitants on Earth, I wanted to attest in this way that I am of this

place and of everything that takes place as patron and custodian.

Where the rock is thrown open, the sins of men can be forgiven. What will

be asked here in prayer will be granted. Go therefore to the mountain and

dedicate the the cave to Christian worship."

St. Michael didn’t wait for the bishop after all, and instead went and consecrated the grotto himself. At the mouth of the grotto the Archangel appeared to the bishop again, stating,

“It is not your task to consecrate the Basilica I built. I who founded it, I myself

consecrated it. But you go in and go to this place, placed under my protection.”

When everyone processed inside they were amazed to see an altar was already erected with a cross upon it. They also found a footprint of St. Michael embedded on the rock floor.

Centuries later in 1656, a terrible pestilence raged all over Southern Italy. Archbishop Alphonse Puccinelli, unable to find human means of stopping the epidemic, had recourse to the Archangel Michael with prayers and fasting. The Archbishop even thought of forcing the divine will by placing a supplication written in the name of all the townspeople in the hands of the statue of Saint Michael.

When all of a sudden at the break of day on September 22nd, while he was praying in a room of the bishop’s palace of Monte Sant’Angelo, there was a sort of earthquake and Saint Michael appeared to him in dazzling splendor. The Archangel gave the bishop the directive to bless the stones of the cave at Gargano and engrave upon them the letters, “MA” (Michael Archangel). The apparent vision concluded with the promise:

"Anyone who devotedly keeps these stones with him will be immune to the plague."

The bishop did what he was told to do. Very soon, not only the town was delivered from the plague, but also all those who asked for the stones wherever they lived.

The Apparition of the Secret Waters of Saint Michael the Archangel in Liscia, Italy

taken from, "Cities and Towns of Abruzzo and Molise"

In the territory of Liscia, in the district of San Michele Arcangelo, there is a cave that has been a place of worship since time immemorial. It is accessed through a suggestive votive chapel built in the early eighteenth century by the Marquises of Avalos, feudal lords of Monteodorisio.

The cave, dug into the heart of the rock, rich in fresh and abundant water and stalactites, has at the bottom an altar with the image of the Archangel in a small picture illuminated by an oil lamp. About 10 meters deep and 3 meters wide, it has on the right side a large niche with a basin in which the water that flows from the rock is collected. On the left there are two low tunnels, now walled up, which once led into the living area. In the center of the cave, in front of a niche, hidden by two pillars, there is an altar of modest size, behind which a small circular cavity opens.

Even today, especially on the occasion of May 8 and September 29, the faithful go on pilgrimage to the cave repeating ancient rituals. The walls and the water of the cave, thanks to the intercession of the Archangel, are considered sacred and, as such, able to alleviate human suffering. Handkerchiefs and sacred objects are rubbed on the walls of the cave; the water, on the other hand, which flows into a sort of basin leaning against the wall, is drunk by taking it with copper ladles.

There are numerous legends about the cave. At the same time as the Gargano, the Archangel also appeared in the territory of Liscia, in a cave where Lucifer was nestled, who was then chased away, to the miraculous appearance of the Saint. For some time a shepherd from the neighboring municipality of Palmoli had lost a young bull while grazing, which he saw suddenly reappear in the evening along mysterious paths. One day the shepherd wanted to follow the animal in its strange wandering. At a certain moment he observed, astonished, and as if by magic, that the forest, inaccessible and closed, opened to the passage of the young bull that was able to walk in this way, easily, until it reached a completely unknown cave. But as soon as he arrived in front of the cave, the young bull knelt down in front of a wooden statue of St. Michael the Archangel. Then appeared in that "Grotto," in the midst of a flash of lights, the Archangel St. Michael. The good shepherd who followed the animal step by step fainted, unable to resist such sudden and blinding splendor. When he recovered his senses his throat was burnt and he absolutely needed to drink. Then, by prodigy, he began to drip water into the cave and drank it.