Saint Benedict Prayer — Vade retro Satana

The history of this prayer

The “Saint Benedict prayer” is the text engraved, in initials only, on the Medal of Saint Benedict: a cross bearing the letters C.S.S.M.L. and N.D.S.M.D., and around the edge V.R.S. N.S.M.V. S.M.Q.L. I.V.B. It was not written by Saint Benedict (c. 480–547); it is a short exorcism in Latin verse placed under the protection of the Patriarch of Western monks, who, according to the Dialogues of Saint Gregory the Great, often fought the devil and, making the Sign of the Cross over a cup of poisoned wine, saw it shatter.

In 1647, during a witchcraft trial in Bavaria, crosses painted with these initials were found at the Benedictine abbey of Metten, and a fifteenth-century manuscript in the abbey's library explained their meaning. The medal was approved by Pope Benedict XIV in 1742, and in 1880, for the 1,400th anniversary of Saint Benedict's birth, Monte Cassino struck the “jubilee medal”, the design most used today.

The medal is a sacramental: by custom it is blessed by a priest, and it works not by itself but through the faith of the one who wears it and the prayer of the Church. Pronunciation: “Sátana” is stressed on the first syllable; “quæ” sounds “kway”.