The Prayer of St. Benedict is the Catholic way of asking the Father of Western monasticism to stand with you against evil, poison, panic, and a disordered life. People search it as St. Benedict prayer, Prayer of Saint Benedict, St. Benedict Medal prayer, and Vade retro Satana. Those searches are not three religions. They are one devotion: the Cross of Christ, the Rule he wrote, and the medal the Church has blessed for centuries.
This is the complete guide. It gives the traditional prayer in full, the letters on the medal, how to pray without treating metal as magic, and how the devotion belongs to his feast. St. Benedict’s feast day is July 11. In 2026 that is Saturday. The standing page for that day — life, legacy, and memorial — remains St. Benedict (July 11). That URL is unchanged. A shorter prayer card stays at Prayer to St. Benedict. The nine-day form is the Novena to St. Benedict.
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What People Mean by the Prayer of St. Benedict
There is no single sentence the Church calls “the” Prayer of St. Benedict the way there is one Hail Mary. Catholics use the name for four related acts. Keep them straight so you do not mix a sacramental with a slogan.
| What you searched | What it is | Where to go |
|---|---|---|
| Prayer of St. Benedict / Prayer to St. Benedict | The traditional intercession (“O glorious St. Benedict…”) | This guide and the prayer page |
| St. Benedict Medal prayer | The letters on the Jubilee Medal; often prayed while holding or wearing it | Medal of St. Benedict |
| Vade retro Satana | The short Latin cry on the back of the medal: “Begone, Satan” | Same medal; not a parlor exorcism |
| St. Benedict feast day / July 11 | Memorial of St. Benedict in the General Roman Calendar | /saints/st-benedict/ |
| Rule of St. Benedict | A monastic rule (ora et labora), not a prayer text | His life and feast page |
| Novena to St. Benedict | Nine days of the same intercession | Novena |
If you came from a Portuguese search for oração de São Bento, you usually want the medal and the cry against the devil, not a biography. Both belong together. A Benedictine does not wear a medal and skip the Office. A lay Catholic should not wear a medal and skip Mass, confession, and the Our Father.
When Is St. Benedict’s Feast Day?
July 11 every year. In 2026 that is Saturday, July 11. In the General Roman Calendar it is a Memorial, not an optional footnote and not a holy day of obligation in the United States. Parishes may celebrate his Mass. Benedictine houses keep it with greater solemnity. The Church moved the universal feast to July 11 — the traditional date of the translation of his relics to Fleury — so that Lent would not swallow his memorial. He died on March 21, about 547, at Monte Cassino. Many Benedictine calendars still mark March 21 as his transitus, the passing. Do not treat the two dates as a contradiction. July 11 is the day the whole Latin Church names him. March 21 is the day he stood up to pray and died.
The page built for that memorial is St. Benedict — life, legacy, and feast day. Read it on July 11. This article is the prayer how-to. Neither URL replaces the other.
People mix July 11 with other summer observances. Keep them straight:
| What you searched | The date | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| St. Benedict feast day | July 11 (Saturday in 2026) | Memorial — his feast page |
| Death of St. Benedict / transitus | March 21 | Kept in many Benedictine houses; not the Universal Calendar memorial |
| St. Scholastica | February 10 | His twin; St. Scholastica |
July 11 is not a lucky day for the medal. The medal does not “turn on” at a feast. You may pray the Prayer of St. Benedict any morning. The feast is when the Church puts his name in the Missal so the whole parish remembers ora et labora — pray and work — instead of only asking him to scare the devil.
Who Was St. Benedict of Nursia?
Benedict was born in Nursia (Norcia), in central Italy, about 480, twin of St. Scholastica. He studied in Rome, left the city’s corruption, lived three years in a cave at Subiaco, survived monks who tried to poison him, founded twelve small houses, and in 529 settled at Monte Cassino. There he wrote the Rule of St. Benedict, the moderate, durable pattern of Western monasticism: the Work of God in choir, manual labor, hospitality to guests, stability in one community, conversion of life. Pope St. Gregory the Great wrote his life in the Dialogues. Pope Paul VI named him patron of Europe on 24 October 1964.
The poison cup and the raven in the old stories are why Catholics still ask him against evil that arrives as a drink, a rumor, or a spirit. The Rule is why they should also ask him for a ordered day. Protection without obedience is not his school. The biography on this site is St. Benedict. What follows is the prayer that memorial is for.
The Traditional Prayer to St. Benedict
This is the intercession most English-speaking Catholics mean by the Prayer of St. Benedict. Pray it slowly. It is not a spell. It is a request that a monk who fought the devil in a cave will pray for you before God.
O glorious St. Benedict, sublime model of all virtues, pure vessel of God’s grace! Behold me, humbly kneeling at your feet. I implore you in your loving kindness to pray for me before the throne of God.
To you I have recourse in the dangers that daily surround me. Shield me against my selfishness and my indifference to God and to my neighbor. Inspire me to imitate you in all things. May your blessing be with me always, so that I may see and serve Christ in others and work for His kingdom.
Graciously obtain for me from God those favors and graces which I need so much in the trials, miseries, and afflictions of life. Your heart was always full of love, compassion, and mercy toward those who were afflicted or troubled in any way. You never dismissed without consolation and assistance anyone who had recourse to you. I therefore invoke your powerful intercession, confident in the hope that you will hear my prayers and obtain for me the special grace and favor I earnestly implore.
Help me, great St. Benedict, to live and die as a faithful child of God, to run in the sweetness of His loving will, and to attain the eternal happiness of heaven. Amen.
A short form, when you have one minute:
St. Benedict, father of monks and patron of Europe, pray for us. Protect us from evil. Teach us to pray and to work. May the Holy Cross be our light. Amen.
The same texts, in a shorter layout, are on Prayer to St. Benedict. Use this page when you want the medal explained. Use that page when you want to pray standing up and leave.
The Medal of St. Benedict: Letters and Meaning
The Medal of St. Benedict is a sacramental. The Church blesses it. It is not a battery. The form most Catholics wear is the Jubilee Medal struck in 1880 for the 1400th anniversary of Benedict’s birth, from the monks of Monte Cassino, with a blessing later confirmed for wider use. Older Benedictine crosses already carried the same letters. Pope Benedict XIV had approved a medal of this family in the eighteenth century. You do not need an 1880 antique. You need a Catholic medal, preferably blessed by a priest with the Church’s formula for this medal when it is available.
The front usually shows St. Benedict holding a cross in one hand and the Rule in the other. At his feet a raven and a cracked cup recall the poisoned bread and drink that did not kill him. Around him, in Latin: Eius in obitu nostro praesentia muniamur — “May we be strengthened by his presence at our death.” That line is why the medal is also a prayer for a happy death, not only for a frightening night.
The back is a cross. In the four angles: C.S.P.B. — Crux Sancti Patris Benedicti, the Cross of our Holy Father Benedict. Above the cross: PAX, peace. On the vertical beam: C.S.S.M.L. On the horizontal beam: N.D.S.M.D.
- C.S.S.M.L. — Crux Sacra Sit Mihi Lux — “May the Holy Cross be my light.”
- N.D.S.M.D. — Non Draco Sit Mihi Dux — “Let not the dragon be my guide.”
Around the edge of the reverse run two more sequences. They are the heart of what people call the St. Benedict Medal prayer:
- V.R.S.N.S.M.V. — Vade retro Satana; numquam suade mihi vana — “Begone, Satan; never suggest vain things to me.”
- S.M.Q.L.I.V.B. — Sunt mala quae libas; ipse venena bibas — “What you offer is evil; drink the poison yourself.”
That last couplet is not a curse you aim at a neighbor. It is Christ’s refusal of the devil’s cup, put on a monk’s medal. Benedict would not drink what was offered to kill him. You are asking for the same refusal: do not swallow the lie.
Wear it, carry it, hang it at a door if your parish custom allows. Have it blessed. Then live as if the Cross, not the pewter, is the light. “Put you on the armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11).
“Vade Retro Satana”: The Short Cry on the Medal
Vade retro Satana is Latin for “Go back, Satan” — the same command Christ used in the wilderness and to Peter when Peter tried to talk Him off the Cross (Matthew 4:10; Matthew 16:23, Douay: “Go behind me, Satan”). On the medal it is a brief invocation, not the Rite of Exorcism. A priest with the bishop’s mandate performs a solemn exorcism. You are a baptized Catholic making the Sign of the Cross and refusing the devil’s suggestions. That is ordinary spiritual warfare, not a YouTube ritual.
You may say it in Latin or English, with the Sign of the Cross:
Begone, Satan. Never suggest vain things to me. What you offer is evil; drink your own poison. May the Holy Cross be my light. Let not the dragon be my guide. St. Benedict, pray for us.
If fear is loud, add the Prayer to St. Michael and go to confession when sin is the real infestation. Benedict’s cave was not a substitute for the sacraments. Yours is not either.
How to Pray the Prayer of St. Benedict
- Make the Sign of the Cross. If you have forgotten the words: Sign of the Cross.
- Hold the medal if you have one, or simply fold your hands. The prayer is valid without metal.
- Pray the traditional prayer above, or the short form if that is all the time you have.
- Name the danger honestly — a sin, a house in unrest, a child in fear, a workplace that feels spiritually dirty. Do not invent demons for a bad mood. Do not ignore a real spiritual attack because you are embarrassed.
- Add Vade retro Satana if the temptation is immediate.
- Read one chapter of Scripture so the medal does not outrun the Word. Start with Ephesians 6 or Psalm 90 (Hebrew 91 in many Bibles; Douay numbering on this site is Psalm 90).
- Do the next Benedictine thing: work the hour in front of you, keep stability, be quiet, feed a guest, go to Mass.
Tuesdays are a popular weekday for this devotion in some places. The Church does not bind you to Tuesday. July 11 is the day she does name him. Pray it then with the feast: keep St. Benedict’s day.
What This Prayer Is Not
It is not a curse against an enemy. It is not insurance so you can keep a mortal sin. It is not a replacement for a psychiatrist, a lock on the door, or a priest. The Church condemns superstition: treating a blessed object as if it worked by its own power, apart from the faith of the Church and the will of God (Catechism 2111). A medal in a wallet next to an unrepented vice is jewelry.
It is not the Rule. If you want Benedict’s actual school, keep a schedule of prayer, do the work you were given, and stop shopping communities. “Idleness is the enemy of the soul,” the Rule says. So is scrolling for a scarier Benedict video.
It is not St. Michael’s prayer, and it is not an unofficial exorcism you found in a comment. If a situation is grave — oppression, a household that will not quiet, a person who cannot pray — call a priest. Benedict would send you to the abbot, not to a forum.
How to Keep July 11 with This Prayer
On Saturday, July 11, 2026, the memorial is easy to miss because it is not Christmas. That is why this article points you to the feast page instead of pretending a blog post is the calendar.
- Open the feast: St. Benedict’s day — July 11.
- Go to Mass if your parish keeps the memorial. It is not a holy day of obligation in the United States. If the parish uses another Mass, add his Collect in private.
- Pray the Prayer of St. Benedict after Communion or at home, with the medal if you have one.
- Bless the medal if it has never been blessed. Ask a priest. Do not “self-activate” it with a video.
- Read a page of the Rule or the life on his saint page, then keep one concrete stability: finish a task, keep an hour of silence, welcome someone.
- Pray for Europe and for monks — his actual patronage — not only for your nerves.
If you cannot do six things, do the feast page and the short prayer. Benedict’s whole spirituality can fit in a kitchen before work, which is the point of ora et labora.
The English Collect of the memorial (Roman Missal) is the Church’s own sentence for the day. Use it at home if you do not hear it at Mass:
Collect. O God, who made the Abbot Saint Benedict an outstanding master in the school of divine service, grant, we pray, that, putting nothing before love of you, we may hasten with a loving heart in the way of your commands. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Scripture for Protection and Stability
These chapters are the Bible under the medal, not captions for a product photo. Read them in the Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible on this site.
- Ephesians 6 — the armour of God; the fight is not against flesh and blood.
- Psalm 90 — “He that dwelleth in the aid of the most High”; the psalm of trust under the shadow of God (Psalm 91 in Hebrew numbering).
- 1 Peter 5 — “Be sober and watch: because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour.” Resist him, strong in faith.
- Matthew 4 — Christ in the desert; the Word answers the tempter.
- James 4 — “Resist the devil, and he will fly from you.” Draw near to God.
One chapter prayed is enough. Three is a feast. Generating fear with stories is not lectio.
The Novena and Daily Use
The Novena to St. Benedict is nine days of the same trust. A common time to begin is July 3, so that day nine falls on July 11. You may pray it in any season — before a move, a surgery, a house blessing, a vocational decision. Do not tell readers the novena is required. It is a school, not a precept.
Daily: morning offering, Sign of the Cross, short Prayer of St. Benedict, then the work. Evening: a look at the day (the monastic chapter of faults in miniature) and Psalm 90. If you fall, the sacrament is Confession, not a second medal.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Prayer of St. Benedict?
Catholics use the name for the traditional intercession to St. Benedict and for the invocations on his medal, especially Vade retro Satana. Both ask his help under the Cross. Neither replaces the Mass.
When is St. Benedict’s feast day?
July 11 every year. In 2026 it is Saturday, July 11. The Church’s page for that day on this site is /saints/st-benedict/. Some monasteries also keep March 21, the day of his death.
Do I have to wear the medal for the prayer to work?
No. The prayer is an act of faith. The medal is a sacramental that disposes you to receive grace. Wear it if it helps you remember the Cross. Do not treat the absence of a medal as undefended if you are in a state of grace.
Can I bless my own St. Benedict Medal?
No. Ask a priest. There is a proper blessing for this medal. Holy water on a chain is not the same rite. If you cannot find a priest this week, you may still pray the Prayer of St. Benedict. Get the medal blessed when you can.
Is Vade retro Satana an exorcism?
It is a short invocation against the devil, in the family of sacramentals. It is not the solemn Rite of Exorcism. Do not advertise yourself as an exorcist because you own a medal.
What is St. Benedict the patron of?
Europe, monks, students, farmers, architects, cave explorers, and those seeking protection from poison and evil. Patronage is a relationship of prayer, not a charm. Ask, then keep the Rule’s next ordinary duty. Full patronage notes: his feast page.
How do I pray on his feast day?
Mass if you can, the Prayer of St. Benedict, one chapter of Scripture, one stable act of work or hospitality, and a visit to St. Benedict’s day. Details are in the list above.
Is this the same as the prayer page?
/prayers/prayer-to-st-benedict/ is the short prayer card. This article is the complete guide: medal, Latin, feast, and what not to do. His biography and July 11 memorial stay at /saints/st-benedict/. None of those URLs have been renamed.
Related pages on Catholic Bible Online
- St. Benedict’s feast day — July 11 (life, legacy, memorial)
- The Medal of St. Benedict — history, letters, blessing
- Prayer to St. Benedict · Novena to St. Benedict
- St. Scholastica · St. Gregory the Great
- Prayer to St. Michael · Sign of the Cross
- Saints directory · Catholic calendar · Douay-Rheims Bible
Pray It, Then Keep the Rule
St. Benedict did not defeat the devil with a slogan. He stayed in the cave until he could live in a house, and he wrote a Rule so ordinary men could seek God without drama. The Prayer of St. Benedict is that same refusal: the Cross as light, the dragon not as guide, Satan told to go back. Say the words. Wear the medal if you will. Then go to his feast on July 11, and on the other 364 days put nothing before the love of God.
St. Benedict, pray for us.
Pray: the prayer · the novena · Keep the day: July 11 — St. Benedict · Psalm 90