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Saint Michael

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Saint Michael is the angel of that name mentioned in at least four different places in the Bible, and thought to continue to intervene on behalf of Christians in later centuries. Saint Michael was usually honored on mountain tops and high places, and many famous shrines to him survive on those places, often replacing shrines of pre-Christian gods concerned with weather, like Wotan. He was also seen as replacing Hermes or Mercury in his role as weigher of souls on Judgment Day - as is frequently depicted in Medieval and Renaissance art.

In the Roman Calendar of the Saints, the feast, once widely known as Michaelmas, was celebrated September 29 and was one of the quarter days on which accounts were settled and school terms began.

Shrines of St. Michael:

Monte Gargano, Italy
Mont-Saint-Michel[?], Normandy, France
Saint-Michael, Bamberg, Germany (tomb of Otto of Bamberg, Apostle of Pomerania



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