After writing my last post, I thought to check JSTOR. And … I got a hit![1] This discusses marginalia in an Old English manuscript, but the author wanders quite far afield, discussing devotion to St Michael the Archangel:
Greek devotion to St. Michael is well attested, but one writer in particular deserves attention in connection with the Corpus homily. In a sermon on the power of St. Michael, the deacon Pantoleon attributes a series of Old Testament miracles to the intervention of the Archangel.[108]
The sermon opens with a eulogistic passage which describes Michael by a string of epithets: he is “maxime et imprimis admirabilis Michael princeps Dei militiae” (the greatest and especially wonderful Michael chief of God’s troops), “benigne Michael” (kind-hearted Michael), “qui es fortissimus pugnator et propugnator ac defensor eorum qui Dominum diligunt” (who are the most powerful combatant and champion and defender of those who love the Lord).[109]
Of the miracles Pantoleon attributes to Michael, perhaps the most striking is the Archangel’s intervention at the sacrifice of Isaac: Michael stays the hand of Abraham as he is about to slay his son Isaac (§ XI). Michael is also said to be the angel who wrestles with Jacob (§ XI); who leads the Israelites out of Egypt to the promised land (§ XIII); who contends with the Devil over the body of Moses (§ XIV); who aids Joshua in destroying Jericho (§ XV); who saves Sidrach, Misach, and Abednago from the flames of Nabuchodonosor’s furnace (§ XX); and who preserves Daniel in the lion’s den (§ XXI).
108. Pantoleonis, Diaconi et Chartophylacis magnae Ecclesiae: “Narratio miraculorum Archangeli Michaelis,” PG 140. 573-88.
109. Ibid., 574-75.
The reference to PG 140 means that Migne printed the Encomium a second time.
On visiting PG 140, the table of contents is at the back. There are a couple of pages of introduction, which did not add much.
On col. 483 ff. is the Tractatus contra Graecorum Errores, clearly written after the schism between Greeks and Latins. This is given in Latin, as printed by Stevartius.
On col. 573-591. is the Narratio, in Latin only. Migne seems to be aware that he has already printed it; so presumably is just reprinting his source.
No other works of Pantoleon appear.
Further Google searching turns up a Laudatio S. Michaelis Archangeli, (BHG 1289) listed in manuscript by Pinakes. De luminibus sanctis is mentioned at Pinakes as BHG 1945; the mysterious collection of homilies through the year appears in manuscripts listed here; and the Miracula S. Michaelis Archangeli is given as BHG 1285-1288e, 1288i-m, and appears in many mss listed here.
I probably ought to look at the BHG entries, but not tonight!
- [1]Richard F. Johnson, “Archangel in the margins: St Michael in the homilies of Cambridge, Corpus Christi College 41”, Traditio 53, 1998, 63-91; p.89↩
Thank you for all the work – this is very interesting! You’d think there must be a body of St. Michael scholarship, but where and how best to find out? What R.F. Johnson relates from Pantoleon could be traditional or original, I suppose. In either case, perhaps starting from explicit Scriptural references, and extrapolating what is in keeping with that to attempt to discern what other deeds may be those of this one of the few named Angels?
Interesting – as you say, there must be something via St Michael scholarship.