St. Michael Caves

photography — Archangel St **Michael** defeats the devil in a cave. Public Domain.

In the late Roman/early Medieval time the young Christian religion struggled against pagan cults all over Europe. God sent his archangel St. Michael to Europe, especially southern Italy, to appear in front of people which were easy to influence. Preferably inside a cave. We are not sure which one was the cave fan, but we guess it was St. Michael.

The result of this strange behaviour is a huge number of caves named after archangel St. Michael. And two islands too, by the way, both called St Michaels Mountain. One is Mont St. Michel at the coast of Normandy in France and one is St. Michaels Mount in Cornwall. Both areas are composed of insoluble rock, so we guess there were no caves at hand.

The explanation, why St. Michael is related to caves, is actually a legend. Tradition wants the archangel winning on Lucifer, the devil, who was sent away from the heaven to be confined in the inside recesses of the earth.

There are so many caves dedicated to him, we thought we should make a page to list all of them. We were impressed that there were a few outside southern Italy too. In Italy those are actually cave churches, but there are also churches with caverns below, or caves which were simply named after the archangel.

Cave Church	Location	Country
Sant’Angelo	Balsorano, L’Aquila, Abbruzzo	Italy
Grotta San Michele	Pescocostanzo, L’Aquila, Abbruzzo	Italy
Sant’Angelo in Vetulis	near Sulmona, L’Aquila, Abbruzzo	Italy
Monte Sant’Angelo	Bominaco, L’Aquila, Abbruzzo	Italy
San Michele	San Vittorino, L’Aquila, Abbruzzo	Italy
Sant’Angelo Le Ripe	Abbruzzo	Italy
San Michele Arcangelo	Lama dei Peligni, Abbruzzo	Italy
Grotta Sant’Angelo	Palombaro (Ch), Abbruzzo	Italy
Eremo di San Michele di Montenero	Campagna (SA), Campania	Italy
Grotta dell’Angelo	Sant’Angelo a Fasanella, Campania	Italy
Grotta di San Michele	Faicchio (BN), Campania	Italy
Grotta di S.Michele Arcangelo	Olevano, north of Eboli, east of Salerno, Campania.	Italy
Grotta di San Michele Arcangelo	Raviscanina (CE), Campania	Italy
Grotta dell’Angelo	Pertosa, Salerno, Campania.	Italy
Morgia Sant’Angelo	Guardia Sanframondi, Campania.	Italy
Grotta di Sant’Angelo	Cassano Allo Ionio, Calabria	Italy
Grotta di San Michele	Sant’Angelo in Grotte, Santa Maria del Molise, Province of Isernia, Molise	Italy
Grotta dell’Angelo	Monte d’Elio, San Nicandro Garganico, Gargano, Puglia	Italy
Grotta di San Michele	Minervino Murge, Puglia	Italy
Monte Sant’Angelo sul Gargano	Monte Sant’Angelo sul Gargano, Puglia	Italy
Grotta San Michele	Cagnano Varano, Gargano, Puglia.	Italy
San Michele delle Grotte	Gravina in Puglia (BA), Puglia.	Italy
Cripta Basiliana di San Michele	Ceglie Messapica, Puglia	Italy
Grotta di San Michele Arcangelo	Monte San Giovanni in Sabina, Lazio	Italy
Pesterna Crkva Sveti Arhangel Mihail	Radozda, Struga region, western shore of Lake Ohrid.	Macedonia
St. Michael’s Caves	Gibraltar, Nature Reserve Upper Rock	Great Britain
Mikaelshulen	Near Skien, Telemark	Norway
Cave Archangel Michael Panormitis	Rhodes Island	Greece
Unknown Underground Vienna	Vienna	Austria
Ivanovo Rock Churches	Rousse Province	Bulgaria
Grutas de São Miguel	Mato Grosso do Sul	Brazil
Cuevas de San Miquel	Pinar del Río Province	Cuba
Monastery of Sant Miquel del Fai	Cataluña	Spain
Grotta di S. Angelo di Lettomanoppello	Abruzzo	Italy
Grotta di San Michele/Ozieri	Sardinia	Italy
Manastir Crna Reka	Southern and Eastern Serbia	Serbia