St Michael's Sacred Line of the Atlantic: the New Archangel Line Linking São Tomé, the Azores and Canada

Twelve churches of St Michael the Archangel, one in each country, are joined by a single line that runs right around the world. The line starts at an 1883 chapel in the south of São Tomé, near the Equator, and passes through São Miguel Fortress in Luanda, Benin, the Canary Islands, the Azores, Canada and Tasmania.

It all began at the Chapel of São Miguel, by the São Miguel River and facing São Miguel Islet, where the original statue of the Archangel has survived for 143 years. We drew a straight line from there to the island that also bears the Archangel's name, in the Azores, and followed it around the world. On each stretch we found a church of St Michael the Archangel waiting for us.

Twelve, like the apostles. We called it St Michael's Sacred Line of the Atlantic, and we share it as an invitation: to look at the map and see in it a sign of the presence of the Archangel who protects the faithful from one side of the ocean to the other. It joins Africa, the Atlantic islands of Portugal and Spain, North America and Oceania on the same path.

«When I saw the churches of St Michael appear, one by one, along the same line, I was amazed. I felt I could not keep this to myself. I share it with the world in the hope that it helps someone draw closer to the Archangel and strengthen their faith.» — Luciano Baetz, author of St Michael's Sacred Line of the Atlantic

Luciano Baetz has worked in religious tourism since 2001, first as a pilgrimage guide to Fátima, Santiago de Compostela, Lourdes, Rome and Jerusalem. He founded Vamos Fugir and Jaca Voyage DMC, and has been travelling to São Tomé and Príncipe since 2015.

The Sacred Line of St Michael the Archangel in Europe

The best-known sacred line of St Michael the Archangel joins seven sanctuaries, from Ireland to Israel. Also called the Sword of St Michael, it marks, according to tradition, the stroke of the sword with which the Archangel cast out the devil, and is said to align with the sunset on the summer solstice (Aleteia; ACI Digital).

For centuries pilgrims have visited these sanctuaries: Skellig Michael, St Michael's Mount, Mont-Saint-Michel, the Sacra di San Michele, Monte Sant'Angelo, Symi and Mount Carmel. Nobody visits them to measure the line. They go to pray, and the line gives meaning to the journey.

St Michael's line is also the most famous example of a ley line: an alignment of sacred places drawn in a straight line on the map. The idea came from the Englishman Alfred Watkins in The Old Straight Track (1925), who saw them as ancient tracks (Wikipedia). For the Christian faith, the value of these lines lies in the path of prayer they trace.

St Michael's Sacred Line of the Atlantic is born of the same spirit, now on the other side of the ocean.

How the line was drawn

The line is a great circle: the straightest possible line on the curved surface of the Earth, the same one aircraft follow.

1. We started from four anchor sites dedicated to St Michael: the chapel in São Tomé, São Miguel Fortress in Luanda, the Saint-Michel Church in Cotonou and the Church of St Michael the Archangel in Vila Franca do Campo.
2. We calculated the line that passes as close as possible to all four at once.
3. We searched for churches of St Michael in every town near the line and chose the nearest one in each country.

Twelve countries, twelve churches of St Michael the Archangel

In each country where we found a church of St Michael near the line, we chose the nearest one. São Miguel Island itself, in the Azores, is crossed by the line.

Africa: from Luanda to the Sahel

In Africa, the line joins six churches of St Michael between Angola and Burkina Faso.

• São Tomé and Príncipe. The Chapel of São Miguel was built in 1883 in the south of the island, next to São Miguel Islet. It is the line's starting point, near the Equator.
• Angola. São Miguel Fortress in Luanda has guarded the capital since the 16th century. It only took the Archangel's name in August 1648, when Salvador Correia de Sá e Benevides retook the city and named it after the saint of his devotion.
• Benin. The Saint-Michel Church in Cotonou sits almost exactly on the line.
• Togo. The parish of Saint-Michel-Archange in Davié, near Lomé, is dedicated to the Archangel.
• Burkina Faso. The Saint-Michel parish of Tanghin-Dassouri, near Ouagadougou, is dedicated to the Archangel.

After Burkina Faso, the line crosses Mali, Mauritania and Western Sahara before continuing over the ocean to the Azores.

The Canary Islands: Spain joins the line

Leaving the African coast, the line crosses the sea between Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura, in the Spanish Canary Islands.

• Valsequillo, Gran Canaria. The Church of San Miguel Arcángel is the town's parish church.
• Tuineje, Fuerteventura. On the other side, the Church of San Miguel Arcángel in Tuineje began as a hermitage in 1695 and is protected heritage.

The Azores: São Miguel Island

In the middle of the Atlantic, the line crosses São Miguel Island and passes close to the Parish Church of St Michael the Archangel in Vila Franca do Campo, on the island named after the Archangel.

The Azores, São Tomé and Angola are part of the same Portuguese sea route. It was Portuguese navigators who gave the name of St Michael to many of these places.

North America: from Labrador to the Pacific

The line enters Canada through the Strait of Belle Isle, crosses the whole country and reaches the United States by the Pacific.

• Calgary, Canada. St. Michael Catholic Community sits almost exactly on the line, in a city of more than a million people.
• Snohomish, USA. In Washington State, St. Michael Catholic Church is the Archangel's church by the Pacific.

Around the world: Tasmania and Southern Africa

After the Pacific, the line crosses Tasmania and the Indian Ocean and returns to Africa from the south, closing the circle in São Tomé.

• Bagdad, Tasmania (Australia). St Michael's Anglican Church sits almost exactly on the line, on the other side of the world.
• Johannesburg, South Africa. St Michael and All Angels, in Weltevreden Park, welcomes the line back to Africa.
• Gaborone, Botswana. St Michael and All Angels Anglican Church, in the capital, is the next stage.

The line then continues through Namibia and Angola, where São Miguel Fortress in Luanda guards the last stage before returning to the chapel in São Tomé.

The St Michael the Archangel lines that cross

When we put St Michael's Sacred Line of the Atlantic and the European St Michael's line on the same map, other links appeared. This time not along the lines, but horizontally and vertically, between churches of the Archangel on several continents.

• Angola and Brazil, on the same latitude. São Miguel Fortress in Luanda and the Church of São Miguel in Barreiros, Pernambuco, face each other across the Atlantic. Barreiros has St Michael as its patron saint and celebrates him on 29 September.
• South Africa and Brazil. St Michael's church in Johannesburg is on the same latitude as the Church of São Miguel Arcanjo in Porto Vitória, Paraná, and the Iglesia San Miguel Arcángel in Formosa, Argentina.
• Benin and Colombia. The Saint-Michel Church in Cotonou and the Iglesia San Miguel Arcángel in Oiba, Santander, share almost the same latitude.
• São Tomé and Ecuador. The Chapel of São Miguel and the Iglesia San Miguel in Vacas Galindo, Imbabura, both lie near the Equator.
• Greece and South Africa, on the same meridian. The Monastery of St Michael of Panormitis, on Symi, sits almost directly above Johannesburg.
• France and Burkina Faso. Mont-Saint-Michel and the Saint-Michel parish of Tanghin-Dassouri lie on almost the same meridian.
• Italy and São Tomé. The Sacra di San Michele, at the centre of the European line, lies roughly on the same vertical as the chapel in São Tomé, the starting point of the Atlantic line.

São Tomé and Príncipe, Angola, Portugal, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Argentina and the countries of the European line are thus linked by the name of the same Archangel.

The links with Brazil are described in detail in the article St Michael the Archangel: the line linking Brazil, Angola and São Tomé.

A sign to contemplate

These twelve churches were built in different centuries, by peoples who never met. Nobody planned them in a line. And yet there they are, joined by the name of the same Archangel.

For some, it is a coincidence of geography. For people of faith, it may be a sign: St Michael, prince of the heavenly host, watches over his own from one side of the ocean to the other. We do not claim to prove anything. We share the line so that each person can contemplate it and take from it what their heart tells them.

Prayer to St Michael the Archangel

We leave you the Prayer to St Michael the Archangel composed by Pope Leo XIII, prayed all over the world:

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our defence against the wickedness and snares of the Devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits, who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

To learn more about who the Archangel is, read our article The Archangel Michael: who he is, the prayer and the Chapel of São Miguel.

The Chapel of São Miguel: the starting point

The Chapel of São Miguel was built in 1883 in the south of São Tomé, near the Equator. Today it is in ruins, but the original statue of the Archangel is still intact inside.

• An old name. The São Miguel River already appears on Portuguese and Flemish maps of the 16th and 17th centuries, long before any settlement in the area.
• The plantation and the chapel. In 1883, Jacinto Carneiro de Sousa e Almeida, later the 1st Viscount of Malanza, founded the Roça de São Miguel plantation by the river. He built the chapel in stone and lime, facing the Atlantic, towards Brazil.
• Isolation. With no roads, the plantation depended on the sea. Even today the chapel can only be reached by boat, from Porto Alegre or Santa Catarina.
• The rediscovery. On 24 June 2026, a team sailed south and found the ruins. The roof had fallen in and the forest covered the walls, but St Michael was still on the altar, 143 years later.

More about the chapel at capeladesaomiguel.com.

Sources

• The mysterious straight line joining 7 sanctuaries of St Michael – Aleteia (PT)
• St Michael's invisible sword guides pilgrims through seven sacred sites – ACI Digital (PT)
• São Miguel Fortress, Luanda – Wikipedia (PT)
• São Miguel (São Tomé) – Wikipedia (PT)
• Line calculated by us as a great circle from the coordinates of each church.