Pages

Thursday, 18 March 2010

St Patrick's Breastplate

Thanks to Shawn Tribe of NLM for posting a translation of the Lorica or breastplate of St Patrick. Like most people, I had only really known this through a couple of metrical translations of parts of it. The full version is what might be called genuine Celtic spirituality:

I arise today, through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, through belief in the threeness, through confession of the oneness, of the Creator of Creation.

I arise today, through the strength of Christ's birth with his baptism, through the strength of his crucifixion with his burial, through the strength of his resurrection with his ascension, through the strength of his descent for the judgment of Doom.

I arise today, through the strength of the love of the Cherubim, in obedience of angels, in the service of archangels, in the hope of the resurrection to meet with reward, in the prayers of patriarchs, in prediction of prophets, in preaching of apostles, in faith of confessors, in innocence of holy virgins, in deeds of righteous men.

I arise today, through the strength of heaven; light of sun, radiance of moon, splendor of fire, speed of lightning, swiftness of wind, depth of sea, stability of earth, firmness of rock.

I arise today, through God's strength to pilot me: God's might to uphold me, God's wisdom to guide me, God's eye to look before me, God's ear to hear me, God's word to speak to me, God's hand to guard me, God's way to lie before me, God's shield to protect me, God's host to save me, from the snares of devils, from temptations of vices, from every one who shall wish me ill, afar and anear, alone and in a multitude.

I summon today, all these powers between me and those evils, against every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body and soul, against incantations of false prophets, against black laws of pagandom, against false laws of heretics, against craft of idolatry, against spells of women and smiths and wizards, against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.

Christ to shield me today, against poisoning, against burning, against drowning, against wounding, so there come to me abundance of reward. Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of every one who speaks of me, Christ in the eye of every one that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.

I arise today, through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, through belief in the threeness, through confession of the oneness, of the Creator of Creation.
Now: how about somebody finding the Latin text for us?

10 comments:

The Raven said...

The version I'm familiar with, which I think was published in Penguin book of early poetry can be found at:

http://www.stpatrickfathers.com/Pages/StPatrick/St_Patrick's_Breastplate_p24.html

I think that Fr. Noel Dermot O’Donoghue's version is quite picturesquely "barbarous".

Mrs Jackie Parkes MJ said...

You meeeen u can't translate Fr Tim? Ask your sister!

adamnan said...

The Breastplate is originally in Old Irish, and known as the Faeth Fiada (Cry of the Deer). It is in the Liber Hymnorum in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin.

UCC archive generally has a lot of useful material from early Christian Ireland:
http://publish.ucc.ie/celt/index

Shane.

adamnan said...

oh, and do check out 'The Story of St Patrick'...as told by an inner-city Dublin child in the 60s:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0q-_gWOYjY

Shane.

Liam O'Hara said...

This trinity diagram fits well with the breast plate.

adamnan said...

here is the original in Old Irish ((looks like a hairy site))

http://www.celtic-catholic-church.org/library/prayer/Atomriug_indiu.html

Shane.

Suburbanbanshee said...

It wasn't written in Latin. It was written in Old Irish. It's in Volume 1 of The Irish Liber Hymnorum, freely available at archive.org and Google Books.

There are a good number of other early Loricae that were written in Latin by Irish folks, such as Lorica Brendani and Lorica Gildae. Some of the other early loricae are also available in The Irish Liber Hymnorum, or in the Latin Fathers collections. The hymn against the Yellow Plague is a fairly thorough one, for example.

Suburbanbanshee said...

I should add that the thing about early Irish material is that it does tend to flip around from "wow, this isn't like anything else!" to "wow, this is just like the Fathers!", depending on what you're reading. People used to not realize how Romanesque, Greek, Desert Fathers, etc., that the Irish stuff is....

Fr Tim Finigan said...

No wonder I couldn't find the Latin version :-) Many thanks for all the extra info.

David M. Kiely said...

I got a little fed up with that ancient language that, beautiful though it may be, has little relevance to our modern age. Lines like:

Christ in the fort,
Christ in the chariot seat,
Christ in the poop


While working on The Dark Sacrament, a book I co-authored in 2006, I decided to do a fresh translation for the 21st century. Here it is.

I armour myself today
With the power of the Trinity.
I believe in the Trinity,
In the Oneness of God,
Creator of the universe.

I armour myself today
With the grace of the Nativity,
With the Baptism of Christ,
His Crucifixion and Entombment,
His Resurrection and Ascension,
His glorious Second Coming
Upon the Judgment Day.

I armour myself today
With the grace of the seraphim,
The submissiveness of angels,
The attendance of archangels,
The prospect of resurrection,
And everlasting life.
The prayers of patriarchs,
The predictions of prophets,
The preaching of apostles,
The faith of confessors,
The purity of the Virgin,
The deeds of righteous men.

I armour myself today
With the majesty of heaven,
The splendour of the sun,
The brightness of the moon,
The radiance of fire,
The flashing of lightning,
The swiftness of the wind,
The deepness of the ocean,
The vastness of the earth,
The solidity of rocks.

I armour myself today with:
God's power to direct me,
God's might to sustain me,
God's wisdom to instruct me,
God's eye to watch over me,
God's ear to hearken to me,
God's word to give me speech,
God's hand to direct me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's army to defend me,
Against the snares of demons,
Against the lure of vices,
Against the lusts of nature,
Against all who plot to harm me,
Be they far, or near at hand,
Be they few or be they many.

I invoke today all these virtues
Against every hostile, merciless power
Which may assail my body and my soul,
Against the incantations of false prophets,
Against the black laws of heathenism,
Against the false laws of heresy,
Against the deceits of idolatry,
Against every art and spell that binds
The soul of man and woman.

Christ, guard me today
Against poison,
Against burning,
Against drowning,
Against fatal wounding,
That just reward be mine.
Christ be with me,
Christ be before me,
Christ be behind me,
Christ be within me,
Christ be beside me,
Christ to win me.
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ be beneath me,
Christ be above me,
Christ be at my right,
Christ be at my left,
Christ guard me in the home,
Christ be my transport,
By land and by sea,
Christ be in quietude,
Christ be where danger threatens,
Christ be in the hearts
Of all who love me,
Christ be in the mouth
Of friend and stranger,
Christ be in every eye that sees me,
Christ be in every ear that hears me.

I armour myself today
With the power of the Trinity.
I believe in the Trinity,
In the Oneness of God,
Creator of the universe.

The Lord is salvation,
The Lord is salvation,
Christ is salvation,
May your salvation, O Lord,
Be ever with us.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...