Saint Patrick's Breastplate

This has been interpreted as the "Deer's Cry" by Middle Irish popular etymology, but it is more likely a term for a "spell of concealment".

The prayer is part of the Liber Hymnorum, an 11th-century collection of hymns found in two manuscripts kept in Dublin.

Saint Patrick sang this when an ambush was laid against his coming by Loegaire, that he might not go to Tara to sow the faith.

[5] John Colgan (1647) attributed the prayer to Saint Evin, the author of the 9th-century Vita Tripartita.

The term Lorica is used of a number of Old Irish prayers, including one attributed to Dallán Forgaill and another to Saint Fursey.

At what period the Latin title of Lorica was first applied to them is unclear, but the term is used in the 17th century by John Colgan.

The allusion is probably to Ephesians 6:14, where the Apostle bids his readers stand, "having put on the breast-plate of righteousness".

The power of the love of Seraphim, In the obedience of Angels, (In the service of Archangels,) In the hope of Resurrection unto reward, In the prayers of the noble Fathers, In the predictions of the Prophets, In the preaching of Apostles, In the faith of Confessors, In purity of Holy Virgins, In the acts of Righteous Men.

The power of Heaven, The light of the Sun, (The whiteness of Snow,)[d] The force of Fire, The flashing of lightning, The velocity of Wind, The depth of the Sea, The stability of the Earth, The hardness of Rocks.

fri cech neurt namnus nétrocar fristái dom churp ocus domanmain.

Against every hostile savage power Directed against 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 the spells of women, smiths and druids, Against all knowledge that binds the soul of man.

Inishowen-born Roman Catholic priest John Colgan published an Ecclesiastical Latin literary translation in his Acta Triadis Thaumaturgae (1647).

In the early 19th century, Irish scholars George Petrie[9][10] and John O'Donovan misanalyzed the first word atomruig as containing Temur, for Temoria or Tara.

This is followed by James Clarence Mangan (1803–1849), whose translation begins "At Tarah to-day, in this awful hour, I call on the Holy Trinity!".

"[11] Scholar of recent Scottish Gaelic literature Ronald Black has praised Father Allan MacDonald's work of Christian poetry Adhram Thu, Adhbhar Mo Bhith ("I Worship You, O Cause of My Being") as, "A powerful hymn of the St. Patrick's Breastplate type.

[13] C. F. Alexander (1818–1895) wrote a hymn based on St. Patrick's Breastplate in 1889 at the request of H. H. Dickinson, Dean of the Chapel Royal at Dublin Castle.

The music to the hymn was originally set in 1902 by Charles Villiers Stanford for chorus and organ, using two traditional Irish tunes, St. Patrick and Gartan, which Stanford took from his own edition (1895) of George Petrie's Collection of the Ancient Music of Ireland (originally 1855).

In many churches it is unique among standard hymns because the variations in length and metre of verses mean that at least three melodic forms are required (one tune which is sung at half-length and in full for depending on the verse length, and one entirely different tune).

In his seminal study 'The Primal Vision: Christian presence Amid African Religion', (SCM Press, London 1963) John Vernon Taylor, later Bishop of Winchester, claimed that St Patrick's Breastplate 'contains all the spiritual awareness of the primal vision and lifts it into the fullness of Christ.'

He concludes by quoting the whole prayer in Kuno Meyer's version, exclaiming 'Would that it were translated and sung in every tongue in Africa!'

For example, David Adam has written some books about Celtic prayers and spiritual exercises for modern Christians.

John Davies, Bishop of Shrewsbury, provides a verse-by-verse commentary on the Breastplate in 'A Song for Every Morning: Dedication and Defiance with St Patrick's Breastplate' (Norwich, Canterbury Press 2008), based largely on experience of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.

A foreword by Kathy Galloway, Leader of the Iona Community, notes how the Breastplate brings together the personal and the political in Christian discipleship.