As we mark St. Patrick’s Feast Day, enjoy this version of St. Patrick’s Breastplate Prayer, sung to The Deer’s Cry, a lovely lyrical version sung by Irishwoman Rita Connolly.

St. Patrick, Patron Saint of Ireland, (c. 389-March 17, 461)

Here’s a audio recording recounting St. Patrick’s life and ministry:

Patrick grew up in a somewhat privileged family, on the west coast of Britain during the waning days of the Roman empire.  And though his father was a Christian deacon and his grandfather a priest, Patrick, as a child, was not very religious.  But when he was kidnapped as a teenager by Irish raiders, his life was turned upside down.

Sold to an Irish chieftain, Patrick found himself in exile—herding sheep and living in isolation and deprivation in the north of Ireland.  It was there, during six long years of captivity, that he discovered the voice of God speaking to him from within.  Responding to that voice, he fell into a rhythm of prayer each day.  It was this same voice that inspired Patrick, six years later, to make his risky escape from slavery.

Walking 200 miles through forests and bogs, he found his way to a port and onto a ship, and, eventually, was reunited with his family.  This experience of exile seeded a spiritual conversion within Patrick and he started on a new path of love for God, for his neighbor, and even for his enemies.

Much to the consternation of his family and the amazement of his former owners, he returned to Ireland years later as a missionary to preach and practice the love and mercy of God.

The hymn of St. Patrick is often referred to as a lorica or breastplate prayer.  “Lorica” means a protective sheath, and loricas were to be chanted while dressing, arming oneself for battle, before travel, and as a protection against spiritual enemies.  This prayer expresses Patrick’s faith and zeal in a powerful and memorable way as he invokes the power of the Holy Trinity, the powers of heaven and earth, and Christ himself, to accompany him in all circumstances and guard him from the powers of evil.

In recent years Patrick’s prayer has become precious to me.  Reciting it daily helps to keep me grounded as I attend the challenges each day brings.  As restrictions aimed at limiting the spread of COVID-19 broaden and personal concerns for protection deepen, spiritual resources that ground us become more and more important.  Reciting St. Patrick’s Breastplate Prayer doesn’t magically protect us, but it can help us plant ourselves on faith’s firm footing as each day begins.  I share it this with you now with the invitation that you seek out, in your own way, spiritual resources that will serve to ground you in these times.[1]

ST. PATRICK’S BREASTPLATE

I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity

by invocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this day to me for ever, by pow’r of faith, Christ’s incarnation,

his baptism in the Jordan River, his cross of death for my salvation,

his bursting from the spiced tomb, his riding up the heav’nly way,

his coming at the day of doom, I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself today the virtues of the starlit heaven,

the glorious sun’s life-giving ray, the whiteness of the moon at even,

the flashing of the lightning free, the whirling wind’s tempestuous shocks,

the stable earth, the deep salt sea, around the old eternal rocks.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,

Christ behind me, Christ before me,

Christ beside me, Christ to win me,

Christ to comfort and restore me,

Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,

Christ in hearts of all that love me,

Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the name, the strong name of the Trinity

by invocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three,

of whom all nature has creation, eternal Father, Spirit, Word.

Praise to the Lord of my salvation: salvation is of Christ the Lord!

[1] By the year 690 his hymn was being sung in churches and monasteries throughout Ireland and has been ever since.  When Cecil Francis Alexander was asked to make a metrical version of the hymn, she wrote a paraphrase based on a 12 century manuscript which was sung for the first time on St. Patrick’s Day in 1889.  This hymn form made its way into our Evangelical Lutheran Worship hymnal #450.