This morning I’m going to talk about St. Patrick’s Breastplate.
I can’t claim that it is directly related to the readings for today. The collect and readings that we heard today are for the Fifth Sunday in Lent. We are not celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. In the rules governing our liturgical calendar very little is allowed to take precedence over the regular celebration of a Sunday. Certainly not a saints’ day. An exception is made if it is a parish’s patronal saint, but you can’t even celebrate your patron saint on a Sunday during Advent, Lent or Easter. Even my former parish in Maine, St. Patrick’s, is celebrating the Fifth Sunday in Lent today.
But I think a reflection on St. Patrick’s Breastplate is appropriate for Lent.
St. Patrick’s Breastplate is a poem, a prayer, written in Old Irish. It has been attributed to St. Patrick since the early 8th or late 7th century. The poem itself can only be traced back to the 6th century. Ancient as that is, it is not old enough to have likely been written by Patrick. Most of the stories told of Patrick are legend, but he was an historical figure who lived in the 5th century. So scholars doubt the attribution of this prayer to Patrick, although as Holy Women, Holy Men says, “it expresses his faith and zeal.”
Most clergy, along with a few choir nerds, know the poem best in a metrical version written in 1891 for use in the Irish Hymnal. That version also appears as a hymn in our current hymnal that begins, “I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity” (Hymn 370). It is chosen as the processional for probably 95% of the ordinations done in the Episcopal Church. So clergy, who attend a lot of ordinations, come to know it well. It’s also often sung, not surprisingly, on Trinity Sunday.
But I strongly associate it with ordinations. And in my mind that first line, “I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity” gets mixed in with the ordination vows. So I’ve thought of this prayer, this hymn, as a sort of extension or affirmation of the ordination vows. This day I vow for all time to support the doctrine, discipline and worship of the Episcopal Church and to bind myself to faith in the Trinity.
But, actually, St. Patrick’s prayer isn’t about vows at all. Ordination vows or broader vows of faith.
It’s about getting dressed in the morning.
Later I’m going to read you a major portion of the prayer, in a translation that was new to me. It begins, “I gird myself today with the might of heaven.” It’s a prayer to be said while getting dressed. While girding oneself with the clothes for the day. Any day, every day. A prayer to be said while getting dressed in the morning. That’s a pretty good thing to think about during Lent, a time when we seek to rededicate ourselves to regular prayer. A prayer to be said in the morning while putting on clothes for the day.
This sort of prayer is called a lorica. Lorica is a Latin word that means body armor. Hence St. Patrick’s Breastplate. Sometimes it is called the lorica of St. Patrick. It may be that this sort of prayer originated with soldiers putting on the armor before battle. A prayer seeking God’s presence and protection to be said while getting dressed for battle.
Legend has it that Patrick sang this lorica (yes, legend! remember that Patrick didn’t actually write or even know these words)… Legend has it that Patrick sang this lorica as protection from the pagan Irish king Loegaire mac Neill and the Druid fire-worshipers who were attempting to prevent Patrick and his followers from reaching Tara where they would proclaim the Christian faith. The power of the lorica caused Patrick’s company to appear to be a herd of deer, sparing them from attack by the pagan king… (W. Milgate, Songs of the People of God; cited in Raymond F. Glover, ed. The Hymnal 1982 Companion).
So loricas may have originated with soldiers. But their use has spread. I couldn’t find specific examples, but I’m pretty sure some monastic communities have prayers to be said while getting dressed in the morning. There are prayers out there that priests say as each particular vestment is put on before divine worship. They are not a part of my training or tradition, but I would not be surprised to hear that some of predecessors said them. But a lorica need not be reserved for people with some extraordinary vocation. St. Patrick’s lorica is a wonderful prayer that could be said by anyone, by everyone, while getting dressed in the morning. Any morning.
Interestingly there’s another Lorica in our hymnal (Hymn 488). A prayer for getting dressed in the morning.
Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
all else be nought to me, save that thou art--
thou my best thought, by day or by night,
waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.
A prayer for God’s presence and guidance throughout the day.
In a book on Celtic Christianity, David Adam writes about the devotional value of St. Patrick’s breastplate, or potentially other loricas.
The history of salvation and incarnation has to become our own personal history. The Celtic way of ever inviting God into their activities and seeking to become aware of him in everyday events is the most natural way of achieving this. The [sixth] verse of St. Patrick’s hymn is worth a daily meditation: ‘Christ be with me, Christ within me…’ Here we have a weaving of the Presence around our lives like the Celtic patterns on stones and in the illuminated gospels: Christ moves in and out, over and under. We are encircled by him; encompassed by his presence and love. This is not something we create, it is a reality to become aware of, a glory that is ours but that we so often miss.(D. Adam, The Edge of Glory; prayers in the Celtic tradition, quoted in Glover).
Perhaps we would miss that glory less often if we said a lorica daily. Perhaps we would know the glory of God’s presence interwoven into our daily lives if we said this prayer attributed to St. Patrick every morning as we dress ourselves for the day.
I gird myself today with the might of heaven:(Robert Van de Weyer, Celtic Prayers, Abingdon Press, 1997)
The rays of the sun,
The beams of the moon,
The glory of fire,
The speed of wind,
The depth of sea,
The stability of earth,
The hardness of rock.
I gird myself today with the power of God:
God’s strength to comfort 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 for me,
God’s hand to lead me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God’s angels to save me
From the snares of the Devil,
From temptations to sin,
From all who wish me ill,
Both far and near,
Alone and with others.
May Christ guard me today
From poison and fire,
From drowning and wounding,
So my mission may bear
Fruit in abundance.
Christ behind and before me,
Christ beneath and above me,
Christ with me and in me,
Christ around and about me,
Christ on my left and my right,
Christ when I rise in the morning,
Christ when I lie down at night,
Christ in each heart that thinks of me,
Christ in each mouth that speaks of me,
Christ in each eye that sees me,
Christ in each ear that hears me.
I arise today
Through the power of the Trinity,
Through faith in the threeness,
Through trust in the oneness,
Of the Maker of earth,
And the Maker of heaven.
I gird myself today with the might of heaven and the power of God. Amen.
