A Closer Look at St. Patrick's Breastplate

photo via creative commons by madmrmox

This week I'm going to divide St. Patrick's Breastplate into three parts to examine it more closely.

A bit about the Breastplate:
It's a prayer found in the 9th century Book of Armagh. Most scholars agree that it wasn't actually written by St. Patrick because it was written in a later timeframe, but it was certainly penned by someone who had been influenced by the patron saint.

It's also called the Lorica or The Deer Cry. The title Breastplate comes from the ancient warrior battle gear. The prayer is meant to be worn, meaning you wrap yourself in it and take it on as a part of you. A breastplate is protection, and this is certainly a prayer for spiritual protection.

PART ONE

I bind to myself today
The strong virtue of the Invocation of the Trinity:
I believe the Trinity in the Unity
The Creator of the Universe.

I bind to myself today
The virtue of the Incarnation of Christ with His Baptism,
The virtue of His crucifixion with His burial,
The virtue of His Resurrection with His Ascension,
The virtue of His coming on the Judgment Day.

I bind to myself today
The virtue of the love of seraphim,
In the obedience of angels,
In the hope of resurrection unto reward,
In prayers of Patriarchs,
In predictions of Prophets,
In preaching of Apostles,
In faith of Confessors,
In purity of holy Virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

~~~
This part of the prayer is a sort of statement of beliefs: The Trinity; Christ's baptism, crucifixion, resurrection, and second coming; the angels, the Biblical fathers, and modern day saints.

I wondered if this was anything like the creeds the church uses today, so I decided to take a look.
Here is the Apostle's Creed, believed to possibly predate St. Patrick's Breastplate by about four centuries.

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. AMEN.

~~~
I don't want to get into church theology here, but while these two statements are not identical, there are some similarities. What the Breastplate has in common with this Creed is a belief in the Creator; the Trinity; Christ's crucifixion, resurrection, and coming again; and a belief in modern day saints. So, there are some things in common. However, one difference I see is between the words "bind" and "believe." You could argue that they say the same thing, but I think "bind" says it better. It speaks to the Celtic belief that the spiritual and the physical are intertwined.

So, not being a religious scholar, I'm wondering....what you do think? Please share.

Celtic Pilgrimage

I don't see this program listed on my local PBS station. I hope I get to see it. You should check yours. It started airing this month. Two years ago John O'Donohue unexpectedly passed away. He is the author of the best selling book Anam Cara. His web site is still maintained, and you can visit it here.

St. Patrick's Bell

photo via creative commons 
by Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin

From A Social History of Ancient Ireland
P.W. Joyce, 1903
The bell of St. Patrick, which is more than fourteen hundred years and is now in the National Museum, in Dublin: it is the oldest of all; and it may be taken as a type of the hammered-iron bells. Its height is 6 1/2 inches: but projecting from the top is a little handle 1 1/4 inch high, which gives it a total height of 7 3/4 inches. It is made of two iron plates, bent into shape by hammering, and slightly overlapped at the edges for riveting. After the joints had been riveted, the bell was consolidated by the fusion of bronze into the joints and over the surface - probably by dipping into melted bronze - which also increased its resonance. This is the bell known as Clog-an-uudhachta, or the 'Bell of the Will' (so called because it was willed by the saint to one of his disciples), which is much celebrated in the Lives of St. Patrick. A beautiful and costly shrine was made to cover and protect this venerable relic, by order of Donall O'Loghlin, king of(died 1121): and this gorgeous piece of ancient Irish art, with O'Loghlin's name and three others inscribed on it, is also preserved in theNational Museum.....

According to legend, this bell (probably one of many that Patrick had commissioned for the new churches he established) was buried with the saint and retrived decades later by St. Columba and brought to Armagh. The bell is mentioned there in ancient manuscripts. It's interesting that there were special keepers of this bell throughout history, the O'Maelchallans. Late in the 11th century, a jeweled shrine was made for the bell. It also resides at the National Museum today.

Replica
photo via creative commons by damian entwistle

The inscription reads:
"Pray for Domhnall grandson of Lochlainn for whom was made this bell. And for Domhnall successor of Patrick in whose house (it) was made and for Cathalan O Máelchalland for the keeper of this bell. And for Cúdúilig O Inmainen with his sons (who) enshrined (it)"

Oh, my. I have way too many ideas swimming in my head for possible novels!!!!

Still Thinking About St. Patrick

photo via creative commons
by Chris Fifield-Smith

Even though St. Patrick's Day was last week, there is still plenty to contemplate when thinking about the life and ministry of this ancient saint. One of things that impresses me is his prayers. When he was kidnapped from his home as a teenager, he says in his Confession that he was not a Christian. He had been raised in a Christian home in an area of Britain where the Christian church survived, but he says that he did not at that time follow God's precepts. He was taken away to a pagan land where he was made to work as a shepherd, alone and without any counsel. And yet, this is where he found God.

How many times have we heard stories about people in a crisis calling on God? Perhaps we've even experienced it ourselves. Maybe it was a ship wreck, or a serious illness, or some other physical danger. I wonder how many of these people would continue to cry out to God if their prayers were not immediately answered. What if it took six years? That's how long Patrick prayed before God showed him how to escape. And during those long, lonely years, he found himself growing ever closer to God. He says:

"...I used to pasture the flock each day and I used to pray many times a day. More and more did the love of God, and my fear of him and faith increase, and my spirit was moved so that in a day [I said] from one up to a hundred prayers, and in the night a like number."

The prayer not only got him through that time and delivered him, the process drew him closer to God and strengthened his faith. I wonder...if it were me, would I give up long before the end of six years? Especially if I had no faith at the beginning? God rewards faithfulness, and he rewarded Patrick's in a way that blessed us all even these many hundreds of years later.

~~~
Blog Tour

Several bloggers hosted me during the week of St. Patrick's Day. I thought I'd share the links here in case any of you would like to read them.

Small Leaf Shamrock (scroll down the page.)
Sunnybank Meanderings
Celtic Treasure by Liz Babbs
and again here
Cara Putman's blog
Nicole O'Dell's blog
Favorite PASTimes
Susan Miura's blog
~~
And finally, here's the photo of shamrocks growing in the wild in Ireland that I promised you last week.

photo via creative commons by IrishFireside