A modern litany for St Patrick’s Day.
Patrick’s Breastplate is perhaps the most well known of the “lorica prayers”. A lorica is a prayer of protection or forbearance when facing a litany of perils. The words are familiar and comforting, if not particularly relatable to our context today. (Unless you’ve been worried about the “incantations of false prophets” or the “spells of wizards” lately?)
The Breastplate is a wonderful piece of work, but much of it is very much of its time.
If you would like to reflect on a version that’s more relatable to a modern pilgrim in today’s world, you may appreciate this music from Porter’s Gate.
Original (shortened) version:
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 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑒,
𝐺𝑜𝑑’𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑚𝑒,
𝐺𝑜𝑑’𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑚𝑒,
𝐺𝑜𝑑’𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑒
𝐹𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑠𝑛𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑙𝑠,
𝐹𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑒𝑠,
𝐹𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑤𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑙𝑙,
𝑎𝑓𝑎𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑒𝑎𝑟.
𝐼 𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑚𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦
𝐴𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑖𝑙𝑠,
𝐴𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑐𝑟𝑢𝑒𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟
𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑜𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑚𝑦 𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑙,
𝐴𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑡𝑠,
𝐴𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑘 𝑙𝑎𝑤𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑚,
𝐴𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑤𝑠 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑠,
𝐴𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑑𝑜𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑟𝑦,
𝐴𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑚𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑠
𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑧𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑠,
𝐴𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑙𝑒𝑑𝑔𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑢𝑝𝑡𝑠
𝑚𝑎𝑛’𝑠 𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑙;
𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑 𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦
𝐴𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑛, 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔,
𝐴𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑎𝑔𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔,
𝑆𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒 𝑎𝑛
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 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜
𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑒,
𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑒𝑦𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑠 𝑚𝑒,
𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑚𝑒.
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