Feast of Saint Patrick, Apostle of Ireland

[thomryng]

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ's birth and His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In preachings of the apostles,
In faiths of confessors,
In innocence of virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven;
Light of the sun,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of the wind,
Depth of the sea,
Stability of the earth,
Firmness of the rock.

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 way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's hosts to save me
From snares of the devil,
From temptations of vices,
From every one who desires me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone or in a mulitude.

I summon today all these powers between me and evil,
Against every cruel merciless power that opposes my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of women and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.
Christ shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that reward may come to me in abundance.

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 in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through a confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation

St. Patrick (ca. 377)

Comments

[gaelfarce.livejournal.com]

I wonder what the pre-unification version was like especially with the shift from the gaelic lack of possession in the language and the heavily property owning latin/english. Because about 90% of that would have to be re-written to indicate his "share" of strength that Christ was 'upon' or 'under' indeed the entire nature of divinity is challenged because of a lack of possession in the language...think about it.

[thomryng.livejournal.com]

There's a purported "literal translation from the old Irish" at NewAdvent, but as my knowledge of Gaelic is, well, non-existent, I'm not sure if this one addresses your linguistic concerns.

I'm actually a little unclear, despite the encyclopedia's "old Irish" contention as to whether this was originally written in Gaelic at all, as his other works are all originally in Latin.

Thoughts?

[gaelfarce.livejournal.com]

It's true there's a world of thinking there. Was there even a written form of Gaelic at that time? Prolly not...however to be a successful preacher you'd have to preach in Gaelic (and several dialects) in order to reach the masses. While the written versions are most likely the original written versions the oral versions would have had to be significantly different in nuance and complexity (like it needs more) due to the grammatical and societal limitaions of gaelic itself.

[nelania.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's really quite beautiful, I'm not religious...but still, it was nice to come across! Thanks for digging it up.

[thomryng.livejournal.com]

Welcome!

How on earth did you stumble across this journal?

[nelania.livejournal.com]

I'm a friend of rassilon, was snooping around on his journal yesterday and discovered yours.

Hrmm...

[starkad67.livejournal.com]

wow, that was quite hideous!!!... don't think I'll ever get drunk on St. Faggies (oops, was that out loud???, meant Patrick) Day again!!!