Today is St. Patrick's Day and while some may be celebrating bedecked in shamrocks with a green beer in hand, for me this is the start of the season where I turn to St. Patrick's Lorica as my morning meditation.
A lorica, from the Latin
word for body armor, is a prayer or blessing for protection. Often said in the morning or before the start
of a journey, a lorica wasn’t recited as much to invoke the Spirit, which is
always present, rather to remind the one praying of the presence of the Holy
that is always with us. When these types
of prayers were said it was customary
for those praying to stand and draw a circle around themselves with their index
finger to symbolize the encompassing power of protection they were invoking.
The hymn, “Be Thou My Vision,” is based on an old
Irish lorica, and has been translated into these words of song:
Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart,
Be all else naught to me, save that thou
art;
Thou my best thought in the day and the
night,
Both waking and sleeping, thy presence my
light.
Be thou my wisdom, be thou my true word,
Be thou ever with me, and I with thee
Lord;
Be thou my great Father, and I thy true
son;
Be thou in me dwelling, and I with thee
one.
Be thou my breastplate, my sword for the
fight;
Be thou my whole armor, be thou my true
might;
Be thou my soul's shelter, be thou my
strong tower:
O raise thou me heavenward, great Power of
my power.
Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise:
Be thou mine inheritance now and always;
Be thou and thou only the first in my
heart;
O Sovereign of Heaven, my treasure thou
art.
High King of Heaven, thou Heaven's bright
sun,
O grant me its joys after victory is won!;
Great heart of my own heart, whatever
befall,
Still be my vision, O Ruler of all.
While some loricae are
simple invocations, others, such as the Lorica of St. Fursey and the
Breastplate of Laidcenn, go through an inventory of the body, asking for
protection from head to toe, inside and out.
The Lorica of St. Fursey
The arms of God be around my shoulders
The touch of the Holy Spirit upon my head,
The sign of Christ’s cross upon my forehead,
The sound of the Holy Spirit in my ears,
The fragrance of the Holy Spirit in my nostrils,
The vision of heaven’s company in my eyes,
The conversation of heaven’s company on my lips,
The work of God’s church in my hands,
The service of God and the neighbour in my feet,
A home for God in my heart,
And to God, the Father of all, my entire being.
The Breastplate of Laidcenn
O God, defend me
everywhere
With your impregnable
power and protection.
Deliver all my mortal
limbs,
Guarding each with your
protective shield,
So the foul demons shall
not hurl their darts
Into my side, as is their
wont.
Deliver my skull,
hair-covered head, and eyes,
Mouth, tongue, teeth, and
nostrils,
Neck, breast, side, and
limbs,
Joints, fat, and two
hands.
Be a helmet of safety to
my head,
To my crown covered with
hair,
To my forehead, eyes, and
triform brain,
To snout, lip, face, and
temple.
To my chin, beard, eyebrows,
ears,
Chaps, cheeks, septum,
nostrils,
Pupils, irises, eyelids,
and the like,
To gums, breath, jaws,
gullet.
Protect my spine and ribs
and their joints,
Back, ridge, and sinews
with their bones;
Protect my skin and blood
with kidneys,
The area of the buttocks,
nates with thighs.
Protect my hams, calves,
femurs,
Houghs and knees with
knee-joints;
Protect my ankles and
shins and heels,
Shanks, feet with their
soles.
Protect my toes growing
together,
With the tips of the toes
and twice five nails;
Protect my breast,
collarbone and small breast,
Nipples, stomach, and
navel.
Protect the whole of me
with my five senses,
Together with the ten
created orifices,
So that from soles of
feet to crown of head
I shall not sicken in any
organ inside or out.
The most well-known
lorica today is the Breastplate of Saint Patrick, or The Deer’s Cry. While most
likely written by someone other than Patrick (calling on the strength of Heaven as demonstrated in the natural world probably would have smacked a little too much of the pre-Christian druidic and bardic prayers for Paddy to be comfortable with), it serves as a good compass to point us back to the spiritual legacy of the saint.
THE CRY OF THE
DEER (Fáed Fíada - St. Patrick)
I arise today through a mighty strength,
the invocation of
the Trinity,
through belief in the Threeness,
through confession of the
Oneness
of the Creator of
creation.
I arise today through the strength of Christ with His Baptism,
through the strength of His Crucifixion with His Burial
through the strength of His Resurrection with 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 the service of the Archangels,
in hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
in prayers of Patriarchs, in predictions of Prophets,
in preachings of Apostles, in faiths of Confessors,
in innocence of Holy Virgins, in deeds of righteous men.
I arise today, through the strength of Heaven:
light of Sun, brilliance of Moon, splendor of Fire,
speed of Lightning, swiftness of Wind,
depth of Sea, stability of Earth,
firmness of 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 host to secure me:
against snares of devils,
against temptations of vices,
against inclinations of nature,
against everyone who
shall wish me ill,
afar and anear, alone and
in a crowd.
I summon today all these powers between me (and these evils):
against every cruel and merciless power that may oppose my body and my soul,
against incantations of false prophets,
against black laws of heathenry,
against false laws of heretics, against craft of idolatry,
against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,
against every knowledge that endangers man's body and soul.
Christ to protect me
today
against poison, against burning, against drowning,
against wounding, so that there may come 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 in breadth, Christ
in length, Christ in height,
Christ in the
heart of every one who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every one who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that
hears me.
I arise today through a mighty strength,
the invocation of the
Trinity,
through belief in the
Threeness,
through confession of the
Oneness
of the Creator of
creation.
To read more about Patrick, in his own words, his
Confession can be read
here.
