Patrick on the Hill of Slane
Patrick lived in the turbulent Fifth Century: in which the Roman Empire finally dissolved. Patrick lived as a boy in a large Romano-British settlement, which the evidence indicates was on the Clyde estuary, at the Western end of Hadrian's wall. His father was a Roman official & his mother a Briton. He was captured, along with several thousand of his neighbours, & taken as a slave to pagan Ireland. During the seven years of his servitude he developed an ardent love of God, whereas before, as he tells us, he had been quite lax. He escaped, possibly to Britain but perhaps to the continent, where he was re-united with the remainder of his family. But one night he had a dream in which an Angel (possibly the Guardian angel of Ireland) brought him "Letters from the Irish", but even as he began to read, he heard "the voice of the Irish" crying, "We entreat thee, holy youth, come and walk amongst us once more". This resolved him to return as a missionary. He visited his uncle, St Martin of Tours (the great patron of France: the French hold him in esteem similar to St P & Ireland - they call him "Our Martin"). He journeyed to an island in the Mediterranean where he was presented with the "Bachall Íosa" The Staff of Jesus, which He had used on His journeys in the Holy Land. This was one of the foremost relics of Ireland until it was destroyed by The Usual People in the 16th century.
[(Some of my readers may prefer to strap themselves into their straightjackets before reading on.) I was once on a tour of Worcester Cathedral in England (now restored and in the possession of the Anglicans: Oliver Cromwell stabled his horses inside the Church) - and heard the guide patiently explain to the schoolchildren present, in the ruins of the Chapter House, that the monks lived such dreadful lives, feasting and drinking, that King Henry simply had to close them down. I interjected, “Are you sure it wasn’t for the lead on the roof?” “Oooooh! I’ve never heard that before!” she squealed.
The lead was accounted for to the fraction of an ounce, in records that still exist: nobody ever bothered to record where the monks went when they were turned out onto the street ...
Henry VIII appointed George Browne as Bishop of Dublin, who was ordered by the king to gather all the precious jewels and gems from statues and shrines in the city and then have them forwarded to London for his treasury. Bp Browne carried out the orders enthusiastically and burned many priceless relics in front of the cathedral. Among them was the Bachall Íosa.
For the next fifteen years Browne served Henry and his son Edward faithfully, but when Catholic Mary Tudor came to the throne, he underwent a dramatic reappraisal and had himself reconciled to the Roman Catholic Church.]
Patrick proceeded to Rome, when he was authorised by the Pope to take a mission to Ireland. When he arrived (but let the ancient Annals speak for themselves)............
Patrick journeyed to the Hill of Slane, overlooking the wide Plain of Meath, north from the great Hill of Tara whereon was the Royal court of Laoghaire [Leary] the High King. When he reached the Hill, it was the night of Holy Saturday, and Patrick built the Easter Fire on the summit of Slane. Now the morrow was the birthday of the king, and the law of the land was that no fire was to be lit in Ireland until the fire from the Royal Halls of Tara. Patrick, as we are told in the Annals of Ireland, indeed was unaware of this law, but had he known of it, he would have despised it. When, therefore, the King looked to the north and saw the fire on Slane, he spoke in great wrath, "Who is it that dares to light yonder fire in defiance of our law?" His Druids, grinding their teeth, replied, "We know who it is that lit that fire, and we know in whose honour it is lit; and we say to thee, O King, that if it be not extinguished this very night, it will never again be extinguished in Erin for ever more".
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Forthwith the king rode out with his retinue. As they approached Patrick, one of the Chief Druids used his powers to fly high up into the air, and hung suspended there while he poured imprecations on Patrick and the True God. But Patrick, recited these verses from the sixty-seventh psalm:
“Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered: and let those who hate him flee from before his face.
As smoke is driven away, so let them be driven away: as wax melts before the fire, so let the wicked perish before the Face of God.
But let the just have festival, and let them rejoice before God: and let them be delighted with gladness!”
And at this the druid was hurled to the ground, unto his death, in the very face of King Laoghaire. Then blind terror overwhelmed the King and all his retinue, and they turned and fled, slaying each other in the darkness, and fleeing in blind rout back to the Halls of Tara.
The following morning Patrick set out with his followers to present himself before the court of the King.
[The Great Hall of Tara, whose foundations remain to this day on the Hill, had stood for centuries and was the largest building in Europe.]
And Laoghaire, repenting of his humiliation on the night before, now sent out a party of his warriors to waylay Patrick and all his servants, and slay them from ambush.
It is said that it was in this hour of great peril that Patrick first spoke these verses, known in later days as The Lorica, or Breastplate, of Patrick:
I bind unto myself 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 bind unto myself today
The strength of Christ's birth and His baptism,
The strength of His crucifixion and His burial,
The strength of His resurrection and His ascension,
The strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.
I bind unto myself today
The strength of the love of cherubim,
The obedience of angels,
The service of archangels,
The hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
The prayers of patriarchs,
The preachings of the apostles,
The faith of confessors,
The innocence of virgins,
The deeds of righteous men.
I bind unto myself today
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 bind unto myself today
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 the incantations of false prophets,
Against the black laws of pagandom,
Against the false laws of heretics,
Against the 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 bind unto myself 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.
It is said that the warriors lying in wait did not see Patrick and his retinue, but as they passed they saw only a herd of deer. For this reason the prayer is sometimes known as ‘The Deer’s Cry’.
As Patrick now approached the king’s palace on Tara, the king, seeing his plans thwarted, instructed all his retinue that they were not to rise in greeting when Patrick entered. This was a mark of grave discourtesy. When Patrick came to the door, none of the king’s retinue rose in greeting – except for one man: Dubhtac [Duffy] the Chief Bard. And Patrick turning to this man – even before he had addressed the king – said to him, “Because you have risen to do me honour – although not indeed myself, but the True God in whose name I am come – because you have done this honour: your descendants shall keep the Faith until the End of the World. This Grace is granted you from God." Only then did he salute the king.
Patrick now evangelised the king and his court, and it is said that it was then that he bent and picked up a shamrock leaf, that was growing at his feet, and showed the king how, just as the shamrock was three leaves in one, so God was Three Persons in One.
But the Chief Druid, filled with rage, fiercely denied all that Patrick said. Whereupon Patrick said to the king, “It is the custom among the Celtic tribes to burn their captives alive in wicker baskets – a practice indeed that the True God would forbid. Yet let it be so. Let me be placed in one such cage, and let the Chief Druid be placed in another, and let them both be set afire – and then we will see who is the True God indeed.” To this the king assented, and the chief druid also – for he was not a man without courage, and he well understood he could not refuse. And as the two wicker cages were prepared, the two disciples of their gods were placed inside, and the fire was set. The Chief Druid was burned to ashes, but Patrick emerged with not so much as a hair on his head singed. At this, King Laoghaire and his queen bowed the knee and submitted to the Faith.
But Patrick answering said, “Because you have bowed the knee to the True God, O King, you shall retain your crown and your kingdom: but because you have done this out of fear, and not of love, you shall be the last of your line ever to hold the High Kingship of Ireland; and this great palace, Tara of the Kings, will fall into ruin – and it will remain desolate until the End of the World.”
And so it has been. We of the twenty-first century can testify in truth: My own ancestors in direct line had been among the Court of Emhain Macha and Tara for seven hundred years before Patrick came. And although the O’Leary clan is numerous in Ireland, and although the new Chief Druid passed down the word: The Gospel of Patrick and the Christian religion is the fulfilment of our religion, not its enemy: Jesus is the Child King that our Wise Men told us would come: never again was an O’Leary to be king over Ireland: and the great palace of Tara fell into ruin; and stands bare and deserted to this very day.
As a contemporary poet had it, (quoting the Old Irish words he wrote):
Nimdil cedduthrib Teamair.
It is not pleasant to me that Tara is to be a wilderness.
The Easter fire has been re-lit on Slane every year, and the dire prophecy of the Druids was indeed fulfilled.
M. Ó Fearghail
numealinesimpetar@gmail.com