St Patrick and God's Protection

THE PROTECTIVE GOD

The feast of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, is on 17 March. It is generally accepted that he lived between 390 and 460 A.D.

Unfortunately, the basic facts of his life have been very much embroidered with legend over the years and it is difficult to know much about him.

For instance, he is usually portrayed as a modern Bishop wearing a mitre, banishing snakes from Ireland, explaining the doctrine of the Trinity by means of a shamrock leaf, overcoming the opposition of the high king of Ireland, having been previously educated in Gaul and sent to Ireland by Rome.

Alas none of this is true, according to Professor Hanson. Mitres were not invented until 500 years later. The story about the snakes was concocted 300 years later. The use of the shamrock leaf to illustrate the Trinity was first used 1,000 years later. There was no high king of Ireland at this time. He was educated in England and sent by the Church in England to Ireland and not by Rome.

However we do know certain facts about his life. He came from a well off English family who owned a country estate and he was the son of a deacon in the local church.

At the age of 16 years, he was captured by invading Irish pirates who took him back to Ireland. There he spent the next six years tending sheep on the west coast. It was here that he began to turn to God in prayer, sometimes, he claims, up to 100 times a day. Eventually he escaped and headed for the east coast of Ireland where he took a ship back to England.

In a series of visions which he had in his dreams, he heard a voice saying "Holy boy, we are asking you to come and walk among us again". He interpreted this as being a call from God. After a period of training in Gaul, he returned to evangelise Ireland where he spent the rest of his life.

St. Patrick is probably best known by the prayer which bears his name called ‘St. Patrick's Breastplate'. It is claimed that he recited it as he faced the chariots and warriors of the pagan high king of Ireland at the hill of Tara. It is sometimes called "The Deer Cry" because in order to escape from the pagan high king, Patrick and his monks changed themselves into deer.

Alas, this again is pure folk lore since its origins cannot be traced back until 300 years after his death.

Nevertheless it is a reminder of a particular form of prayer which was popular among the Celts called Breastplate Prayer of Lorica.

St. Patrick’s Breastplate starts with the words ’I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity’. Unfortunately, the words ‘I bind’ tend to hide the original meaning which was 'for my shield this day’.

Breastplate prayers were essentially prayers for God's protection.

You will recall that St. Paul in his letter to the Christians living at Ephesus likens the Christian life as being one of a battle with evil forces. He suggests that they need protection and recommends that Christians 'put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil'. In particular, Christians are encouraged to put on the Breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation and to carry the shield of faith in their hands.

The Celts picked up this same idea that Christians needed protection against the powers of evil which were very real to them. They also developed this Biblical idea of protection. No longer were Christians to be defended by the armoury which they may choose to put on, but rather by the Breastplate of the whole host of heaven. It was much more a case of surrounding oneself with the protective power of external forces, rather than just strengthening one’s own inner resources.

These prayers are sometimes called 'encircling prayers'.

Alexander Carmichael, collected many of these prayers at the end of the last century which had been handed down by word of mouth from generation to generation. He describes how in the Outer Hebrides a person would draw a circle around themselves and their loved ones pointing with the index finger, in a sunrise direction. As he did this, he would recite a prayer such as:

‘The Sacred Three

My fortress be

Encircling me.’

This is well expressed in the refrain or chorus in St. Patrick’s Breastplate, written in the eighth century. It goes like this:

Christ be with me, Christ within me,

Christ behind, Christ before me,

Christ beside me, Christ to win me,

Christ to comfort and restore me.

Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,

Christ in hearts of all that love me,

Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

The author paints a picture of the Christian being completely surrounded by the encircling presence of Christ.

The Celts remind us of the very real power of evil in the world, and of the Christian’s need to seek God’s protection. Hence in the Lord's Prayer, we pray: 'Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil’.