A Novena to Saint Patrick
Atomruig indiu
His Own Words Survive
The Novena Prayer
I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity, by invocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three.
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.
Two documents by Patrick survive, the Confessio and a letter to the soldiers of Coroticus. They are among the earliest writings from Ireland and are the only sources for him that are not legend. His Latin is plain and he apologises for it more than once.
Taken at Sixteen
The Novena Prayer
I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity, by invocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three.
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.
Patrick was a Romano-British youth, the son of a deacon and grandson of a priest, taken by raiders at about sixteen from his family's estate and carried to Ireland as a slave. He says in the Confessio that he did not then believe in God, and that he deserved what happened for it.
Six Years Herding
The Novena Prayer
I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity, by invocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three.
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.
Patrick spent about six years in Ireland as a herdsman, and describes praying through days and nights in the woods and on the mountain, in snow and frost and rain. It is his own account of how he came to faith, and it happened in captivity, not before it.
The Escape
The Novena Prayer
I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity, by invocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three.
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.
Patrick writes that a voice told him his ship was ready, that he walked some two hundred miles to a port he did not know, and that the sailors at first refused him passage and then took him. He reached the continent and eventually returned to his family in Britain.
Going Back
The Novena Prayer
I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity, by invocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three.
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.
Patrick describes a dream in which a man brought him letters from Ireland headed the voice of the Irish, and he heard them calling him to walk among them again. He was ordained and returned to the country that had enslaved him, which is the fact about him least often dwelt on.
The Letter to Coroticus
The Novena Prayer
I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity, by invocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three.
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.
Patrick's other surviving work is a furious open letter excommunicating the soldiers of a British chieftain, Coroticus, who had raided his converts, killing some and selling others into slavery. A former slave writing to denounce slavers is among the earliest such documents in Europe.
The Breastplate Is Not His
The Novena Prayer
I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity, by invocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three.
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.
The lorica known as Saint Patrick's Breastplate is dated by linguists to the eighth century and survives in the eleventh-century Liber Hymnorum, roughly three hundred years after Patrick died. The attribution is traditional. It remains one of the oldest surviving Irish prayers.
The Shamrock and the Snakes
The Novena Prayer
I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity, by invocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three.
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.
Neither of the two best-known stories about Patrick is early. The shamrock explaining the Trinity is first found in writing in 1726. The banishing of snakes appears in a twelfth-century life by Jocelin of Furness, and Ireland has had no snakes since the last Ice Age, so there were none to banish.
17 March
The Novena Prayer
I bind unto myself today the strong name of the Trinity, by invocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three.
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.
Patrick's death is traditionally placed on 17 March, with the year given variously as 461 or 493; the chronology is disputed and may conflate two missionaries. The date, whatever its basis, has been kept as his feast for well over a thousand years.
The prayer that opens each day is from St. Patrick’s Breastplate, an Old Irish lorica known as the Faeth Fiada. ⚠ It is not by Patrick. Linguists date it to the eighth century and it survives in the eleventh-century Liber Hymnorum, some three hundred years after his death; the attribution is traditional. It is given here because it is genuinely ancient, genuinely Irish, and public domain, not because he wrote it. What follows each day is drawn where possible from his own Confessio, which is authentic. ⚠ The plate is illustrative, not a likeness, on the same principle as St. Martin de Porres: the Book of Kells is the art of the Irish Christianity he founded, and claims nothing about his face.
