The strong name of the Trinity
Thanks St. Patrick
Gentle reader,
Happy almost Saint Patrick’s Day!
Patrick’s “Confession” (from about 450 AD) tells the story of his kidnapping into slavery in Ireland, his escape, and his return to Ireland as a missionary. He recounts being “taken captive” at “about sixteen years of age.” (Here is the full text of the confession online, and here is a pretty little bound version.)
Patrick emphasizes his humble station and lack of learning, while crying out to God that he could “not keep silent” about God’s goodness.
“Me,” says Patrick, “truly wretched in this world, he inspired before others that I … would come to the people to whom the love of Christ brought me and gave me in my lifetime, if I should be worthy, to serve them truly and with humility.”
Text from a 9th century manuscript of the confession, in the Book of Armagh: Dublin, Trinity College, MS 52
It feels important that Patrick was and is so embraced by the Irish people. While an internet search turns up accusations that Patrick was a colonizer and a usurper of indigenous culture, I’d be surprised to hear such claims gain much ground. Maybe the delight of beery celebrations has something to do with love for Patrick, but maybe it’s also in the fact that Patrick himself was usurped and enslaved, or in the real love he bore his people, or even—can we suppose it— in the Spirit’s power by which the Irish people embraced the faith the escaped slave brought to them?
Patrick thought so;
“after I reached Ireland I used to pasture the flock each day and I used to pray many times a day. More and more did the love of God, and my fear of him and faith increase, and my spirit was moved … as I now see, the Spirit was burning in me at that time.”
One blogger’s appropriation is another’s inculturation.
I think I first met the prayer known as “St. Patrick’s Breastplate” when I was a kid reading Madeleine L’Engle’s A Swiftly Tilting Planet. Here is the text of the 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.I bind this day to me for ever.
By power of faith, Christ’s incarnation;
His baptism in the Jordan river;
His death on Cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spicèd tomb;
His riding up the heavenly way;
His coming at the day of doom;*
I bind unto myself today.I bind unto myself the power
Of the great love of the cherubim;
The sweet ‘well done’ in judgment hour,
The service of the seraphim,
Confessors’ faith, Apostles’ word,
The Patriarchs’ prayers, the Prophets’ scrolls,
All good deeds done unto the Lord,
And purity of virgin souls.I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the starlit heaven,
The glorious sun’s life-giving ray,
The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind’s tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea,
Around the old eternal rocks.I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my need.
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, His shield to ward,
The word of God to give me speech,
His heavenly host to be my guard.Against the demon snares of sin,
The vice that gives temptation force,
The natural lusts that war within,
The hostile men that mar my course;
Or few or many, far or nigh,
In every place and in all hours,
Against their fierce hostility,
I bind to me these holy powers.Against all Satan’s spells and wiles,
Against false words of heresy,
Against the knowledge that defiles,
Against the heart’s idolatry,
Against the wizard’s evil craft,
Against the death wound and the burning,
The choking wave and the poisoned shaft,
Protect me, Christ, till Thy returning.Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, 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.I bind unto myself the Name,
The strong Name of the Trinity;
By invocation of the same.
The Three in One, and One in Three,
Of Whom all nature hath creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
Salvation is of Christ the Lord.
Amen.
If you scroll to the bottom of this post, I’ve included a printable version of the prayer; it’s abridged because that’s a lot of text to put on one printout!
“St. Patrick, a new icon,” a digital collage by Beth Felker Jones
In this digital collage, I’ve crafted an icon of St. Patrick in a contemporary flannel shirt. He wears a crown of shamrocks, a teaching tool for the doctrine of the Trinity, and his prayer is quoted on his notebook. The broken chains above him recall his captivity as a slave, his escape, and his return to the people who had enslaved him. His bishop's staff invokes the story of him chasing the snakes out of Ireland, the snake in the garden, the bronze serpent of Numbers 21, and Jesus on the cross, who heals the serpent’s evil. Snakes gone, Ireland is a safe nest for the little wren perched on the staff. The gold on Patrick’s skin references the art of kintsugi and the doctrine of the resurrection. The background of the icon is an Irish evening. I prompted some elements in the collage using AI software.
Feel free to share the image above. Hi-res images without the watermark are available at my Redbubble store.
Grace & peace,
BFJ
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This image is sized to print on an 8.5 X 11 sheet of paper or as an 8 X 10 photograph.