Remembering Saint Patrick

A Short Reflection On The Saint & His Day

Reflecting on the Story of Saint Patrick

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day, everyone!

Saint Patrick is a saint that has become near and dear to my heart the past three years of my life, so I wanted to write a short reflection honoring him.

For those unaware, Patrick was born into a Romanized family in Britain around 387 AD. While there’s much speculation about where exactly it was that Patrick was born (whether in Scotland or Wales), Patrick tells us in his writings that his family estate was near the town of Bannaventa Berniae. According to Philip Freeman’s biography St. Patrick of Ireland, the location of the now forgotten town was likely in the western part of Britain (close to the sea) where Wales is located.

At the age of 16, Patrick was kidnapped by Irish pirates from his home in Britain and was taken as a slave to pagan wilds of Ireland where he lived and worked among the druids and chieftains for 6 hard years. He tells us in his Confessio that though his father Calpornius was a deacon, and his grandfather Potius was a priest, he did not know the true God.

It was there that the Lord opened Patrick’s eyes about his lack of faith. Every day he tended sheep and prayed. Patrick tells us that the love and fear of God came upon him more and more in his exile and he was strengthened by it. He tells us that he was so moved by the God that he would pray a as many as a hundred prayers in the day and almost as many in the night. He even got to the point to where he would get up for prayer before daylight, through snow, frost, and rain to go pray in the woods and on the mountains.

At the end of Patrick’s 6 years in exile in Ireland, he writes that one night he heard an angelic voice in his sleep saying to him “it is well that you fast, soon you will go to your own country. See your ship is ready.” After that, Patrick fled from his master and after nearly starving to death he eventually made it back to his homeland where he would later be ordained as a priest.

After his eventual return to Britain, Patrick sensed God calling him back to the land of his captures. Can you imagine?

Again, in his Confessio, Patrick tells of a dream in the night that he received after his return to Britain. In the dream, there was a man named Victorcus who was coming from Ireland with countless letters to Patrick. Patrick opened a letter with a heading that read “The Voice of the Irish.” As he read it, he seemed to hear a certain company of Irish beseeching him to walk once more among them. Patrick tells us, “As I read the beginning of the letter, I thought that at the same moment I heard their voice — they were those beside the Wood of Focult, which is near the Western Sea — and thus did they cry out as with one mouth: ‘We ask you, boy, come and walk among us once more.”

Patrick’s heart was broken for his captures. “Deeply moved,” he says, “I could read no more.”

Patrick returned to Ireland and the rest is history. Eventually, he would go on to become the first Bishop of Ireland, and through the preaching of the Gospel and the baptizing of many pagans, the serpent of paganism was driven back into the sea.

There is much mystery in the folklore surrounding the death of Saint Patrick. Some believe that Patrick returned to Britain after preaching the gospel throughout Ireland. Sensing his coming death at the age of 76, he wished to travel back to Ireland before his death. It’s said that while on a ship, an angel appeared to him in a vision and told him to return to Saul where modern-day Downpatrick is located and he died shortly after returning. His remains are buried at the site of Down Cathedral in Downpatrick.

The Lorica of Saint Patrick

It has been said that Saint Patrick and his disciples weaved a prayer which is now referred to as Saint Patrick’s Breastplate on their chests ( This prayer is also called the Lorica of Saint Patrick and The Cry of the Deer — which my friend Rich Tuttle has written a fascinating piece about). The Lorica is a prayer of protection and it’s also thought that the prayer was a prayer of concealment (How’s that for some re-enchantment on Saint Patrick’s Day). The Liber Hymnorum gives account for how Saint Patrick used the prayer. It says:

“Saint Patrick sang this when an ambush was laid against him coming by Loegaire, that he might not go to Tara to sow the faith. And then it appeared before those lying in ambush that they (Saint Patrick and his monks) were wild deer with a fawn following them.”

I believe if there’s anything we can learn from Saint Patrick it is this. We must remember the supernatural reality that there are dark powers at work in the world, and the weapons that God has given us are not of this world. The weapons He has given us is the Gospel, which is the power of God into salvation, the sacraments which not only incorporate one into the covenant of Christ but also delivers supernatural grace to those in the covenant, and of course prayer.

Saint Patrick’s Lorica has become so near and dear to me, I pray it every Sunday morning before preaching. I’ve been doing that for about 2 years now.

You can check it out for yourselves.

“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's birth 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 the obedience of angels,
In the service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In the predictions of prophets,
In the preaching of apostles,
In the faith of confessors,
In the innocence of holy virgins,
In the deeds of righteous men.

I arise today, through
The strength of heaven,
The light of the sun,
The radiance of the moon,
The splendor of fire,
The speed of lightning,
The swiftness of wind,
The depth of the sea,
The stability of the earth,
The 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 shield to protect me,
God's host to save me
From snares of devils,
From temptation of vices,
From everyone who shall wish me ill,
afar and near.

I summon today
All these powers between me and those evils,
Against every cruel and merciless power
that may oppose my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul;
Christ to shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that there may come to me an 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 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.”