When it is said
Its first words, “I arise today”, suit the start of the day. The preface in the old Irish hymn book speaks of saying it daily, with the mind set on God.
In 1839 the scholar George Petrie reported that country people in Ireland still said parts of it at bedtime as a protection against evil.
Where it comes from
Author doubtful
The Deer’s Cry
A preface in the Liber Hymnorum, an old Irish book of hymns, tells how the prayer got its name. King Loegaire laid an ambush to stop Patrick preaching at Tara. As Patrick sang this prayer, the men lying in wait saw him and his monks as wild deer, with a fawn behind them that was Benen. The preface calls it the Deer’s Cry, though its Old Irish name more likely meant a mist that hides.
Preface to the Lorica of St Patrick, The Irish Liber Hymnorum, vol. 2 (1898)
Did St Patrick write it?
The Liber Hymnorum credits the prayer to St Patrick, who preached in Ireland in the 400s, and its editors in 1898 were inclined to agree. Yet the life of Patrick that Muirchú wrote in the 600s tells the story of the ambush with no word of the prayer. Scholars now date the prayer by its language to the early 700s, more than two centuries after Patrick lived.
J. H. Bernard and R. Atkinson, The Irish Liber Hymnorum, vol. 2 (1898), pp. 208-211; Wikipedia, Saint Patrick’s Breastplate
What the words mean
“I arise today”
The prayer’s first Old Irish word, atomriug, has been translated in different ways. An older English version has “I bind to myself to-day,” and the 1898 editors chose “I arise.” They took every list in the prayer to belong to one verb that comes later, “I invoke.” So the sense of each part is “each day, when I arise, I invoke.”
J. H. Bernard and R. Atkinson, The Irish Liber Hymnorum, vol. 2 (1898), p. 211
Women, smiths and druids?
One line asks protection “against spells of women and smiths and druids.” It names the people who were believed to cast spells in pagan Ireland. Some translators write “witches and smiths and wizards” instead. The 1898 editors thought these lines show that pagan belief still had a strong hold in Ireland when the prayer was written.
J. H. Bernard and R. Atkinson, The Irish Liber Hymnorum, vol. 2 (1898), p. 210; Wikipedia, Saint Patrick’s Breastplate
What people get wrong
Is it the same as the hymn?
A hymn called “St Patrick’s Breastplate” is often sung around St Patrick’s Day, but it is not the prayer itself. It is a verse version by the hymn writer C. F. Alexander, and it opens “I bind unto myself today.” In 1889 a dean in Dublin sent her the best prose translations and asked her to put the prayer into verse for the Irish Church Hymnal. Within a week she sent him the hymn.
The Scripture in it
Salvation belongs to the LORD; may Your blessing be on Your people. Selah
Bible text: Berean Standard Bible, public domain.
In Old Irish
Atom·riug indíu
niurt trén togairm trinoit
cretim treodataid
fóisin óendatad
in dúlemain dail.
Atomriug indiu
niurt gene Crist co n-a bathius
niurt crochta co n-a adnocul,
niurt n-eseirge co fresgabail,
niurt tóniud do brethemnas bratha.
Atomriug indiu
niurt grád Hiruphin
i n-urlataid aingel,
hi frescisin eseirge ar cenn fochraice,
i n-ernaigthib huasal-athrach,
i tairchetlaib fatha,
hi praiceptaib apstal,
i nhiresaib fuismedach,
i n-endgai nóem-ingen,
hi ngnímaib fer fírean.
Atomriug indiu
niurt nime,
soilse gréne,
etrochta snechtai,
áne thened,
déne lóchet,
luathe gáethe,
fudomna mara,
tairisem talmain,
cobsaidecht ailech.
Atomriug indiu
niurt Dé do’m luamaracht,
cumachta Dé do’m chumgabail,
ciall Dé do’mm imthús,
rosc Dé do’m reimcíse,
cluas Dé do’m éstecht,
briathar Dé do’m erlabrai,
lám Dé do’mm imdegail,
intech Dé do’m remthechtas,
sciath Dé do’m dítin,
sochraite Dé do’mm anucul
ar intledaib demna,
ar aslaigthib dualche,
ar irnechtaib aicnid,
ar cech ṅduine mi-dú·s·thrastar dam
i céin ocus i n-ocus
i n-uathed ocus hi sochaide.
Tocuirius etrum thra na huile nert-so
fri cech nert n-amnas n-étrocar fristí do’m churp ocus do’mm anmain,
fri tinchetla saib-fáthe,
fri dub-rechtu gentliuchta,
fri sáib-rechtu heretecda,
fri himcellacht n-idlachta,
fri brichta ban ocus goband ocus druad,
fri cech fiss ar·a·chuiliu anman duini.
Crist do’mm imdegail indíu
ar neim, ar loscud,
ar badud, ar guin,
co no·m·thair ilar fochraice;
Crist lim, Crist rium,
Crist i’m degaid, Crist innium,
Crist íssum, Crist úasum,
Crist dessum, Crist tuathum,
Crist il-lius, Crist i-sius, Crist i n-erus;
Crist i cridiu cech duine immi·m·rorda,
Crist i ngin cech óen ro·dom·labrathar,
Crist in cech rusc no·m·dercædar,
Crist in cech cluais ro·dam·chloathar.
Atomriug indiu
niurt trén togairm trinoit
cretim treodataid
fóisin óendatad
in dúlemain [dail]
Domini est salus, Domini est salus, Christi est salus;
salus tua, Domine, sit semper nobiscum.