The literature of the Highlanders : $b a history of Gaelic literature from the earliest times to the present dayMacNeill, Nigel
History
The literature of the Highlanders : $b a history of Gaelic literature from the earliest times to the present day
MacNeill, Nigel
Scottish Gaelic literature -- History and criticism
The Scottish missionary that went to Ireland and became its patron
saint is often referred to in the early ballads, Irish and Scottish.
His Creed-Prayer is given here. It is a curious mixture of dogma and
poetry; but undevotional as it may seem to us had the “green” and
other coloured Finians of the day appropriated its earnest petitions
and aspirations they would be saved the troubles of many “Pursuits.”
It begins thus in prose: “Patraicc dorone innimmunsa.” _Patrick made
this hymn._ It then states that it was made in the time of Leogaire,
son of Neill. The cause assigned to its composition was the need of
“protection with his monks against the mortal enemies who were in
league against the clerics.” It was to be a corslet of faith for
soul and body against demons, men, and vices. Demons could not stand
before the face of him who sang it; envy and poison could do no harm;
in this life it would be a safeguard against sudden death; and it
would be a covering of defence (_lurech_ in Gaelic, from the Latin
_lorica_) after death. When Patrick sang it as he went forth to sow
the faith the opposition of Leogaire gave way.
Then the hymn properly begins: The singer declares his belief in the
Trinity—in Threeness—confession of Oneness in the Creator of the
world.
I bind myself to-day—
To the power of the TRINITY;
To belief in the all-gracious Three;
To confession that the Three are one
In the Maker of the world and sun.
I bind myself to-day—
To the power of the birth of CHRIST;
To the truth that Jesus was baptised,
To the fact that path of death He trod,
That three days He lay beneath the sod;
To the pow’r of Resurrection morn,
That from the earth to heaven he was borne;
To the power of His Judgment call,
When final state shall be assigned to all.
I bind myself to-day—
To the power of the CHERUBS high;
In obedience of the angels nigh;
In attendance of archangels’ might;
In the hope of resurrection’s light;
In the prayers of the sires of eld;
In the visions that the seers beheld;
In the precepts the apostles taught;
In the faith by which confessors wrought;
In the innocence of virgins pure;
In the deeds of just men that endure.
I bind myself to-day—
To the power of HEAVEN,
To the lustre, sun-given;
To the pureness, snow-driven;
To fiery flames brightening;
To the swiftness of lightning;
To the speed of the breeze;
To the depth of the seas;
To the firmness of land,
And the rocks that there stand.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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