Page:Writings of Saint Patrick, Apostle of Ireland.djvu/20

Rh or 'the doom' and 'judgment of my God,' appears to have been one of Patrick's favourite expressions, to which he constantly gave utterance. It is noteworthy, too, that whereas, according to the later legends, Patrick was conscious of possessing extraordinary powers of performing miracles—miracles greater than those performed by the Apostles of Christ—Patrick, in his Hymn, in full anticipation of the dangers which surrounded him, relied on no such powers, but speaks of the protecting hand of that God who has ever been a refuge and strength to His people (Psa. xlvi.). It cannot be denied that even the two earliest memoirs of the saint contained in the Book of Armagh, which MS. was written itself in 807 (see p. 20), namely, the memoir by Muirchu Maccu-Machthéni, and that by Tirechán, written scarcely later than two centuries after Patrick's death, speak of marvellous displays of miraculous power (see p. 16). No such references to miraculous agency can, however, be detected in the poem, and it is therefore probable that it is of a considerably earlier date than those memoirs.

The Hymn in the original is written in a very ancient dialect of Irish, and hence the meaning of some words and phrases is somewhat uncertain. It is one of those compositions termed by the Latin name of Lorica, or 'breastplate,' the repetition of which was supposed to guard a traveller like a breastplate from spiritual foes. This popular belief is alluded to in the Irish preface, which will be found in note 1 on the Hymn, The translation of the Hymn in our