I bind to myself to-day,
The strong power of the invocation of the Trinity:
The faith of the Trinity in the Unity
The Creator of the elements.

I bind to myself to-day,
The power of the Incarnation of Christ, with that of his Baptism,
The power of the Crucifixion with that of his Burial,
The power of the Resurrection, with the Ascension,
The power of the coming of the Sentence of Judgement.

I bind to myself to-day,
The power of the love of Seraphim,
In the obedience of Angels,
In the service of Archangels,
In the hope of Resurrection unto reward,
In the prayers of the noble Fathers,
In the predictions of the Prophets,
In the preaching of Apostles,
In the faith of Confessors,
In purity of Holy Virgins,
In the acts of Righteous Men.

I bind to myself to-day,
The power of Heaven,
The light of the Sun,
The whiteness of Snow,
The force of Fire,
The flashing of Lightning,
The velocity of Wind,
The depth of the Sea,
The stability of the Earth,
The hardness of Rocks.

I bind to myself to-day,
The Power of God to guide me,
The Might of God to uphold me,
The Wisdom of God to teach me,
The Eye of God to watch over me,
The Ear of God to hear me,
The Word of God to give me speech,
The Hand of God to protect me,
The Way of God to prevent me,
The Shield of God to shelter me,
The Host of God to defend me,
Against the snares of demons,
Against the temptations of vices,
Against the lusts of nature,
Against every man who meditates injury to me,
Whether far or near,
With few or with many.

I have set around me all these powers,
Against every hostile savage power
Directed against my body and my soul,
Against the incantations of false prophets,
Against the black laws of heathenism,
Against the false laws of heresy,
Against the deceits of idolatry,
Against the spells of women, smiths and druids,
Against all knowledge that binds the soul of man.

Christ, protect me to-day
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wound,
That I may receive abundant reward.

Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ within me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ at my right, Christ at my left,
Christ in the fort,
Christ in the chariot-seat,
Christ in the mighty stern.

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks to me,
Christ in the eye of every man that sees me,
Christ in the ear of every man that hears me.

I bind to myself to-day,
The strong power of an invocation of the Trinity,
The faith of the Trinity in Unity
The Creator of the Elements.

Salvation is the Lord’s
Salvation is the Lord’s
Salvation is Christ’s
May thy salvation, Lord, be always with us!
Amen.

Via WIkipedia:

“Saint Patrick’s Breastplate” is an Old Irish prayer of protection of the “lorica” type (hence “Lorica Sancti Patricii“, or “The Lorica of Saint Patrick”) attributed to Saint Patrick.

Its title is given as Faeth Fiada in the 11th-century Liber Hymnorum that records the text. This has been interpreted as the “Deer’s Cry” by Middle Irish popular etymology, but it is more likely a term for a “spell of concealment“.^[1] It is also known by its incipit (repeated at the beginning of the first five sections) atomruig indiu, or “I bind unto myself today”.

The prayer

The prayer is part of the Liber Hymnorum, an 11th-century collection of hymns found in two manuscripts kept in Dublin.^[2] It is also present, in a more fragmentary state, in the 9th-century Vita tripartita Sancti Patricii. It was edited in 1888 (Vita Tripartita), in 1898 (Liber Hymnorum), and again published in 1903 in the Thesaurus Paleohibernicus.

The Liber Hymnorum gives this account of how Saint Patrick used this prayer:

Saint Patrick sang this when an ambush was laid against his 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.

The description concludes “fáeth fiada a hainm”, which was interpreted as “Deer’s Cry” by the medieval editor of the Liber Hymnorum (hence the connection to the deer metamorphosis),^[3] but the Old Irish fáeth fiada properly refers to a “mist of concealment”.^[4]

The prayer as recorded is dated on linguistic grounds to the early 8th century.^[5] John Colgan (1647) attributed the prayer to Saint Evin, the author of the 9th-century Vita Tripartita. It was also Colgan who reported the title of Lorica Patricii.^[a]

While the text shows pre-Christian influence, it is of undoubted Christian content.^[6] Because of this it is also known as the “Lorica of St. Patrick” or as “St. Patrick’s Breastplate”.

The term Lorica is used of a number of Old Irish prayers, including one attributed to Dallán Forgaill and another to Saint Fursey. They all arose in the context of early Irish monasticism, in the 6th to 8th centuries. At what period the Latin title of Lorica was first applied to them is unclear, but the term is used in the 17th century by John Colgan. The allusion is probably to Ephesians 6:14, where the Apostle bids his readers stand, “having put on the breast-plate of righteousness”.^[7]