And the power of the hour when by Angels attended,
He returns for the Judgment of Doom!
On my perilous way
To Tara to-day,
I, Patrick, God’s servant,
Invoke from above
The Cherubim’s love!
Yea! I summon the might of the Company fervent
Of Angel obedient, ministrant Archangel
To speed and to prosper my Irish Evangel.
I go forth on my path in the trust
Of the gathering to God of the Just;
In the power of the Patriarchs’ prayers;
The foreknowledge of Prophets and Seers;
The Apostles’ pure preaching;
The Confessors’ sure teaching;
The virginity blest of God’s Dedicate Daughters,
And the lives and the deaths of His Saints and His Martyrs!
I arise to-day in the strength of the
heaven,
The glory of the sun,
The radiance of the moon,
The splendour of fire and the swiftness
of the levin,
The wind’s flying force,
The depth of the sea,
The earth’s steadfast course,
The rock’s austerity.
I arise on my way,
With God’s Strength for my stay,
God’s Might to protect me,
God’s Wisdom to direct me,
God’s Eye to be my providence,
God’s Ear to take my evidence,
God’s Word my words to order,
God’s Hand to be my warder,
God’s Way to lie before me,
God’s Shield and Buckler o’er
me,
God’s Host Unseen to save me,
From each ambush of the Devil,
From each vice
that would enslave me.
And from all who wish me evil,
Whether far I fare or near.
Alone or in a multitude.
All these Hierarchies and
Powers
I invoke to intervene,
When the adversary lowers
On my path, with
purpose keen
Of vengeance black
and bloody
On my soul and
my body;
I bind these Powers to come
Against druid
counsel dark,
The black craft of Pagandom,
And the false
heresiarch,
The spells of wicked women,
And the wizard’s arts
inhuman,
And every knowledge, old and
fresh,
Corruptive of man’s
soul and flesh.
May Christ, on my way
To Tara to-day,
Shield me from prison,
Shield me from fire,
Drowning or wounding
By enemy’s ire,
So that mighty fruition
May follow my mission.
Christ behind and before me,
Christ beneath me and o’er me,
Christ within and without me,
Christ around and about me,
Christ on my left and Christ on my right,
Christ with me at morn and Christ with
me at night;
Christ in each heart that shall ever take
thought of me,
Christ in each mouth that shall ever speak
aught of me;
Christ in each eye that shall ever on
me fasten,
Christ in each ear that shall ever to
me listen.