I bind myself to God today

‘St Patrick’s breastplate’, as this hymn is universally known, may not be foremost in the popular (Christian) mind among the hymns of Mrs C F Alexander. That place seems reserved for 372, 437 and (still) 204. Together with 857, however, it not only retains its position among her ‘top 5’ which many hymnals include; even with the inevitable editorial amendments (which as usual started early), it is arguably her finest piece of congregational writing. The original Irish text is ascribed to Patrick (4th c); but the earliest trace of the hymn is found in AD690, the first text dates from the 11th c, and in 1839 G Petrie first made it widely known. There it is called ‘a lorica [breastplate] of faith for the protection of body and soul against demons and men and vices …’ The paraphraser would have had literal prose translations to hand while making her free and extended version, beginning ‘I bind unto myself today …’, for St Patrick’s Day 1889— 17 March, the best-known ‘Saint’s Day’ in the British Isles and perhaps the world. By then she was just over 70. Her text was probably sung on that day, and first published that year in an Appendix to the Writings of St Patrick edited by C H H Wright. The 1893 supplement to the Irish Church Hymnal was the first book to print it for use as a hymn, followed by EH, 1906.

The full text there has in stz 1, ‘… the strong name of the Trinity,/ by invocation of the same …’ The Jubilate version adopted here changes the next lines from the abstracts of incarnation, baptism, death, ‘his bursting from the spicèd tomb’, etc, to a binding to Jesus himself who has (participles and main verbs) achieved these things, passively and actively. The next stz in EH deals with ‘the great love of Cherubim … the service of the Seraphim,/ confessors’ faith … (etc); the following one covers creation in ‘the virtues of the starlit heaven … the whiteness of the moon at even …’ and other powerful, picturesque images. Stz 3 in Praise! then corresponds closely to EH’s 5th, which is followed by 6 and 7 including ‘the demon snares of sin … the natural [?] lusts that war within … all Satan’s spells and wiles,/ against false words of heresy,/ against the knowledge that defiles,/ against the heart’s idolatry;/ against the wizard’s evil craft,/ against the death-wound and the burning …’; the gentle English-language author certainly touches here on spiritual warfare which (did she but know it) would need renewed resources in many parts of the world long after her own century. Such phrases make a stark contrast with those in her better-known hymns, for children, mentioned above.

To return to stz 4 (in the Praise!/HTC numbering) this provides an extraordinary counterpoint, in words and music, to the other lines. The ‘Alexander’ text ends that stz ‘Christ in hearts of all that love me,/ Christ in mouth of friend and stranger’; such words may be a prayerful aspiration, but the emended version is perhaps more biblically realistic. Those who love both the hymn and the gospel, however, will not need either its inclusion to be defended, nor the adjustments to be explained.

Patrick himself is said to have composed the original in the early 5th c as he approached Tara in County Meath, a centre of Druid fire-worship; whether or not this is so, the ancient Gaelic phrases include elements of prayer, creed and (spiritual) war-chant. The word ‘spell’ has been used to describe it, but it is clearly an example, not of adopting pagan concepts, but of transforming them for the gospel in a way similar to the superseding of pagan myths, monarchs or covenants in the Psalms—or the apostle Paul’s approach at Athens. The hymn is suitably placed in section 8i, but could be equally appropriate at 1a, the opening part on ‘The Holy Trinity’. But perhaps for a Trinitarian hymn, the person of the Holy Spirit has too small a role .For a recent devotional meditation on the text, see David Adam, The Cry of the Deer (Triangle/SPCK, 1987).

Charles V Stanford’s tune ST PATRICK (or ST PATRICK’S BREASTPLATE), which he published in 1902, is adapted from an ancient Irish melody; this further adaptation by members of the Praise! music team has been made for the present book. Its earlier association was with the Lat of the ‘Hymn of St Bernard’ (741 etc), apparently ascribed to ‘Mr Southwell’. The tune from 1813 set to the different metre of stz 4 is also known separately as GARTAN, and in many hymnals replaces DEIRDRE (1841) which EH uses at this point. (Its successor the New English Hymnal drops this stz, while retaining the original 2nd and 3rd.)

b Eccles St, Dublin 1818; d Derry (Londonderry), N Ireland 1895. Born C F Humphreys, given 2 family names (the first given in some reference books as ‘Cecilia’, an understandable error) but always known as Fanny, she showed promise as a writer of verse (stories, amusements, devotions) from her early years. These could be sacred, sentimental, or witty; though never musical, she had a keen sense of sound and rhythm combined with a love of nature and the desire to be a good Anglican. In 1825 the family moved to Redcross, Co Wicklow (the date and place sometimes given for her birth), a ‘lost paradise’ and at that time a private riverside full of wildlife, and in 1833 to the more Protestant neighbourhood of Strabane, in Co Tyrone just south of Londonderry. Deaths in the family, and of 3 teenage sisters who were her friends, left a permanent shadow but also deepened her Christian faith and understanding. Pursuing her studies at home, she developed a good memory and became a fluent French speaker and keen reader. Through the sober godliness of her family and the upper-class company they kept, she ‘cherished into maturity an unshakeable faith in the natural goodness of the nobility’—V Wallace. Yet she also witnessed desperate poverty at first hand, while moving confidently among local and visiting clergy, who took her abilities and conversation seriously and without condescension. She remained most at home with small children and animals, notably dogs; and with her younger sister Anne (Annie) began a lifelong concern for deaf children and those with similar difficulties. Many of her royalties helped to support their care and education. Her frequent travels took her to Scotland and England as well as throughout Ireland.

As for her writing, Verses for Holy Seasons was published in 1846, followed by several other collections including Moral Songs (consciously echoing Watts?) and in 1848 Hymns for Little Children which ran to over 100 editions. By this book she was known; thus Walsham How, listing in a letter of 1869 his fellow guests at the home of the Bp of Oxford, includes ‘the Bishop of Derry with Mrs Alexander (“Hymns for Little Children
204, 372, 437, 842, 857.

b ?Ailclyde, now Dumbarton c370 (or the village of Bannaven), d Saul, Co Down, Ireland c461. Born to a Romano-British family, at 16 he was enslaved and taken to Ireland by raiders. In Co Antrim and/or Co Mayo he herded cattle for 6 years, learning the Irish language and becoming a believer in Christ. Allegedly prompted by a vision, he ran away and after travelling some 200 miles was reluctantly taken on board ship. After their provisions ran out the crew were impressed when on landing, probably in France (Gaul), Patrick’s prayers led them to a herd of pigs. Some time later a further vision gave him his mission to evangelise Ireland. He may have studied in the monastery at Lérins (c412–415) and been ordained deacon at Auxerre around 417. In 431 he was sent back to Ireland to help the mission of Bp Palladius, whose departure for Scotland and death led to the consecration of Patrick as bishop. His work began in Ulster or Leinster; he planted a church at Sabal Patraic (later ‘Saul’) and then went to the court of the High King Laoghaire at Tara in Meath. Opposed by the Druids, and countering with miracles reminiscent of Moses confronting Pharaoh’s magicians in Egypt, he gained a foothold for the Christian faith at all levels including royalty. He proceeded to preach and found churches and communities throughout Connaught, Leinster and Meath, and after visiting Rome c442 he founded the cathedral of Armagh as the centre of the Irish Church (444). His achievements include primary evangelism mainly in the west, uniting existing churches in the north, and strengthening Irish contact with the wider Western (RC) church. He promoted Latin as the ecclesiastical and literary language and c450 wrote the Confessions, a work of apologetics. In all these traditions it has long been hard to separate historical fact from pious mythology surrounding the man whose status as Ireland’s ‘patron saint’ has hindered rather than helped a proper appreciation of his genuine spiritual work and major achievements. No.842.