Novena to St. Patrick: Nine Days with the Apostle of Ireland

St. Patrick, you forgave those who enslaved you and brought them the light of Christ.
Pray for me in my need: (name your intention).
Pray for Ireland and for all who carry the faith to others, and bind me to the Holy Trinity. Amen.

I, Patrick, a sinner, the rudest and least of all the faithful, and most contemptible to very many, had for my father Calpornius, a deacon, the son of Potitus, a priest, who lived in Bannaven Taberniae, for he had a small country-house close by, where I was taken captive when I was nearly sixteen years of age. I knew not the true God, and I was brought captive to Ireland with many thousand men, as we deserved; for we had forsaken God, and had not kept His commandments, and were disobedient to our priests, who admonished us for our salvation.

It is good for me that thou hast humbled me, that I may learn thy justifications.

But after I had come to Ireland, I was daily tending sheep, and I prayed frequently during the day, and the love of God, and His faith and fear, increased in me more and more, and the spirit was stirred; so that in a single day I have said as many as a hundred prayers, and in the night nearly the same; so that I remained in the woods, and on the mountain, even before the dawn, I was roused to prayer, in snow, and ice, and rain, and I felt no injury from it, nor was there any slothfulness in me, as I see now, because the spirit was then fervent in me.

Pray without ceasing.

When thou shalt pass through the waters, I will be with thee, and the rivers shall not cover thee: when thou shalt walk in the fire, thou shalt not be burnt, and the flames shall not burn in thee.

And a vision was shewed to Paul in the night, which was a man of Macedonia standing and beseeching him, and saying: Pass over into Macedonia, and help us.

How then shall they call on him, in whom they have not believed? Or how shall they believe him, of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear, without a preacher?
And how shall they preach unless they be sent, as it is written: How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, of them that bring glad tidings of good things!

I bind myself to-day to a strong virtue in the invocation of the Trinity.

I bind myself to-day to the virtue of Christ’s birth with his baptism, to the virtue of his crucifixion with his burial, to the virtue of his resurrection with his ascension, to the virtue of his coming to the judgment of Doom.

I bind myself to-day to the virtue of the choirs of Cherubim, in the obedience of angels, in the service of Archangels, in the hope of resurrection unto reward, in the prayers of patriarchs, in the predictions of prophets, in the preaching of apostles, in the faith of confessors, in the innocence of holy virgins, in the deeds of righteous men.

I bind myself to-day to the virtue of heaven, in the light of sun, in the brightness of snow, in the splendour of fire, in the speed of lightning, in the swiftness of wind, in the depth of sea, in the stability of earth, in the compactness of rock.

I bind myself to-day to God’s virtue to pilot me. God’s might to uphold me, God’s wisdom to guide me, God’s eye to look before me, God’s ear to hear me, God’s word to speak for me, God’s hand to guard me, God’s path to lie before me, God’s shield to protect me, God’s host to secure me, against snares of demons, against seductions of vices, against lusts of nature, against everyone who wishes ill to me, afar and anear, alone and in a multitude.

So have I invoked all these virtues to be with me, against every cruel merciless power which may come against my body and my soul; against the incantations of false prophets, against the black laws of heathenry, against the false laws of heretics, against the craft of idolatry, against the spells of druids, against every knowledge that defiles men’s souls.

Christ protect me to-day, against poison, against burning, against drowning, against death-wound, until a multitude of rewards come to me.

Christ be with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ below me, Christ above me; Christ at my right, Christ at my left; Christ in the fort, Christ in the chariot, Christ in the poop; Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of every one who speaks of me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.

I bind myself today to a strong virtue in the invocation of the Trinity.

Domini est salus, Domini est salus,
Christi est salus, Salus tua Domine
sit semper nobiscum.

In all things we suffer tribulation, but are not distressed; we are straitened, but are not destitute;
We suffer persecution, but are not forsaken; we are cast down, but we perish not:
Always bearing about in our body the mortification of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our bodies.

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.
As to the rest, there is laid up for me a crown of justice, which the Lord the just judge will render to me in that day: and not only to me, but to them also that love his coming. Make haste to come to me quickly.

O God, who wast pleased to send thy blessed Confessor and Bishop Patrick to preach thy glory to the nations, grant through his merits and intercession that by thy mercy we may be able to fulfil all thou dost command us to do. Through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord.