The Lorica of St. Patrick is an unmetrical quasi-poetical composition of great antiquity. It is called the Faeth Fiada, interpreted the “Deer’s Cry,” and hence the Preface in the Liber Hymnorum connects the hymn with the story of the deer metamorphosis in Muirchu (p. 282). But it seems (cp. Atkinson, Lib. Hymn. ii. 209) that the phrase really meant a spell or charm which had the power of rendering invisible, and that the story of the deer arose from a popular etymology.
We need not hesitate to identify this work with the canticum Scotticum which was current before the ninth century under Patrick’s name, as we learn from a note in the Liber Armachanus (p. 333₁₀). Whether Patrick was really the author was another question. The verdict of Professor Atkinson is as follows:—
“It is probably a genuine relic of St. Patrick. Its uncouthness of grammatical forms is in favour of its antiquity. We know that Patrick used very strange Irish, some of which has been preserved; and the historians who handed down mudebroth as an ejaculation of his would probably take care to copy as faithfully as they could the other curious Irish forms which the saint had consecrated by his use” (Lib. Hymn. ii. p. lviii).
If it can be proved that some of the forms in the Lorica could not have been used by a native Irish writer, this would be a very strong argument for its composition by Patrick. It seems possible that Patrick’s expression mudebroth was remembered as the solecism of a foreigner. “The oath dar mo De broth is mere jargon; De broth ought to mean something like ‘God’s doom-day’; but even then there would be a difficulty, because the genitive Dé could not precede its governing noun” (Atkinson, ib. ii. 179).
It may be said, then, that the Lorica may have been composed by Patrick; but in any case it is an interesting document for the spirit of early Christianity in Ireland.
The latest editions are Atkinson’s in the Liber Hymnorum (i. 133 sqq.) with translation (ii. 49 sqq.), and that of Stokes and Strachan in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus, vol. ii. 353 sqq.
6. Hymn of St. Sechnall
The Latin Hymn of St. Sechnall or Secundinus, the coadjutor of Patrick,[271] preserved in the MSS. of the Liber Hymnorum, is certainly very ancient. It might be rash to affirm that its ascription to Secundinus is correct; but Patrick is spoken of throughout as if he were alive, and the absence of all references to particular acts of the saint or episodes in his life confirms the view that it was composed before his death; hymnographers of later times would hardly have omitted such references. There is no mention of miracles. As the author thus confined himself to generalities, the hymn supplies no material for Patrick’s biography. It is worth while noticing that, if the hymn is contemporary, as it seems to be, the verse
Testis Domini fidelis in lege Catholica
may be allusive to the event commemorated in Ann. Ult. s.a. 441 (see below, [p. 367]).