O Royal Sun of prosperous path;
Nothing is to be feared by me,
Not if I were attended by sixty-hundred.”
The rig-grian—Sun-king, is applied to the Creator.
The third Latin hymn ascribed to Columba, and beginning with the words “Noli Pater” is also a “Lorica.” It is connected with the lighting of fires on St. John’s Eve. In some prefatory remarks, its virtues are thus described:—“It is sung against every fire and every thunderstorm, and whosoever sings it at bedtime and at rising, it protects him against lightning.”
Noli Pater.
Father, restrain Thy thunder,
Thy lightning from our frame,
Lest in our trembling wonder
They smite us with their flame!