“When I first discovered this prayer in the Leabhar Buidhe Lecain (or Yellow Book of Lecain), in the library of Trinity College, many years ago, I had no means of ascertaining or fixing its date; but in my subsequent readings in the same library, for my collection of ancient glossaries, I met the word Oirchis set down with explanation and illustration, as follows:
“ ‘Oirchis, id est, Mercy; as it is said in the prayers of Arinan the Wise’:—Have mercy on us, O God the Father Almighty!” See original in Appendix, No. CXXI.
“I think it is unnecessary to say more on the identity of the author of this prayer with the distinguished Aireran of Clonard. Nor is this the only specimen of his devout works that has come down to us. Fleming, in his Collecta Sacra, has published a fragment of a Latin tract discovered in the ancient monastery of St. Gall in Switzerland, which is entitled ‘The Mystical Interpretation of the Ancestry of our Lord Jesus Christ’. A perfect copy of this curious tract, and one of high antiquity, has, I believe, been lately discovered on the continent.
“There was another Airenan, also called ‘the wise’, who was abbot of Tamhlacht [Tallaght] in the latter part of the ninth century; but he has not been distinguished as an author, as far as we know”.
It seems to us that there are three things specially worthy of our consideration in this beautiful prayer.
In the first place, we find in it an explicit and most clear declaration of the Catholic Faith regarding the Blessed Trinity, especially the distinction of three persons, and the Divinity of each of these Divine Persons. “O God the Father Almighty, O God of Hosts, help us! Help us, O Almighty God! O Jesus Christ! Help us, O Almighty God, O Holy Spirit!”
We are in the next place struck by the extraordinary familiarity with the Holy Scripture which the writer evinces. There is scarcely one of the epithets which is not found in the sacred pages, almost in the precise words used by him, beginning with the first words, addressed to the Eternal Father, “O God of Hosts”, the Deus Sabaoth of the Prophets, and going on to the last invocation of the Holy Ghost, “Spirit of love”, which comprises in itself the two inspired phrases: “Spiritus est Deus”, and “Deus Charitas est”. We may also remark the coincidence between Saint Aireran and the liturgical prayers of the Church, especially in the invocations of the Holy Ghost found in the office of Whitsuntide and in the administration of the Sacrament of Confirmation, “Tu septiformis munere: Digitus Paternae dexterae”. “O Finger of God! O Spirit of Seven Forms”.
In fine, we find our Irish saint applying to the Son of God the vision of the Prophet Ezechiel regarding the four mysterious animals: “O true Man! O Lion! O young Ox! O Eagle!”The prophecy is commonly interpreted of the Four Evangelists. Saint Augustine and Saint Jerome are quoted as authorities for this interpretation. But it is worthy of remark, that Saint Gregory the Great, whilst giving the same interpretation, applies the mysterious vision also to God the Son.[2] And Saint Aireran, by adopting this opinion, seems to afford us another proof of the great familiarity of our Irish scholars with the writings of the great Pontiff and Father of the Church. And this familiarity is rendered still more remarkable, and serves to give another proof of the constant communication between Rome and Ireland, from the close proximity of the times of our Saint and of Saint Gregory.]
O Deus Pater omnipotens Deus exerce tuam misericordiam nobis!
O God the Father Almighty! O God of Hosts, help us.