The Patrick Swap

U2, Steve Earle/Sharon Shannon, Foy Vance, and the Breastplate of St. Patrick

There once was a music swap email

It came out on Friday without fail

One fell on Patrick's Day

So Irish songs they did play

Scroll down for a bonus track tale

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Okay, the AABBA limerick theme works better for Mother Goose. This week we are highlighting bands from Ireland and songs about the Irish - including a bonus track featuring a St. Patrick's Day history lesson from distinguished professor, Dr. Michael Haykin.

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Pride (In the Name of Love) by U2 (Ben)

Have you heard? U2 has 40 (re-recorded) songs that released today. Seems like a must listen. Wish I was in that marketing meeting… "Hey folks, what day should we release this project? It will be done early spring." -- ooh, ooh, ooh (hand raised), what about March 17th? 

Happy St. (U2) Patrick's Day.

Also available on Apple Music.

The Galway Girl by Sharon Shannon, Steve Earle (Kody)

I’m not into futbol and I’ve never been to Ireland, but I can bet you this song is played in the pubs as fans of the Shamrock Rovers gather on Saturdays to get ready for the big match. I dare you to listen without tapping your foot to the beat.

Steve Earle wrote it while living in Ireland and recorded it with Irish performer Sharon Shannon. The 2008 cover of the song by Irish singer/songwriter Mundy spent five weeks at number one in Ireland. That’s enough for me to count it as a St. Paddy’s Day staple.

Also available on Apple Music.

Sapling by Foy Vance (Jonathan)

A friend introduced me to this song and therefore, the force that is Foy Vance. At first, I was confused by the name…was this a Vance Joy tribute act?!

Foy Vance is a singer-songwriter from Northern Ireland whose powerful writing is highlighted in “Sapling.” This song, both the lyrics and the cadence, puts me on the floor every time it’s played.

Also available on Apple Music.

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Bonus Track: The Breastplate of Patrick by Dr. Michael A. G. Haykin

As the imperial power of Rome waned in Western Europe in the early fifth century and the urban civilization of the Roman Imperium went into freefall, a Romano-British Christian, refusing to be stymied by the chaos erupting all around him, set his sights on winning the Irish to Christ. Ireland had never been part of the Roman Empire and to the Roman mind it was at the very edge of the world. Beyond it, was only Ocean. The name of this intrepid missionary was Patricius—we know him as St. Patrick—and his mission to Ireland was foundational to the Celtic Church, which was the most vibrant body of believers in the West over the next two centuries. 

At the heart of Patrick’s mission was a vision of the one true God as Triune in the glorious persons of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This Trinitarian vision of the Godhead was among Patrick’s great bequests to the Celtic Christians who followed him. In one of Patrick’s two authentic writings, his Confession, which was written at the close of his life, the missionary cites a creed that parallels the famous Nicene Creed. It is the only text besides the Bible of which Patrick shows any knowledge. And it is fundamentally Trinitarian.

In many ways, Patrick’s Trinitarianism is captured in the Old Irish prayer that has been called The Breastplate of Patrick. Combining piety and aesthetics, this prayer was most likely written in the century following Patrick’s death—he died somewhere between 460 and 490. In its opening and closing refrain, this prayer declares the following:

I arise today through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, through belief in the Threeness, through confession of the Oneness, towards the Creator. (1)

The heart of this prayer is a Christ-centred lorica, that is, a prayer to the Lord Christ for protection:

Christ be with me, Christ be before me, Christ be behind me,
Christ be in me, Christ be beneath me, Christ be above me,
Christ be on my right, Christ be on my left,
Christ be where I lie, Christ be where I sit, Christ be where I arise... (2)

Possibly the most famous example in this tradition of protection prayers is the hymn “Be Thou My Vision.” Based upon the words of a Middle Irish poem that purportedly goes back to Eochaid mac Colla (fl. 590s), better known as Dallán Forgaill, it is clearly indebted to the Breastplate of Patrick:

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart
Be all else but naught to me, save that Thou art
Be Thou my best thought in the day and the night
Both waking and sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my wisdom, be Thou my true word
Be Thou ever with me, and I with Thee, Lord
Be Thou my great Father, and I Thy true son
Be Thou in me dwelling and I with Thee one.

This hymn as well as the Breastplate of Patrick stand as superb examples of the way in which Patrick’s robustly Trinitarian faith was handed down in Ireland and can still be a source of rich inspiration.

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1. Trans. W. Stokes and J. Strachan in Ludwig Bieler, trans. The Works of St. Patrick. St. Secundus: Hymn on St. Patrick, Ancient Christian Writers, no. 17 (Newman Press, 1953), 69, 71–72.

2. Trans. Stokes and Strachan in Bieler, trans. Works of St. Patrick, 71, altered.

Michael A. G. Haykin is professor of church history and biblical spirituality at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of many books, including “Patrick of Ireland: His Life and Impact.”

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Did you know that Van Morrison recorded a version of “Be Thou My Vision?” It’s beautiful.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

-TheMusicSwap