The Breastplate of St. Patrick...........

I bind unto myself today
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this day to me for ever.
By power of faith, Christ's incarnation;
His baptism in the Jordan river;
His death on Cross for my salvation;
His bursting from the spicèd tomb;
His riding up the heavenly way;
His coming at the day of doom;*
I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself the power
Of the great love of the cherubim;
The sweet 'well done' in judgment hour,
The service of the seraphim,
Confessors' faith, Apostles' word,
The Patriarchs' prayers, the Prophets' scrolls,
All good deeds done unto the Lord,
And purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today
The virtues of the starlit heaven,
The glorious sun's life-giving ray,
The whiteness of the moon at even,
The flashing of the lightning free,
The whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,
The stable earth, the deep salt sea,
Around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my need.
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, His shield to ward,
The word of God to give me speech,
His heavenly host to be my guard.

Against the demon snares of sin,
The vice that gives temptation force,
The natural lusts that war within,
The hostile men that mar my course;
Or few or many, far or nigh,
In every place and in all hours,
Against their fierce hostility,
I bind to me these holy powers.

Against all Satan's spells and wiles,
Against false words of heresy,
Against the knowledge that defiles,
Against the heart's idolatry,
Against the wizard's evil craft,
Against the death wound and the burning,
The choking wave and the poisoned shaft,
Protect me, Christ, till Thy returning.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,
The strong Name of the Trinity;
By invocation of the same.
The Three in One, and One in Three,
Of Whom all nature hath creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
Salvation is of Christ the Lord.

_______________________________________

Eucharistic Congress 1932

Irish Martyrs - Bl. Patrick O'Healy (Bishop) & Bl. Cornelius O'Rourke (Franciscan Priest)

Bishop Patrick O'Healy and Father Cornelius O'Rourke, Franciscans: tortured and hanged at Kilmallock 22nd August 1579

Patrick O'Healy was born about 1545 in Co Leitrim and became a Franciscan. He was educated at the university of Alcalá in Spain. He seems to have spent some time in Rome - perhaps sent there with letters from King Philip II of Spain requesting help from Pope Gregory XIII for an invasion of Ireland. It may have been while he was there that he was made bishop of Mayo in 1576. He spent some time in Paris where he took part in public disputations at the university, amazing his hearers by his mastery of patristic and controversial theology, as well as of Scotist philosophy.

After Pope St Pius V (1566-72: Antonio Ghislieri OP) excommunicated Queen Elizabeth in 1571, the Earl of Desmond spent some time on the continent negotiating with King Philip II of Spain and Pope Gregory XIII (Ugo Buoncompagni: 1572-85) to make Ireland a kingdom allied under Spain with the Pope's illegitimate son, Giacomo, a possible candidate for King. Patrick O'Hely was certainly involved in these negotiations at the start, but after an abortive attempt to sail to Ireland from Ferrol in north-west Spain went to France.

In autumn, 1579, he and fellow Franciscan Father Conn O'Rourke from the ruling house of Breifne sailed from Brittany and arrived off the coast of Kerry. Whether aware of it or not, they were seen as part of the invasion force of Spaniards and Italians with James Fitzmaurice Earl of Desmond which had landed at Smerwick harbour.

O'Healy and O'Rourke landed at Askeaton, were captured and brought to Limerick. Sir William Drury, Elizabethan President of Munster and the Chief Justice offered to promote O'Healy if he would take the Oath of Supremacy. Both refused, were tried and found guilty of treason.

The sentence of death was carried out at Kilmallock in 1579. Before their execution they imparted absolution to each other and recited litanies together. In the Church of SS. Peter and Paul, Kilmallock, there is a stained glass window of three martyrs - Bishop Patrick O'Healy and Father Conn O'Rourke, and Father Maurice MacEnraghty, a secular priest and native of Kilmallock, who was martyred in Clonmel in 1585.

Bishop O' Healy and Fr. Con O' Rourke were given recognition of their sacrifice in 1992 when they were amongst seventeen Irish martyrs who were beautified by Pope John Paul II on September 22nd.

Bl. Margaret Ball - Mother and Martyr 1515 - 1584 (Meath & Dublin)

Born Margaret Bermingham about 1515 in Skreen, Co Meath.  Her father, Nicholas Birmingham, left England due to his opposition to the religious reforms of King Henry VIII He purchased and farmed land in Corballis, County Meath. The family was politically active; her brother, William Birmingham, protested in London against Thomas Radclyffe, Earl of Sussex, when he imposed the Protestant Reformation on behalf of the boy-king Edward VI. When she was fifteen years old Margaret married Alderman Bartholomew Ball of Ballrothery. His wealthy family operated the bridge over the River Dodder, which is still known as Ballsbridge. Margaret and Bartholomew lived at Ballygall House in north county Dublin and had a town house on Merchant's Quay in the City of Dublin. They had ten children, though only five survived to adulthood. Her husband was elected Mayor of Dublin in 1553, making Margaret the Mayoress. She had a comfortable life with a large household and many servants, and she was recognised for organising classes for the children of local families in her home.

Queen Elizabeth I reversed the policy of her sister Queen Mary Tudor and imposed her Religious Settlement. In 1570 the Papacy responded with the bull "Regnans in Excelsis" which declared Elizabeth to be an illegitimate usurper. Margaret's eldest son, Walter Ball, embraced the "new religion" and was appointed Commissioner for Ecclesiastical Causes in 1577. Margaret was disappointed with her son's change of faith and tried to change his mind. On one occasion, she told him that she had a "special friend" for him to meet. Walter arrived early with a company of soldiers, and found that the "special friend" was Dermot O'Hurley, Archbishop of Cashel. He was celebrating Mass with the family. Walter had his mother arrested and locked in the dungeons of Dublin Castle,


When the family protested, Walter declared that his mother should have been executed, but he had spared her. She would be allowed to go free if she "Took the Oath", which probably referred to the Oath of Supremacy. Her second son, Nicholas, who supported her, was elected Mayor of Dublin in 1582. However, Walter was still Commissioner for Ecclesiastical Causes, which was a crown appointment. He outranked Nicholas and kept him from securing the release of their mother. Nicholas visited her daily, bringing her food, clothing, and candles.


Margaret died in 1584 at the age of sixty-nine, which was an advanced age at the time. She was crippled with arthritis and had lived for three years in the cold, wet dungeon of Dublin Castle with no natural light. When she died she was buried in the cemetery at St. Audoen's Church in Dublin. Although she could have altered her will, she still bequeathed her property to Walter upon her death. 

Margaret had remained in the dungeon when she could have returned to a life of comfort at any time by simply 'taking the oath'.  Two generations later this pattern was repeated when Francis Taylor, who was Mayor of Dublin 1595-1596, was condemned to the dungeons after exposing fraud in the parliamentary elections to the Irish House of Commons.  He refused to 'take the oath' and died in Dublin Castle in 1621.  Taylor was married to Gennet Shelton, a grand-daughter of Margaret.  Margaret and Francis could not have known each other, but they were beatified together, along with Dermot O'Hurley, on September 27th 1992 by Pope John Paul II.

Irish Martyrs - Blessed Dominic Collins Jesuit Brother (Cork)

Blessed Dominic Collins (1566-1602) Irish martyr, Jesuit brother

When the Desmond Rebellion was put down in 1583, Dominic Collins of Youghal became a professional soldier in the Catholic armies of Europe. Ten years later he joined the Jesuits in Santiago de Compostela. Sent back to Ireland in 1601 as a companion to Fr James Archer SJ with the Spaniards going to Kinsale, he was eventually captured and put to death for his faith. Patrick Duffy tells his story. Early life: a soldier of fortune Dominic Collins was born into a leading Catholic family in Youghal, Co Cork in 1566. Both his father and his brother served as mayor in the town.and he may have attended the Jesuit school set up in the town in 1577.  The local people recognised Elizabeth as Queen, but did not want Anglicanism as the new religion. So when the Desmond Rebellion was crushed (1583), there was little else for a young Catholic man of ambition to do but to seek a career on the continent. Sailing to France, Dominic enlisted in the Catholic army of the Duke of Mercoeur and quickly became a military governor. He later transferred to the Spanish army and was in the garrison at La Coruña. Joins the Jesuits Here in 1598 he met the Jesuit priest, Father Thomas White from Clonmel, who had earlier founded the Irish College at Salamanca and had come to La Coruña to hear the confessions of Irish soldiers during Lent. Dominic confided in Fr White his intention of joining the Jesuits. Fr White explained the difficulties of studies for the priesthood. Dominic said was happy to be a Jesuit brother. The Jesuits were reluctant to accept him, feeling that a battle-hardened soldier would not settle into religious life, but Dominic persevered and was admitted to the novitiate in Santiago de Compostela. Here he proved his mettle when the Jesuit College was struck by a plague. Dominic tended the victims, nursing some of them back to health and comforting the others in their last hours. A report sent to Rome at this time describes him as a man of sound judgment and great physical strength, mature, prudent and sociable, though inclined to be hot-tempered and obstinate. Battle of Kinsale At this time Ireland was in turmoil. O'Neill and O'Donnell had revolted in Ulster and in 1601 King Philip III of Spain decided to send an army to help them. An Irish Jesuit, Father James Archer, who was acting as O’Neill’s envoy with Rome and Spain, asked that Dominic, who knew the needs of soldiers, be sent with him to Ireland. Siege of Dunboy Castle After the shock defeat of the Irish and the Spanish at the Battle of Kinsale, Fr Archer went back to Spain. Dominic went with O'Sullivan Beare’s men to the Beara peninsula and was along with a group of 143 soldiers under the command of Richard McGeoghegan, who took refuge inside Dunboy Castle. This was a small square fortress on the mainland overlooking Beare Island. Here Lord Carew, the president of Munster and an army of 4,000 soldiers besieged them for several months. During the siege, Dominic, though a veteran of many battles, could not as a religious take part in the fighting, but he could and did give bodily and spiritual assistance to the wounded and the dying. Knowing too how keen Carew would be to capture a Jesuit, he thought that by handing himself over as a hostage he could negotiate an honourable cease-fire. But Carew refused any negotiations and the besieged surrendered. Carew ordered Dominic and two others to be kept prisoners while the rest were hanged in the market-place, fifty-eight on that day, and the remaining twelve four days later. A plaque on the ruins of Dunboy Castle today commemorates their brave struggle. Interrogation and torture The three surviving prisoners were brought to Cork for interrogation. As the other two had little to reveal, they were soon executed. But Carew interrogated Collins, hoping he could persuade him to become a Protestant and thus gain a propaganda victory.  He alternately tortured Dominic and made him primises of preferment to high ecclesiastical office. Some of Dominic’s own family visited him, urging him to save his life by pretending a conversion which he could afterwards repudiate. But Dominic would have none of it, and clearly made a choice of a martyr's death. Martyrdom Taken to Youghal on 31st October 1602, he was marched by a troop of soldiers through the streets to the place of execution - the first time he had seen his home town in fifteen years. He wore his black Jesuit gown and addressed the crowd in Spanish, Irish and English, cheerfully telling them that he had come to Ireland to defend the faith of the Holy Roman Church, the one true path to salvation. So moved were the crowd that the hangman fled and a passing fisherman was forced to do the job. Influence Left hanging on the gallows, the rope eventually broke and Dominic’s body fell to the ground. Under cover of darkness, local Catholics took his body away and buried him with respect in a secret place. From that day he was venerated as a martyr in Youghal and his fame quickly spread throughout Ireland and Europe. In the Irish Colleges of Douai and Salamanca the Jesuits showed his portrait and many favours and cures were attributed to his intercession.  Although used to the rough life of the army camp, Dominic always kept a strange innocence and gentleness. He is one of the most attractive of all the Irish martyrs.

Dominic Collins was beatified - along with Francis Taylor and 13 other Irish martyrs - on the 27 September 1992, by Pope John-Paul II.

Liturgically his feast is celebrated on the 20th June, or the 30th of October (in the Society of Jesus).

Irish Martyrs - Bl. Terence Albert O'Brien Bishop (Limerick)

Bishop Terence Albert O'Brien, Dominican: hanged and beheaded at Gallow's Green, Limerick 30th October 1651

Terence O'Brien was born into a well-off farming family near Cappamore in east Limerick in 1601. He became a Dominican in 1621 taking the name Albert. He studied in Toledo, Spain, where he was ordained in 1627. Returning to Ireland, he served as prior in Limerick and Lorrha near Portumna before becoming Provincial of the Irish province in 1643. He attended the general chapter of his order in Rome in 1644 where he made known the martyrdom of Father Peter Higgins.

On his way home he visited two Irish Dominican foundations in Portugal and it was while he was there that he learned of his appointment as co-adjutor to the ailing bishop of Emly. This was the time of the Catholic confederation of Kilkenny. The Confederation was divided between the Old English, generally of Norman families who were prepared to agree on moderate terms with King Charles and the Irish, led by returned exiles and supported by the papal nuncio Rinuccini. In 1649 the parliamentarians under Cromwell abolished the monarchy and Cromwell wreaked havoc in Ireland.

After the siege of Limerick in 1651, Bishop O'Brien, who had encouraged citizens to resist, was captured as he tended the sick in the plague house. Tried by court-martial, he was condemned to death. As he went to the gallows, he spoke to the people: "Do not weep for me, but pray that being firm and unbroken in this torment of death, I may happily finish my course." After his death by strangulation his body was left hanging for three hours and treated with indignity by the soldiers. They cut off his head and spiked it on the river gate where it remained fresh and incorrupt, because, people said, he had preserved his virginity throughout his life. His headless body was buried near the old Dominican priory of Limerick, a wall of which still stands in the grounds of St Mary's Convent of Mercy.

A small silver pectoral cross of  Bishop Terence Albert was given to the Irish Dominicans by the last surviving member of the O'Briens of Tuogh. According to family tradition, the bishop gave the cross to his mother shortly before his execution, and it had been passed on as a family heirloom from generation to generation. The image accompanying this article is a detail from a stained glass window (by Murphy and Devitt) in the Terence Albert O'Brien Chapel in St Saviour's Church, Glentworth, Street, Limerick.

On 27 September 1992, O'Brien and sixteen other Irish Catholic Martyrs, including Dermot O'Hurley, were beatified by Pope John Paul II. A large backlighted portrait of him is on display in St. Michael's Church, Cappamore, Co. Limerick, which depicts him during The Siege of Limerick.

The Polish Community in Ireland

The Polish Dominican Chaplaincy celebrated its 5th year this week.   Bishop Wojciech Polak celebrated the Mass on this glorious occasion, which also included the confirmation of a group of young adults.

The Dominican Church in Dublins City Centre where their Chaplaincy is located is in St. Saviours Church, Dominic Street, Dublin 1.  

Overall the Polish Community have contributed much to the Irish Church over the past number of years, with all of their Catholic traditions (procession, litanies etc), with their witness of reverence and respect for the Mass, their attendance at Confessions which are regularly heard by the Priests both in the Polish Chaplaincy in St. Audoens Church and also at St. Saviours the Dominican Church and other Churches where they are located throughout Dublin and the entire country.   We thank God for their presence and their contribution to the Church here in Ireland in these most difficult times.

Reform and Renewal in our Churches.....

As we are now just over a year away from the Eucharistic Congress, we can hope and pray that we would renew our faith in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. 

Are there any ways in which we can help to bring more reverence and respect to Jesus presence in the Tabernacle and also to the Holy Mass ?  We could ask people gently to be silent in Church after Mass to talk outside if they have to, as unfortunately talking is very common place in our Churches after Mass, which is not respectful to the presence of God.  There is a Church in the midlands which has signs up asking for reverence and silence in the Church and asks people nicely to talk to Jesus in their own hearts after receving Him in Holy Communion and after Mass and wait to talk to their friends outside.  This is very well respected in this particular church and shows the love that the Priest has for the presence of God in the Church. 

We must learn to know and love Jesus and to know that He is our healer and our Saviour.  We must give Him our time after receiving Him in Holy Communion.  He is hurt deeply by our apathy and our ignorance. 

In the Diary of St. Faustina Jesus said,  "My great delight is to unite Myself with souls ... When I come to a human heart in Holy Communion, My hands are full of all kinds of graces which I want to give to the soul. But souls do not even pay any attention to Me;  they leave Me to Myself and busy themselves with other things. Oh, how sad I am that souls do not recognize Love! They treat Me as a dead object" (1385) ...

Pope John Paul II Homily to the Irish in Dublin's Phoenix Park, 1979 (Conclusion)

I end, dear brothers and sisters, beloved sons and daughters of Ireland, by recalling how Divine Providence has used this Island on the edge of Europe for the conversion of the European continent, that continent which has been for two thousand years the continent of the first evangelization. I myself am a son of that nation which received the Gospel more than a thousand years ago, many centuries later than your homeland. When in 1966, we solemnly recalled the millennium of the Baptism of Poland, we recalled with gratitude also those Irish missionaries who, among others, participated in the work of the first evangelization of the country that extends East and West from the Vistula.

One of my closest friends, a famous Professor of History in Cracow, having learned of my intention to visit Ireland, said : "What a blessing that the Pope goes to Ireland. This country deserves it in a special way". I too have always thought like this. Thus I thought that the centenary of the Sanctuary of the Mother of God at Knock constitutes, this year, a providential occasion for the Pope's visit to Ireland. So, by this visit, I am expressing my sense of what Ireland "deserves", and also satisfying deep needs of my own heart. I am paying a great debt to Jesus Christ, who is the Lord of history and the author of our salvation.

Hence I express my joy that I can be with you today, 29 September 1979, Feast of Saint Michael, Saint Gabriel and Saint Raphael, Archangels, and that I can celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and give witness before you to Christ and to his Paschal Mystery. Thus I can proclaim the vivifying reality of conversion through the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Penance, in the midst of the present generation of the sons and daughters of Ireland. Metanoeite, "Be converted" ! (Mk 1 :15). Be converted continually. Be converted every day; because constantly, every day, the Kingdom of God draws closer. On the road of this temporal world, let Christ be the Lord of your souls, for eternal life. Amen.

Homily of Pope John Paul II to the Irish in Phoenix Park Dublin 1979 Part 7 (1)

7. I wish also at this time to recall to you an important truth affirmed by the Second Vatican Council, namely: "The spiritual life, nevertheless, is not confined to participation in the liturgy" (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 12). And so I also encourage you in the other exercises of devotion that you have lovingly preserved for centuries, especially those in regard to the Blessed Sacrament. These acts of piety honour God and are useful for our Christian lives ; they give joy to our hearts, and help us to appreciate more the liturgical worship of the Church.

The visit to the Blessed Sacrament—so much a part of Ireland, so much a part of your piety, so much a part of your pilgrimage to Knock—is a great treasure of the Catholic faith. It nourishes social love and gives us opportunities for adoration and thanksgiving, for reparation and supplication. Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, Exposition and Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, Holy Hours and Eucharistic processions are likewise precious elements of your henitage—in full accord with the teaching of the Second Vatican Council.

At this time, it is also my joy to reaffirm before Ireland and the whole world the wonderful teaching of the Catholic Church regarding Christ's consoling presence in the Blessed Sacrament : his real presence in the fullest sense : the substantial presence by which the whole and complete Christ, God and man, is present  (cf. Mysterium Fidei, 39). The Eucharist, in the Mass and outside of the Mass, is the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, and is therefore deserving of the worship that is given to the living God, and to him alone  (cf. Mysterium Fidei, 55; Paolo VI, Address of 15 June 1978).

And so, dear brothers and sisters, every act of reverence, every genuflection that you make before the Blessed Sacrament, is important because it is an act of faith in Christ, an act of love for Christ. And every sign of the Cross and gesture of respect made each time you pass a church is also an act of faith.
May God preserve you in this faith this holy Catholic faith—this faith in the Blessed Sacrament.