CARMINA GADELICA

ALEXANDER CARMICHAEL, EDITOR

The Carmina Gadelica, the Ortha nan Gaidheal, gives the Rune before Prayer, as it were, a prayer before prayer:


RUNE BEFORE PRAYER 

GOD WITH ME LYING DOWN

God with me rising up,
God with me in each ray of light,
Nor I a ray of light without Him,
   Nor one ray without Him.
Christ with me sleeping,
Christ with me waking,
Christ with me watching,
Every day and night
   Each day and night.
God with me protecting,
The Lord with me directing,
The Spirit with me strengthening,
For ever and for evermore,
   Ever and evermore.
                                   Amen.

LOOM BLESSING

My hand never kept, nor shall keep,
Every colour in the bow of the shower
Has gone through my fingers beneath the cross,
White and black, red and madder,
Green, dark grey, and scarlet,
Blue and roan, and colour of the sheep,
And never a particle of cloth was wanting.

I beseech calm Bride the generous,
I beseech mild Mary the loving,
I beseech Christ Jesu the humane,
That I may not die without them,
   That I may not die without them.

JESU, THOU SON OF MARY

Have mercy upon us, Amen.
   Jesu, Thou son of Mary
   Make peace with us, Amen.
   Oh, with us and for us
Where we shall longest be, Amen.
   Be about the morning of our course,
   Be about the closing of our life, Amen.
Be at the dawning of our life,
And oh! at the dark'ning of our day. Amen.
   Be for us and with us,
   Merciful God of all, Amen.

   Consecrate us
Condition and lot,
Thou King of kings,
Thou God of all, Amen.
   Consecrate us
   Rights and means,
   Thou King of kings,
   Thou God of all, Amen.
Consecrate us heart and body,
Thou King of kings,
Thou God of all, Amen.
   Each heart and body,
   Each day to Thyself
   Each night accordingly,
   Thou King of kings,
   Thou God of all, Amen.

HOLY FATHER OF GLORY

Father kind, ever-loving, ever-powerful,
Because of all the abundance, favour, and deliverance
That Thou bestowest upon us in our need,
Whatever providence befalls us as thy children,
In our portion, in our lot, in our path,
Give to us with it the rich gifts of Thine hand
And the joyous blessing of Thy mouth.
We are guilty and polluted, O God,
In spirit, in heart, and in flesh,
In though, in word, in act,
We are hard in They sight in sin.
Put Thou forth to us the power of Thy love,
Be Thou leaping over the mountains of our transgressions,
And wash us in the true blood of conciliation,
Like the down of the mountain, like the lily of the lake.

Inthe steep common paths of our callingt,
Be it easy oruneasy to our flesh,
Be it bright or dark for us to follow,
Thine own perfect guidance be upon us.
Be Thou a shield to us from the wiles of the deceiver,
From the arch-estroyer with his arrows pursuing us,
And in each secret thought our minds get to weave,
Be Thou Thyself on our helm and at our sheet.

Though dogs and theives would reive us from the field,
Be Thou the valiant Shpeherd opf gloryu near us.
Whatever matter or cause or propensity,
That would being us to giref, or pains, or wounds,
Or that would bear witness against us at the last,
On the other side of the great river of dark shadows,
Oh! do Thou obscure it from our eyes,
Andfrom our hearts drive it far away.

Now to the Father who created each creature,
Now to the Son who paid ransom for His people,
Now to the Holy Spirit, Comforter of might:
Shield and heal from every wound;
Be about the beginning and end of our race,
Be giving us to sing in glory,
In peace, in rest, in reconciliation.
Where no tear shall be shed,where death comes no more.
Where no tear shall be shed, where death comes no more.

THE GUARDIAN ANGEL

From the dear Father of mercifulness,
The shepherding kind of the fold of the saints
To make round about this night;

Drive from me every temptation and danger,
Surround me on the sea of unrighteousness,
And in the narrows, crooks and straits,
Keep thou my coracle, keep it always.

Be thou a bright flame before me,
Be thou a guiding star above me,
Be thou a smooth path below me,
And be a kindly shpeherd behind me,
Today, tonight, and for ever.

I am tired and I a stranger,
Lead thou me to the land of angels;
For me it is time to go home
To the court of Christ, to the peace of heaven.

CHRIST THE PRIEST ABOVE US

Ordained of God for all living,
  Christ the Priest above us.

Tonight, the night of the cross of agony,
The cross of anguish to which Christ was crucified. 
   Christ the Priest above us.

Noble the Gift! Noble the Poor!
Noble the Man of this night.
   Christ the Priest above us.

It was the Bride the fair who went on her knee.
It is the King of Glory who is in her lap.
   Christ the Priest above us.

I hear the hills, I hear the seas,
I hear the angels heralding to earth.
   Christ the Priest above us.

Great the assemblage on this knoll,
Without the envy of man to another.
   Christ the Priest above us.

I am the servant of God the Son at the door,
Oh! arise thou thyself and open to me.
   Christ the Priest above us.

THE SLEEP PRAYER

Be it that I in health shall waken;
If death be to me in the death-sleep,
Be it that on Thine own arm
O God of Grace, I in peace shall waken;
  Be it on Thine own beloved arm,
  O God of Grace, that I in peace shall waken.

Be my soul on Thy right hand, O God,
Thou King of the heaven of heavens;
Thou it was who bought'st me with Thy blood,
Thou it was who gavest Thy life for me,
   Encompass Thou me this night, O God,
   That no harm, no evil shall me befall.

While the body is dwelling in the sleep
The soul is soaring in the shadow of heaven,
Be the red-white Michael meeting the soul,
Early and late, night and day,
   Early and late, night and day,
   Early and late, night and day.
   Amen.

FROM THE BELTANE BLESSING

Thou Being who didst create me at the beginning,
Listen and attend me as I bend the knee to Thee,
Morning and evening as is becoming in me,
In Thine own presence, O God of life,
   In Thine own presence, O God of life.

CARMINA GADELICA: ORTHA NAN GAIDHEAL

I found these prayers on the Internet. In the nineteenth century Alexander Carmichael had found them in the oral tradition of Scottish islanders, chanted prayers in Gaelic that accompanied each household task, blessing the loom and the cloth woven upon in the colours of God's rainbow, blessing the boat and the fishermen, like Peter and Christ, blessing the bed of sleep and death, being guarded by the four Archangels, Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, and by the four Evangels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, blessing the house, the crops and food store, and speaking of one's body as like the coracle, the small boat made of animal skins about a frame of wood, on pilgrimage through the rough seas of this world and time.

The Scots were the Irish who settled across the water, coming in such coarcles, bringing their early Christianity with them. For Ireland was Christian before Rome was officially Christian. In the Irish lives of St Patrick they tell of his Jewish Christian family fleeing Jerusalem at the Conquest by the Emperors Titus and Vespasian, and settling in Britain, from whence Patrick was taken to Ireland by pirates. They add that it is fitting that the Apostle to the Irish should be a Jew since such were all Christ's Apsotles.

The Carmina Gadelica prayers, like that of St Patrick's Breastplate ('I bind unto myself this day the strong Name of the Trinity'), are Christianised Jewish prayers, such as Mary taught her child Jesus to pray, the binding on of the Name of God of the phylacteries, the prayer to the four Archangels, the prayer to place one's spirit into God's hands when about to sleep or in death, transforming Unity into Trinity, and adding Mary and Bride to the canon. Like the intertwines in the Book of Kells, these prayers are like pagan spells and runes and magic, but all harnessed and placed in the service of prayer and praise to God. They have been said for more than two thousand years, being Jewish as well as Christian, and in Hebrew and well as Gaelic, - and now in English. They are an Internet of Prayer to God across time and space. They are God spells, the Gospels, said while churning milk, while knitting the intricate knots of Irish fishermen's jerseys, while rocking a cradle, while shepherding sheep, while about a thousand household and daily tasks. Let us bind upon ourselves the hallowed name of God, blessing all that we encounter this day.

To find the Carmina Gadelica both in Gaelic and in English on the Internet: http://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/gaidhlig/corpus/Carmina
(Now by Internet Archive Wayback Machine, giving this URL)
And also the original printed book: https://archive.org/details/carminagadelicah30carm/mode/2up

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