St.Patrick places the virtue or power of the saints between him and evil, and declares his hope of merit for his good work with the same simple trust which all the saints have manifested from the earliest ages.

This hymn is written in the _Bearla Feine_, or most ancient Gaedhilic dialect.

Dr.O'Donovan well observes, that it bears internal evidence of its authenticity in its allusion to pagan customs.

Tirechan, who wrote in the seventh century, says that there were four honours paid to St.Patrick in _all monasteries and churches throughout the whole of Ireland_.

First, the festival of St.Patrick was honoured for three days and nights with all good cheer, except flesh meat [which the Church did not allow then to be used in Lent].