Happy Saint Patrick’s day

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! Of the many images of good old Saint Paddy I am fondest of this one. Painted in 1877 by Briton Riviere, it is in the collection of the Liverpool National Museum. Legend has it that in 433 A.D. Saint Patrick was en route to see the king, but he knew that Loeguire, the High King of Tara was planning to ambush him. Saint Patrick and his group chanted a hymn of his own composition, the first written in Gaelic – “the Deer’s Cry” (aka Saint Patrick’s Prayer, Saint Patrick’s Breastplate, or the Lorica), and all Loeguire and his men saw when Saint Paddy’s crew passed by was a red doe followed by 20 fawns.

Saint Patrick – Briton Riviere, 1877