¹ Patrick was born at Emptur:
This it is what history relates to us.
A child of sixteen years (was he)
When he was taken into bondage.

² Succat was his name, it is said;
Who was his father is thus told:
He was son of Calpurn, son of Otidus,
Grandson of Deochain Odissus.

³ He was six years in slavery;
Human food he did not eat.
Cothraige he was called,
For as slave he served four families.

⁴ Victor said to Milcho’s slave:
“You go over the sea:”
He placed his foot upon the leac (stone):
Its trace remains, it wears not away.

⁵ He sent him across all the Alps;
Over the sea marvellous was his course,
Until he stayed with Germanus in the south,
In southern Letha.

⁶ In the islands of the Tyrrhene Sea he stayed;
In there he meditated:
He read the canon with Germanus:
It is this that history relates.

⁷ To Ireland he was brought back
In visions by the angels of God:
Often was he in vision
Asked to return there again.

⁸ Salvation to Ireland
Was the coming of Patrick to Fochlaidh;
Afar was heard the sound
Of the call of the youths of Caill-Fochladh.

⁹ They prayed that the saint would come,
That he would return from Letha,
To convert the people of Erin
From error to life.

¹⁰ The Tuatha of Erin were prophesying
That a new kingdom of faith would come,
That it would last for evermore:
The land of Tara would be waste and silent.

¹¹ The druids of Loegaire concealed not from him
The coming of Patrick;
Their prophecy was verified
As to the kingdom of which they spoke.

¹² Patrick walked in piety till his death:
He was powerful in the eradication of sin: He raised his hands in blessing
Upon the tribes of men.

¹³ Hymns, and the Apocalypse, and the thrice fifty (psalms)
He was accustomed to sing;
He preached, baptized and prayed;
From the praise of God he did not cease.

¹⁴ The cold weather did not deter him
From passing the night in ponds:
By heaven his kingdom was protected;
He preached by day on the hills.

¹⁵ In Slan, in the territory of Benna-Bairche,
Hunger or thirst did not possess him.
Each night he sang a hundred psalms,
To adore the King of angels.

¹⁶ He slept on a bare stone,
And a wet sack-cloth around him;
A bare rock was his pillow;
He did not allow his body to be in warmth.

¹⁷ He preached the Gospel to all;
He wrought great miracles in Letha;
He healed the lame and the lepers;
The dead he restored to life.

¹⁸ Patrick preached to the Scoti:
He endured great toil in Letha:
With him will come to judgment
Everyone whom he brought to the life of Faith.

¹⁹ The sons of Emer, the sons of Eremon,
All went to Cisal,
To the abode of Satan –
They were swallowed up in the deep abyss,

²⁰ Until the apostle came to them:
He came despite the raging tempests:
He preached, for three-score years,
The cross of Christ to the tribes of Feni.

²¹ On the land of Erin there was darkness;
The Tuatha adored the sidhi;
They did not believe
In the true Deity of the true Trinity.

²² In Armagh there is sovereignty;
It is long since Emain passed away;
A great church is Dun-Lethglasse;
I do not wish that Tara should be a desert.

²³ Patrick, when he was in sickness,
Desired to go to Armagh:
An angel went to meet him on the road
In the middle of the day.

²⁴ Patrick came southwards towards Victor;
It was him that went to meet him;
The bush in which Victor was, was in a blaze;
From the flame (the angel) spoke.

²⁵ He said: “Your dignity (will be) at Armagh;
Return thanks to Christ;
To heaven you will come;
Your prayer is granted to you.

²⁶ The hymn which you chose in life
Will be a breastplate of protection to all.
Around you on the Day of Judgment
The men of Erin will come for judgment.”

²⁷ Tassach remained after him (in Sabhall),
Having given the communion to him:
He said that Patrick would return:
The word of Tassach was not false.

²⁸ He (St. Patrick) put an end to night;
Light did not cease with him:
To a years’ end there was radiance;
It was a long day of peace.

²⁹ At the battle fought around Beth-horon
Against the Canaanites by the son of Nun,
The sun stood still at Gaboan;
This is what the Scripture tells us.

³⁰ The sun lasted with Joshua until the death of the wicked:
This indeed was befitting;
It was more befitting that there should be radiance
At the death of the saints.

³¹ The clergy of Erin went from every part
To watch around Patrick;
The sound of harmony fell upon them,
So that they slept enchanted on the way.

³² Patrick’s body from his soul
Was severed after pains;
The angels of God on the first night
Kept choir around it unceasingly.

³³ When Patrick departed (from life)
He went to visit the other Patrick;
Together they ascended
To Jesus, Son of Mary.

³⁴ Patrick, without arrogance or pride,
Great was the good which he proposed to himself,
To be in the service of Mary’s Son;
Happy the hour in which Patrick was born.