Lorica of St. Patrick
The above image is a cuirass, part of the armor of a Greek warrior. The piece is on display at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The image is in the Public Domain. In antient Rome, the soldiers protected themselves with armor made of leather or metal. One of their coverings was a cuirass—a piece of armor which covered their bodies from neck to waist. The Latin word for this piece of armor was—and is—lorica (pronounced “low-RIE-ca”). In the Irish monastic tradition, the monks and nuns recited prayers of protection, in which the petitioner invoked all the power of God as a safeguard against evil in its many forms. This type of prayer was also called a Lorica . The idea behind the prayer style may derive from Ephesians 6:10-18, where the Apostle Paul urges the reader to put on the full armor of God so they could stand against the schemes of the devil. In Ephesians 6:14, the Greek word θώραξ (thórax) translates to Latin as “lorica” and translates to English as “breastplate.” One Lorica pray