Saint Patrick was born in Britain circa 386 AD. Much of his life is unknown to historians and can’t be verified, though some sources have listed his birth name as Maewyn Succat, with the name Patrick later taken on during his religious journeys or ordainment.  Although there is not a lot known about his early life, including his birth name, British-born Patrick became a devout Christian during his six-year enslavement in Ireland. He escaped only to return to Ireland later in life as a missionary, combining Irish pagan beliefs with Christian sacrament in his teachings. A religious figure within the Christian and Catholic faiths, he died around 461 AD and later became the patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patrick is annually honored throughout the world on his feast day, March 17.

Enslavement in Ireland

When Patrick was 16 years old, he was captured by Irish pirates. They brought him to Ireland, where he was sold into slavery in Dalriada. There, his job was to tend sheep. Patrick’s master, Milchu, was a high priest of Druidism, a pagan sect that held major religious influence over the country at the time.

Patrick came to view his enslavement as God’s test of his faith. During his six years of captivity, he became deeply devoted to Christianity through constant prayer. He saw the children of pagan Ireland reaching out their hands to him in a vision and grew increasingly determined to convert the Irish to Christianity.

Freedom and Religious Calling

Around 408 AD, the idea of escaping enslavement came to Patrick in a dream, in which a voice promised him he would find his way home to Britain. Eager to see the dream materialize, Patrick convinced some sailors to let him board their ship.

After three days of sailing, he and the crew abandoned the vessel in France and wandered, lost, for 28 days—covering 200 miles of territory in the process—with Patrick ultimately reuniting with his family.

A free man once again, Patrick went to Auxerre, France, where he studied and entered the priesthood under the guidance of the missionary Saint Germanus. He was ordained a deacon around 418 AD by the Bishop of Auxerre (likely Germanus, who became the bishop in 418 AD).

As time passed, he never lost sight of his vision to convert Ireland to Christianity. In 432 AD, he was ordained as a bishop, and soon, Pope Celestine I sent Patrick to Ireland to spread the gospel to non-believers and to support the small community of Christians already living there.

Upon his arrival in Ireland, Patrick was initially met with resistance but managed to spread Christian teachings far and wide, along with other missionaries, through preaching, writing, and performing countless baptisms.

Recognizing the history of spiritual practices already in place, Patrick incorporated nature-oriented pagan rituals into church practices. It is believed that Patrick introduced the Celtic cross, which combined a native sun-worshiping symbology with that of the Christian cross.

Throughout his missionary work, Patrick supported church officials, created councils, founded monasteries, and organized Ireland into dioceses.

Saint Patrick died circa 461 AD in Saul, Ireland, and is said to have been buried in the nearby town of Downpatrick, County Down. Saint Patrick is recognized as the patron saint of Ireland, and his writings, noted for their humble voice, include the autobiographical Confessio and Letter to Coroticus.

Many legends have been associated with his life, including that he drove away all the snakes from Ireland and that he introduced the Holy Trinity by using the three-leaved shamrock as a teaching tool. In fact, snakes have long been absent from Ireland’s natural ecosystem because of the climate and possibly the island’s icy, watery surroundings. Saint Patrick’s reptilian banishment, then, is just the stuff of folklore. As for the Holy Trinity, there’s no definitive proof regarding how Saint Patrick taught it.

Despite his name, it’s worth noting that a pope never canonized Saint Patrick, making his saintly status somewhat questionable. In all fairness, Saint Patrick wasn’t the only saint that didn’t go through a proper canonization. In the Catholic Church’s first millennium, there wasn’t a formal canonization process at all, so most saints from that period were given the title if they were either martyrs or seen as extraordinarily holy.

Fun Fact:  Chicago celebrates Saint Patrick’s Day each year by using dye to turn the Chicago River a festive shade of green.