St Patrick.
389-461. ~ There is a great deal of uncertainty written about the life of St Patrick. Some writings are exaggerated tales; other accounts are derived from legends grown up around his life story.
Theologists know he was born to a Roman/British family in a place somewhere in the British Isles. Historians think it was in England or Wales and some believe it may have been Scotland. His father was called Calpurius and he worked as an official (town councillor) and was also a deacon. It is believed his grandfather was a priest.
At sixteen years of age, Patrick was captured by Irish pirates and taken to Ireland to be sold into slavery. He spent the next six years tending livestock in Antrim, near Mount Slemish. At aged twenty-two, he experienced a vision and he was told to escape from the slavery. He did manage to run away and reached the North coast of France. Not long after, he returned to Britain to his family, but decided to go back to France to study in the monastery at Lerins and hoped to be a missionary priest. He spent fifteen years in France and was probably ordained there. St Germanus of Auxerre sent Patrick to Ireland to take over from St Palladius, the first bishop of Ireland. His mission was to convert the pagan Irish people to Christianity.
Patrick worked mainly in the north of the country and Palladius worked mainly in the south. He had a great deal of opposition travelling around the country, meeting hostile chieftains. Despite this, he was very successful in his mission and managed to convert most of Ireland to Christianity. He used the shamrock to explain about the Holy Trinity and this became the national symbol of Ireland. Over the years, as well as visiting Rome a few times, he founded the cathedral church of Armagh in Ireland and it became the centre of the Irish Church. Patrick was devoted to the use of Latin in religious education, he encouraged its use, and he improved the standard of teaching.
In his life, Patrick was a creative author and wrote many religious articles including an autobiography, “Confessio” and “Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus” which condemned the killing of a group of Irish Christians by the invading Welsh.
Patrick died in 461 and it is not known where he is buried. In his lifetime, Patrick totally changed the Irish culture, replacing paganism with the Christian Church. He is known as “The Apostle of Ireland.”