Feast day: 17 March
Saint Patrick
Sanctus Patricius
A Romano-British youth carried off as a slave to Ireland who escaped, became a bishop, and returned to evangelise the island that had enslaved him, leaving in his Confessio one of the earliest autobiographies of Western Christianity.
- Born
- c. 385, Roman Britain
- Died
- c. 461, traditionally Saul, County Down (Ireland)
- Canonization
- Venerated by immemorial cult from the seventh century; never formally canonized, as his veneration predates the papal process. His feast entered the universal calendar in 1631.
- Country
- Britain and Ireland
Biography
Captivity and conversion
Patrick tells his own story in the Confessio. Son of Calpornius, a deacon and town councillor in Roman Britain, he was, by his own account, careless about religion when Irish raiders seized him at about sixteen and sold him into slavery. For six years he herded sheep, probably in the west of Ireland, praying, he says, a hundred prayers by day and as many by night. Guided by a dream, he escaped, walked two hundred miles to a ship, and after hardship returned to his family.
'The voice of the Irish'
At home he dreamed of a man bringing letters from Ireland, and heard the voice of those beside the Wood of Foclut crying, 'We beg you, holy boy, come and walk among us again.' He studied for the priesthood, most likely in Gaul, and was sent back to Ireland as bishop, probably in 432 according to later annals.
Evangelising Ireland
He baptised thousands, ordained clergy, encouraged consecrated virgins among the daughters of chieftains, and negotiated constantly with local kings, paying tribute for safe passage and enduring imprisonment. His Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus excommunicates a British warlord who had slaughtered and enslaved his newly baptised converts, one of the earliest Christian documents to denounce slave-raiding. The famous episodes of the shamrock and of banishing snakes come from medieval legend, not from his own writings. He is traditionally said to have died at Saul on 17 March.
Timeline
- ~c. 385 — Born in Roman Britain
- ~c. 401 — Captured by raiders and enslaved in Ireland
- ~c. 407 — Escapes and returns to Britain
- ~c. 432 — Returns to Ireland as bishop
- ~c. 450 — Writes the Confessio and the Letter to Coroticus
- ~c. 461 — Dies in Ireland on 17 March
Dates marked ~ are traditional or debated among historians.
Symbols
Shamrock — Medieval legend of his teaching the Trinity with a three-leafed plant.
Serpents underfoot — Legendary banishing of snakes, read as the driving out of paganism.
Crozier and paschal fire — His episcopal mission and the fire he is said to have lit on Slane.
Virtues & spiritual lessons
Forgiveness of his captors carried to the point of returning to serve them, humility that called himself 'a sinner, most unlearned', trust in providence and unwearied perseverance.
Importance in the Church
Patrick's mission made Ireland Christian without martyrdom or empire, and the monastic Ireland that followed re-evangelised much of post-Roman Europe. His Confessio is a foundational text of Western spiritual autobiography and of Christian protest against slavery.
Quotes
“I am Patrick, a sinner, most unlearned, the least of all the faithful.”
Confessio, 1
“We beg you, holy boy, come and walk among us again.”
Confessio, 23 — the voice of the Irish in his dream
Writings
Confessio — His spiritual autobiography and defence, the only certain source for his life.
Epistola ad milites Corotici — Letter excommunicating a warlord for enslaving Irish Christians.
Prayers
The Breastplate of Saint Patrick (Lorica)
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me. Amen.
Latin: Christus mecum, Christus ante me, Christus post me, Christus in me, Christus infra me, Christus supra me.
An Old Irish hymn of the eighth century traditionally attributed to Patrick; the attribution is devotional rather than certain.
Places
Down Cathedral, Downpatrick (Northern Ireland) — Traditional site of his grave.
Croagh Patrick, County Mayo (Ireland) — Mountain of his forty-day fast and a great annual pilgrimage.
Saint Patrick's Purgatory, Lough Derg (Ireland) — Ancient penitential pilgrimage site.
Related saints
Entries are drawn from the Roman Martyrology, the General Roman Calendar, canonization records of the Holy See, and the saints' own writings. Where a date, quotation or attribution is uncertain, it is marked as such. (63 saints)