aint Patrick is thought to have been born around 400 in western Britain, perhaps in Wales or Scotland, son of a deacon and grandson of a priest. At age 15 or 16, he was captured by Irish raiders led by Niall of the Nine Hostages, High King of Ireland, along with others of his household and sold as a slave in Ireland to a Druid priest, Milchu. He became a shepherd in Antrim and it was during his lonely night watches that he met his God.

"But after I came to Ireland---every day I had to tend sheep, and many times a day I prayed---the love of God and His fear came to me more and more, and my faith was strengthened. And my spirit was moved so that in a single day I would say as many as a hundred prayers, and almost as many in the night, and this even when I was staying in the woods and on the mountains; and I used to get up for prayer before daylight, through snow, through frost, through rain, and I felt no harm, and there was no sloth in me---as I now see, because the spirit within me was then fervent."

"And there one night I heard in my sleep a voice saying to me: `It is well that you fast, soon you will go to your own country.' And again, after a short while, I heard a voice saying to me: `See, your ship is ready.' And it was not near, but at a distance of perhaps two hundred miles, and I had never been there, nor did I know a living soul there; and then I took to flight, and I left the man with whom I had stayed for six years. And I went in the strength of God who directed my way to my good, and I feared nothing until I came to that ship."

Like another Joseph in Scriptures, dreams played a large part in his calling.

"And there I saw in the night the vision of a man, whose name was Victoricus, coming as it were from Ireland, with countless letters. And he gave me one of them, and I read the opening words of the letter, which were, `The voice of the Irish'; and as I read the beginning of the letter I thought that at the same moment I heard their voice---they were those beside the Wood of Voclut, which is near the Western Sea---and thus did they cry out as with one mouth: `We ask thee, boy, come and walk among us once more.'"

It was because of an angelic message in a dream that he escaped back to his homeland; from another dream, he was led to return to Ireland as a missionary, for which he prepared by training at Saint Martin's monastery in Tours, then the island of Lerins, then Auxerre under Saint Germanus for 18 years. He was ordained as priest, then bishop, and was sent by Pope Celestine I back to Great Britain with Saint Germanus to combat Pelagius' heresy. He returned to Ireland and in 433 he established his first church there.

There followed a time of dynamic activity - baptizing thousands, including kings and chieftains, ordaining priests and as many as 350 bishops, building churches, founding schools. One of the sons of a chief, Benen, was so inspired by Saint Patrick that he became his follower from then on. Numerous miracles convinced the king that Patrick should be allowed to preach the faith at Tara and across the country. One local chieftain gave him a hill - in that place, Saint Patrick prophecied that on that spot, great glory would be given to God, and upon that spot now stands the great Cathedral of Armagh. During one lengthy fast on a mountain now known as Croagh Patrick, he is said to have received an assurance from the Lord that the Irish would be true to the faith until the end of time.

"Whence I, once rustic, exiled, unlearned, who does not know how to provide for the future, this at least I know most certainly that before I was humiliated I was like a stone lying in the deep mire; and He that is mighty came and in His mercy lifted me up, and raised me aloft, and placed me on the top of the wall. And therefore I ought to cry out aloud and so also render something to the Lord for His great benefits here and in eternity---benefits which the mind of men is unable to appraise."

In the Celtic tradition, he lived a life of austerity with periods of drawing away to lonely areas for communion with God. He slept on bare rocks, wore a hairshirt, was impervious to the wealth and fame of those in power. He seems to have felt himself to be lacking in an adequate education and carried some guilt about unknown past deeds. In spite of his Celtic background, he came from the Roman tradition in terms of ecclesial standards.

He travelled among the Celtic areas - not only Ireland, but also Scotland, Wales, Cornwall and Brittany, where many place names reveal his presence. In Ireland itself, he preached throughout the country with his companions, especially Saint Auxilius and Saint Iserninus. Many of his followers attained sainthood, including the nephew of the Druid priest who had been his owner when he was a slave. In spite of the continued hostility of the Druids and being captured 12 times by his enemies, his successes at conversion were tremendous.

"Wherefore, then, even if I wished to leave them and go to Britain---and how I would have loved to go to my country and my parents, and also to Gaul in order to visit the brethren and to see the face of the saints of my Lord! God knows it! that I much desired it; but I am bound by the Spirit, who gives evidence against me if I do this, telling me that I shall be guilty; and I am afraid of losing the labour which I have begun---nay, not I, but Christ the Lord who bade me come here and stay with them for the rest of my life, if the Lord will, and will guard me from every evil way that I may not sin before Him."

He made Croagh Patrick, a mountain near Clew Bay, into Ireland's Mount Sinai - there he withdrew for 40 days during Lent of prayer, fasting and struggling against temptations from demons and importuning God in behalf of the people of Ireland. This was the answer he received -

"..whoever in the spirit of penance would recite his hymn before death would attain the heavenly reward; barbarian hordes would never obtain sway in his Church; seven years before the Judgement Day, the sea would spread over Ireland to save its people from the temptations and terrors of the Antichrist; and greatest blessing of all, Patrick himself should be deputed to judge the whole Irish race on the last day."

The most common legend known of Saint Patrick is of his ordering all snakes to leave Ireland - the stories vary as to how he did this. Numerous miracles were attributed to him - one recounted his challenge to the Druids at Tara, court of the High King. Like Elijah defeating the priests of Baal, Saint Patrick overcame the Druids by miraculous signs and thereby converted many of the Irish chieftains.

The shamrock is associated with Saint Patrick because the saint used it to teach the doctrine of the Trinity.

He is known by two works - the "Confessio", an apologia, and "A Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus", written in outrage at the murder of some newly baptized Christians by outlaws who themselves claimed to be Christian. He also wrote the famous prayer, The Lorica or Saint Patrick's Breastplate, to prepare for his challenge to the Druids.

"So, now I commend my soul to my faithful God, for whom I am an ambassador in all my wretchedness; but God accepteth no person, and chose me for this office---to be, although among His least, one of His ministers."

"I pray those who believe and fear God, whosoever deigns to look at or receive this writing which Patrick, a sinner, unlearned, has composed in Ireland, that no one should ever say that it was my ignorance if I did or showed forth anything however small according to God's good pleasure; but let this be your conclusion and let it so be thought, that---as is the perfect truth---it was the gift of God. This is my confession before I die."

Saint Patrick died on March 17, 493 at Downpatrick where he began his life's work.