- St. Patrick was born in Roman Britain in the fourth century, into a wealthy Romano-British family.
- His father and grandfather were deacons in the Christian church.
- At the age of sixteen, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken captive to Ireland as a slave.
- He was told by God in a dream to flee from captivity to the coast, where he would board a ship and return to Britain.
- Upon returning, he quickly joined the Church in Auxerre in Gaul and studied to be a priest.
- In 432, he again said that he was called back to Ireland, though as a bishop, to Christianise the Irish from their native polytheism.
- He used a shamrock to explain the Christian doctrine of the Trinity (God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit were three parts of the same divinity) to the Irish people.
- After nearly thirty years of evangelism, he died on 17 March 461.
- According to tradition, he was buried at Downpatrick.
- Although there were other more successful missions to Ireland from Rome, Patrick endured as the principal champion of Irish Christianity and is held in esteem in the Irish church.
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| St. Patrick depicted in a stained glass window at St. Benin's Church, Ireland. |
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