St Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was not Irish but a Roman Briton. He spent his childhood in southwestern England before being kidnapped by Irish raiders and enslaved. Despite the folklore that has accumulated over centuries, he was a real person who lived in the fourth and fifth centuries CE.
Patrick was probably born in the early fifth century and died about six decades later. His life story is known from two texts he wrote in old age: the Confessio, defending his mission to bring Christianity to Ireland, and the Epistula, a letter protesting the treatment of Irish Christians. A later biography by the monk Muirchu also provides details.
In the Confessio, Patrick says his father was a minor Roman magistrate in southwestern Britain. At 16, he was taken captive from his family property. Although his father was a Christian deacon and his grandfather a priest, Patrick was without faith at the time. During six years of slavery in northeastern Ireland, he found God through prayer while tending sheep.
After escaping and returning to his family, Patrick dreamed of an angel named Victoricus, who presented him with a letter titled 'the Voice of the Irish', begging him to return and bring Christianity. He travelled to Europe, was ordained a bishop, and sent to Ireland in the mid-fifth century. He faced hostility from the non-Christian population and was imprisoned at least twice.
According to Muirchu, Patrick confronted the high king of Tara, Loegaire, and the druids, staging a public Easter celebration on the same night as a pagan festival. The druids warned that Patrick's doctrine would overthrow kingdoms and destroy their gods. Patrick won King Loegaire over to Christianity and secured converts, establishing a church at Armagh.
In the Epistula, Patrick protested attacks by soldiers of British king Coroticus, who kidnapped Christians he had baptised. A stone slab inscribed with 'Patric' at Down Cathedral is believed to mark his resting place, though unconfirmed. Patrick was never formally canonised, but by the eighth century, versions of a 'Prayer to St Patrick' existed.
