Saint Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland, was born in Roman Britain (modern-day England). At sixteen, he was captured by pirates and sold into slavery in Ireland. During his time there, the young man experienced a religious conversion that would shape the rest of his life. At twenty-two, he managed to escape and return to his homeland, but he never lost the desire to go back to Ireland to convert its people.
He studied under Bishop Saint Germanus in Auxerre, who became his mentor. Patrick also traveled to Italy and the Tyrrhenian Islands to visit the monastic communities established there. His teachers advised the passionate, though still inexperienced, young man not to rush his mission to Ireland. Eventually, he went as the successor to the first Irish bishop, Palladius.
Patrick’s missionary work was highly successful, especially when the conversion of kings led entire communities to Christ. He skillfully integrated the new Christian communities into the social fabric of the time and place, and he made sure that clergy, as much as possible, were local. He faced significant resistance and even life-threatening dangers. In response to accusations and slander, he wrote a Confessio, which seems inspired by Saint Paul’s defense in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians. In it, he emphasized that his work was solely driven by a divine calling and nothing else. His involvement in the anti-Pelagian struggle also reflected the absolute theological value he attributed to divine grace.
Modern scholars disagree on the exact chronology of his life, so we must cautiously say that Patrick was born at the end of the 4th century and died during the second half of the 5th century. The feast day of March 17 has been celebrated for a long time.
