We know nothing certain as to either the place or the year of St. Patrick’s birth. It probably took place in the year 387, either at Dumbarton in Britain or Boulogne in Gaul. His parents appear to have been ” provincialised ” Celts, his father holding a minor official position in the Roman administration or Civil Service. In baptism the future saint received the name of Succat. At the age of sixteen he was taken prisoner in one of the many raids of the ” Scots,” and was carried as a slave to Dal-riada,-)- the northern part of Ulaidh. There he spent six years of hardship and privation tending the sheep of his master, Milchu, on the slopes of Sliabh Mis (Slemish). At length he left his place of slavery—instructed, we are told, in a vision—and after travelling two hundred miles, got passage on board a ship which brought him to Gaul.

*Tir na n-Og, Magh Mell, Ui Breasail. f The northern half 0/ County Anttim.

    A period of no less than twenty-three years elapsed before St. Patrick returned to Ireland as its Apostle. Some even say that the interval extended over forty years. Of his life during that time, in an empire which was breaking up under the blows of Teuton and Celt, we know little. But most of it was spent in preparing for the great project which he had formed of carrying the light of Christianity to the island of his captivity. He maintained the knowledge of its language and customs which he had acquired in slavery. He prepared himself for his mission by earnest study first under St. Martin of Tours, then under St. Germanus of Auxerre, who ordained him priest, and afterwards at a famous monastery on the small island of Lerin in the Mediterranean. When news came of the death of Palladius, he was consecrated bishop, and with the apostolic blessing of Pope Celestine (who is said to have given him his name of Patrick or Palricius), he proceeded on his great mission for the conversion of Ireland, a.d. 432.

Above : Statue of Emperor Constantine

 For many years after the full development of their Empire, the Romans remained Pagan. The Christian religion, however, had steadily advanced, despite the most fearful persecutions, until it permeated all the Roman dominions. With the conversion of the Emperor Constantine (a.d. 312) it had become the official religion of the Empire, and soon it completely supplanted the old Paganism. Accepted and practised throughout all the Roman territories, Christianity now spread from the Caspian to the Irish Sea.