fl. fifth century

British/Irish Clergyman

One of the best-known Catholic saints, Saint Patrick was sent by the Church to Ireland in the mid-fifth century to bring Christianity to the Irish. For over a half century, he traveled through Ireland, spreading the Christian religion among the Druids. He is largely credited with almost single-handedly converting much of Ireland to Christianity in a single lifetime. In so doing, he became the Irish patron saint and national apostle.

Patrick was born in Britain in the late fourth century or early fifth century. His parents were Romanized Britons, and his father, Calpurnius, was an official in the local government and a deacon in the British Christian faith. Patrick was taken from his parents and sold into slavery by Irish raiders at the age of sixteen. Isolated by language, religion, and distance from everything familiar, Patrick turned to prayer and...