Saint Patrick was a fifth-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Ireland, the other patron saints being Brigid of Kildare and Columba. He is also the patron saint of Nigeria. Patrick is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, the Church of Ireland (part of the Anglican Communion), Lutheranism, and in the Eastern Orthodox Church, where he is regarded as equal-to-the-apostles and Enlightener of Ireland.
The dates of Patrick's life cannot be fixed with certainty, but there is general agreement that he was active as a missionary in Ireland during the fifth century. Two Latin writings by Patrick survive: the Confessio and the Letter to the soldiers of Coroticus. Patrick writes that when he was sixteen, he was captured by Irish pirates from his home in Britain and taken as a slave to Ireland. He writes that he lived there for six years as a herder before escaping and returning to his family. After studying for many years, probably in Gaul, he returned to spread Christianity in Ireland. As a bishop, Patrick converted "thousands" and ordained many priests. Years later, he was summoned to Britain by church leaders to answer various accusations. Patrick issued a lengthy and personal statement denying the accusations and defending himself, which became the Confessio.
The earliest hagiographies of Patrick were written in the seventh century by Muirchú and Tírechán. By this time, he had come to be revered as a patron saint of Ireland. According to tradition, Patrick was the first bishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland, and is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland (despite evidence of some earlier Christian presence), converting the people from paganism. There are many legends about Patrick, such as him using a shamrock to symbolize the Trinity, banishing snakes and demons from Ireland, and fasting on a mountaintop.
Saint Patrick's Day, considered his feast day, is observed on 17 March, the supposed date of his death. It is celebrated in Ireland and among the Irish diaspora as a religious and cultural holiday. In the Catholic Church in Ireland, it is both a solemnity and a holy day of obligation.
Life
Early life and captivity
Patrick was born in Britain at the end of Roman rule. He came from a family of Romano-Britons, i.e. Romanized Celtic Britons. He would have spoken British Celtic as his mother tongue, the Irish language, and some Latin. In his Confessio, Patrick writes that his father, Calpurnius, was a decurion (senator and tax collector) of an unnamed Romano-British town, and also a deacon in the Church; his grandfather Potitus was a priest. However, Patrick writes that he was not religious in his youth, and considered himself in that period to be "idle and callow".
His birthplace is not known with any certainty, but it is believed to be near the Irish Sea (as he was captured by Irish pirates) and near a large Roman town (as his father was a decurion). Patrick writes that his family hailed from the vicus of Bannavem Taburniae, and that his father had a small villa nearby. Several places have been proposed. One is the Roman fort Banna (Birdoswald) on Hadrian's Wall, which is near Luguvalium (Carlisle) in Cumbria. Another is Banwen in south Wales, which was the site of a Roman marching camp. The West Country has also been proposed; particularly Banwell-Wint Hill, and Avonmouth, both in Somerset. It has been suggested that the last part of Bannavem Taburniae refers to the Severn (Sabrina) or that it is made up of the Celtic banna (promontory) venta (town) and berniae (a pass or gap). The Roman town of Bannaventa in Northamptonshire is phonically similar to the name Patrick gave, but is probably too far from the sea. Muirchú's 7th century Life of Patrick says that he was born at a place called Nemthor, which in the following centuries was identified with a place near Dumbarton in Strathclyde. Nearby is Kilpatrick, another proposed birthplace.
According to his Confession, he was captured at the age of sixteen from his family's villa at Bannavem Taburniae by a group of Irish pirates. They took him to Ireland where he was enslaved and held captive for six years. Patrick writes in the Confession that the time he spent in captivity was critical to his spiritual growth. He says that God gave him the opportunity to be forgiven his sins and to grow in his faith through prayer.
As a slave, Patrick worked as a herder and was introduced to the Irish culture that would define his life and reputation. Patrick does not say where in Ireland he worked. However, in his Confessio, he recounts a dream he had many years later, where the people near "the wood of Foclut" (silva Focluti or Vocluti), which is "next to the western sea", beseech him to "come and walk again amongst us". This suggests that Foclut was in the area of his captivity. Patrick writes that after six years of captivity, he heard a voice telling him that he would soon go home, and then that his ship was ready. Fleeing his master, he travelled 200 Roman miles (about 188 statute miles or 300 km) to a port, presumably on the eastern or southern coast, where he found a ship and persuaded the captain to take him aboard. It is generally believed that Foclut refers to Foghill (Fochoill, meaning "under-wood") near Killala Bay in Connacht. However, Patrick's hagiographer Muirchú said it was in the area of Slemish mountain (Sliabh Mis) in Ulster.
Patrick says that they sailed for three days before reaching land. The likelihood that they set sail from the eastern or southern coast, and the length of the journey, suggests that they may have sailed to Gaul, perhaps Armorica. All apparently disembarked and then walked for 28 days in a "wilderness", becoming faint from hunger. Patrick prayed for sustenance, and about the sixteenth day, they came upon a herd of wild boar and were able to feed themselves. Eventually they reached civilization. Patrick's account of his escape from slavery is recounted in his Confessio.
Return to Britain and education
After a few years (paucos annos), Patrick says he returned home to his family in Britain, now in his early twenties. Patrick then began his ecclesiastical training. Muirchú says that Patrick studied at Auxerre in central Gaul for thirty years. J. B. Bury suggests that Amator ordained Patrick to the diaconate at Auxerre. It is suggested that Saint Germanus of Auxerre, a bishop of the Western Church, ordained him to the priesthood, while Maximus of Turin is said to have consecrated him as bishop. However, Tírechán says that Patrick studied for thirty years at Lérins Abbey off the south coast of Gaul.
Patrick recounts that he had a vision a few years after returning home:
I saw a man coming, as it were from Ireland. His name was Victoricus, and he carried many letters, and he gave me one of them. I read the heading: "The Voice of the Irish" (Vox Hiberionacum). As I began the letter, I imagined in that moment that I heard the voice of those very people who were near the wood of Foclut, which is beside the western sea—and they cried out, as with one voice: "We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us."
A.B.E. Hood suggests that the Victoricus of St. Patrick's vision may be identified with Saint Victricius, bishop of Rouen in the late fourth century, who had visited Britain in an official capacity in 396. However, Ludwig Bieler disagrees.
Patrick writes in his Epistola that he was a bishop established in Ireland, and that he had sold his "nobility ... for the sake of others". It is presumed that the church in Britain sent Patrick to be a bishop for part of Ireland, with Papal approval, and that he had sold his late father's estate to raise funds for the Irish bishopric.
Mission in Ireland
Patrick returned to Ireland as a Christian missionary. According to Muirchú, he landed at Inber Dea in Cualu (now Arklow in County Wicklow). Muirchú says that Patrick then decided to travel north to convert his former master, Miliuc of Dál mBuinne, and to buy his freedom. He rested at an island later named after him, before sailing north and landing at Mag Inis in the territory of Dál Fiatach. According to Muirchú, Patrick converted the local chieftain Díchu and was given a barn as a church, which became known as Sabhall Phádraig (Patrick's barn), now Saul. Tírechán, however, says that Patrick landed in Brega and founded his first churches there, then travelled clockwise around the island. Brega was part of the kingdom of Meath and included the royal capital of Tara. He says that Benen (or Benignus), son of the chieftain Secsnán, was Patrick's first Irish disciple. After founding his first church, both Muirchú and Tírechán have Patrick contending with Lóegaire mac Néill, the king of Tara.
From the Confessio, something can be seen of Patrick's mission. He writes that he "baptised thousands of people", even planning to convert his slavers. He ordained priests to lead the new Christian communities. He converted wealthy women, some of whom became nuns in the face of family opposition. He also dealt with the sons of kings, converting them too. The Confessio is generally vague about the details of his work in Ireland, though giving some specific instances. This is partly because, as he says at points, he was writing for a local audience of Christians who knew him and his work. There are several mentions of travelling around the island and of sometimes difficult interactions with the ruling elite. He claims of the Irish:
Never before did they know of God except to serve idols and unclean things. But now, they have become the people of the Lord, and are called children of God. The sons and daughters of the leaders of the Irish are seen to be monks and virgins of Christ!
Patrick's position as a foreigner in Ireland was not an easy one. His refusal to accept gifts from kings placed him outside the normal ties of kinship, fosterage and affinity. He says that he was on one occasion beaten, robbed of all he had, and put in chains, perhaps awaiting execution. Patrick says that he was also "many years later" a captive for 60 days, without giving details.
Letter to Coroticus and defence against accusers
Patrick's Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus (Epistola ad milites Corotici), is an open letter announcing his excommunication of a British king, Coroticus, and his soldiers, because they had killed and enslaved some of Patrick's new converts while raiding in Ireland. Patrick writes, "I cannot say that they are my fellow-citizens, nor fellow-citizens of the saints of Rome, but fellow-citizens of demons, because of their evil works". He calls them "allies of the Scots and apostate Picts". In other words, Coroticus was at least nominally Christian, and the southern Picts had converted to Christianity but lapsed into paganism. The Scots (Scotti in Latin) are most likely the Gaels of Dál Riata. Coroticus is widely believed to be king Ceretic of Alt Clut, the region surrounding Dumbarton (Ail Cluaithe in Irish). Thompson however proposed that Coroticus was a Romano-British warlord based at Ailech in the north of Ireland.
After spending decades in Ireland, Patrick was summoned to Britain by church leaders to answer various accusations or charges. He is estimated to have been around 60 years old. It is possible that Patrick's letter led to his being summoned. Historian Charles Thomas suggests that there were longstanding accusations against Patrick; when he publicly excommunicated king Coroticus, he overstepped his authority, and the Church in northern Britain at last decided to call him to account.
Patrick does not say outright what these accusations were, but they can be inferred based on the rebuttals he gives in his Confessio. He was accused of financial impropriety, and perhaps of obtaining his bishopric in Ireland with personal gain in mind. Specific accusations seem to be that he accepted valuable gifts from the Irish nobility, including from those hoping to be ordained, and took payment for baptisms. Patrick refused to leave Ireland, but instead issued a lengthy statement denying the accusations and defending himself. He says that he gave up his nobility in Britain, left his family and his homeland to work in Ireland, suffering insult, violence and imprisonment. Patrick says he returned the gifts wealthy women gave him, did not ask payment for baptisms, nor for ordaining priests, and indeed paid for many gifts to kings and judges, as well as compensating the sons of chiefs to accompany him. According to Roy Flechner, the Confessio was written in part as a defence against his detractors, who did not believe that he was taken to Ireland as a slave, despite Patrick's vigorous insistence that he was.
Seventh-century hagiographies
Two works by late seventh-century hagiographers of Patrick have survived. These are the Vita sancti Patricii of Muirchú moccu Machtheni and the writings of Tírechán. Both writers relied upon an earlier work, now lost, the Book of Ultán. This Ultán, probably the same person as Ultan of Ardbraccan, was Tírechán's foster-father. His obituary is given in the Annals of Ulster under the year 657. These works thus date from a century and a half after Patrick's death.
The Patrick portrayed by Tírechán and Muirchu is a martial figure, who contests with druids, overthrows pagan idols, and curses kings and kingdoms. On occasion, their accounts contradict Patrick's own writings: Tírechán states that Patrick accepted gifts from female converts although Patrick himself flatly denies this. However, the emphasis Tírechán and Muirchu placed on female converts, and in particular royal and noble women who became nuns, is thought to be a genuine insight into Patrick's work of conversion. Patrick also worked with the unfree and the poor, encouraging them to vows of monastic chastity. Tírechán's account suggests that many early Patrician churches were combined with nunneries founded by Patrick's noble female converts.