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Saint Patrick Biography

Saint / Holiday Figure

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Saint Patrick is the Catholic saint celebrated each year on March 17th, which is called Saint Patrick's Day. He is revered by Christians for establishing the church in Ireland during the fifth century AD. The precise dates and details of his life are unclear, but some points are generally agreed: as a teen he was captured and sold into slavery in Ireland, and six years later he escaped to Gaul (now France) where he later became a monk. Around 432 he returned to Ireland as a missionary and succeeded in converting many of the island's tribes to Christianity. Late in life he wrote a brief text, Confessio, detailing his life and ministry. (It is now known as The Confession of St. Patrick.) His feast day, March 17, is celebrated as a day of Irish pride in many parts of the world.

Extra credit: A popular folk tale says that St. Patrick chased all snakes from Ireland, but there is no historical basis for this story... Another folk tale, that he used shamrocks to teach about the holy Trinity, is also generally agreed to be a myth... In Gaelic the saint's name is Padraig... In his Confessio, Patrick says he was born in a village called Bannavem Taberniae. That village no longer exists, and its location is unknown. It is widely guessed to be somewhere on the western shore of Great Britain.

Other popular holiday figures include St. Valentine, Santa Claus and Groundhog Day's Punxsutawney Phil.

Blog posts mentioning Saint Patrick:

• Where in the World is Bannavem Taburniae?
• Spitzer Resigns, Sort Of
• Saint Patrick +1623