Saint Patrick was born in Glevum (Gloucester), Scotland, where River Avon joins the River Severn Estuary, around 380 AD. He came from a British-Roman family.
At the age of 16, he was taken prisoner and transferred to Ireland, where he remained for six years. The hours of loneliness, when he pastured his flock as a slave, were spent in prayer to God, Whom the Saint had discovered in his ordeal. The righteous Lord spoke to the Saint in his sleep and told him to return home with a ship that was ready for him.
The Saint, as God had foretold him, in 402 AD, escaped from there, but the storm led the ship to the northwestern shores of Gaul, in Armorica (Brittany). The ship arrived in Gaul, but its crew could not find food there.
Then the captain asked the Saint to pray to God to help them.
The Saint spoke to them about the omnipotence and benevolence of God, calling them to convert to the Lord and repent and assured them that they would find food on the same day. And so it happened.
He returned to Britain, but a vision he saw invited him to return to Ireland to help the Christians. Shortly afterwards he went to France, to the city of Auxerre, where he remained for many years preparing himself for priesthood. It is said that he met St. Martin and St. Germanus, who sent him to Ireland in 432 AD. as Bishop.
Bishop Patrick left us writings that survive to this day. His Confession, his autobiography, a letter condemning slavery and his remarkable hymn (breastplate), where he confesses his absolute faith in Christ, are preserved.
According to tradition, he drove out all the demons and all the snakes from Ireland. To date, no venomous snakes have been found in Ireland.
He also taught the mystery of the one and consubstantial Trinity using the clover as an example, a local plant whose leaves consist of three pieces but are essentially one.
The people of Ireland loved him very much and celebrate his memory with splendor. Saint Patrick slept peacefully in the year 461 AD. (according to others in 493 AD), in at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland.
