St. Patrick's Day: AD , Ireland

1. Patrick, patron saint of Ireland, was not born in Ireland.


2. His given name was not Patrick but Maewyn or Succat.


3. He was born about AD 385.


4. At the age of sixteen, a group of Irish marauders raided his village and carried of young men and to be sold as slaves.


5. For six years, he toiled as a sheepherder in County Antrim, Ireland.


6. During this period of slavery and solitude, he felt an increasing awareess of God.


7. Escaping Ireland and slavery, he spent a dozen years at a monastery in Gaul.


8. As a priest, he adopted the christian name Patrick and planned a return to Ireland.


9. The Celtic Druid priests arrested Patrick a dozen times. Each time, he escaped.


10. After thirty years of exemplary missionary work, founding monasteries, churches, and schools, Patrick retired. He died March 17th 461.