St. Patrick: Feast Day, Patronage & Prayers
Feast day: March 17 (optional memorial; a solemnity in Ireland)
Patron of: Ireland and Nigeria.
About St. Patrick
St. Patrick was born in Roman Britain in the late fourth or early fifth century, the son of a deacon. At about sixteen he was seized by raiders and taken to Ireland as a slave, where he tended sheep for six years. In his loneliness he turned to God and prayed day and night. He escaped, made his way home, and later, in a dream, heard the voice of the Irish calling him: "We beg you, holy youth, to come and walk among us once more."
Patrick studied for the priesthood and returned to Ireland as a bishop. For some thirty years he traveled through the island, preaching, baptizing thousands, ordaining priests, and founding churches, despite danger and opposition. Tradition says he used the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity. Two of his own writings survive, his Confession and a letter to the soldiers of a British chieftain who had killed and enslaved newly baptized Christians. They reveal a humble man overwhelmed by God's mercy. The famous prayer known as St. Patrick's Breastplate is associated with him. He died, tradition holds, on March 17, probably in the second half of the fifth century.
Prayers to St. Patrick on Daily Catholic Prayers
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