St. Patrick

(Image created by Brigitte Marmion)

Apostle of Ireland, born at Kilpatrick, near Dumbarton, in Scotland, in the year 387; died at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland, 17 March, 493. [Some sources say 460 or 461.]

He had for his parents Calphurnius and Conchessa. The former belonged to a Roman family of high rank and held the office of decurio in Gaul or Britain. Conchessa was a near relative of the great patron of Gaul, St. Martin of Tours. Kilpatrick still retains many memorials of Saint Patrick, and frequent pilgrimages continued far into the Middle Ages to perpetuate there the fame of his sanctity and miracles.

In his sixteenth year, Patrick was carried off into captivity by Irish marauders and was sold as a slave to a chieftan named Milchu in Dalriada, a territory of the present county of Antrim in Ireland, where for six years he tended his master's flocks in the valley of the Braid and on the slopes of Slemish, near the modern town of Ballymena. He relates in his "Confessio" that during his captivity while tending the flocks he prayed many times in the day.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11554a.htm

St. Patrick Links:

http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=89

http://www.history.com/minisites/stpatricksday/

http://saints.sqpn.com/saintp01.htm

http://www.st-patricks-day.com/about_saintpatrick.asp

http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Patrick/

http://www.ewtn.com/Devotionals/prayers/patrick.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick

http://www.rootsweb.com/~rwguide/irish/

http://www.saint-patrick.com/index.html

http://www.history.com/minisite.do?content_type=Minisite_Generic&content_type_id=851&display_order=2&mini_id=1082

http://www.byzantines.net/saints/st-patrick.htm

News Archive for St. Patrick:

http://news.google.com/archivesearch?hl=en&rlz=1T4ADBF_enUS264US264&q=st.+patrick&um=1&ie=UTF-8&scoring=t&sa=X&oi=archive&ct=title

Assorted News Articles:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/03/080313-snakes-ireland.html

http://www.startribune.com/local/16485261.html

The Breastplate of St. Patrick

Christ shield me this day: Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every person who thinks of me, Christ in the eye that sees me, Christ in the ear that hears me.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY