Biography of Saint Patrick

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St. Patrick himself	387	Patrick is born in Scotland or Roman Britain to parents Calpurnius and Conchessa. His birth name was Maewyn Succat and he took the name Patricus (Roman name for Patrick) when he became a priest. His father was a Deacon but was not considered to be a religious man as he took the position for its tax benefits.
	403	Patrick is captured by Irish raiders and put into slavery at the age of 16. He spends 6 years in captivity working as a shepherd for an Irish chieftain in Antrim. Before he was captured, Patrick was not particularly religious but turned to God for comfort during his enslavement and became a devout Christian.
	409	He escapes Ireland after God told him in a dream to leave by going to the coast to find passage aboard a ship. He does and he returns to Britain. He becomes a priest and goes to study in a French monastery.
	432	Patrick is sent to Ireland as a bishop. Patrick begins a thirty year project of converting the Irish people to Christianity. Legend has it that Patrick drove the snakes from Ireland. Actually, snakes were never on the Emerald Isle. The legend is probably more symbolic of the conversion of the Irish people as Patrick drove pagans from Ireland. Snakes had been a symbol of evil since the Garden of Eden story in Genesis. Another legend is that Patrick used the Shamrock to explain the Trinity to the uneducated Irish people. The Shamrock has been associated with St. Patrick and the Irish ever since. Today 93% of Ireland is Catholic.
	466	Patrick dies on March 17th; now celebrated as his feast day. He is buried near Downpatrick with Saint Brigid and Saint Columba.

Cardinal Daly		Cardinal Brendan Cahal Daly, the 114th successor to Saint Patrick, visited Milwaukee in the summer of 2000. He is shown here posing with the Irish Cultural and Heritage Center’s statue of Saint Patrick on August 19th of that year. The following morning he celebrated the annual “Mass for Peace and Justice” at Milwaukee’s IrishFest. In his closing remarks he thanked the Lord, “for the privilege of being Irish.” Cardinal Daly was born October 1, 1917 in Loughguile, Northern Ireland. He was ordained on June 22, 1941. Like Saint Patrick, he spent a considerable amount of time studying in France. In 1967 he was appointed Bishop of Ardagh and Clonmacoise. He was promoted to Archbishop of Armagh on November 6, 1990 and proclaimed Primate of Ireland. He was elevated to the cardinalate by Pope John Paul II during the Consistory of June 28, 1991. He retired on his 79th birthday in 1996 and today is Bishop Emeritus of Armagh.