Patrick was born into a devout Christian family in Brittany (Britain) around 385. His father was Capurnius; a Roman Decurio and his mother was a very pious woman.
At the age of 16, he was captured into slavery by the Irish vandals, and became a slave to a local chief. As a slave he was in charge of rearing the livestock of his master. His spiritual life became stronger than before as a result of this, although Ireland then was filled with Pagan practices. After 6 years of slavery, he escaped from his master and wandered for several days until he found a ship at the sea shore. He found his way back to his family, who told him not to leave them again.
At home, he felt that the priesthood was calling to him. As result, he entered the seminary and was ordained a priest. He dreamt of the Irish people calling on to him for their eternal salvation. After much consideration, he was consecrated a bishop for the sole aim of evangelization and leading the Ireland to true conversion. Thus, he was sent to Ireland as a missionary Bishop.
He spent most of his life evangelizing in Ireland, although he was not the first missionary sent to Ireland. The mission of Palladius; who proceeded before him had little impact. To show the greatness of God, he worked many miracles in Ireland. On one occasion when the priests of the heathen gods levitated, he prayed and they went mad. This made the King and the people to believe more in God. On another occasion, he stayed with a priest of the heathen gods inside a burning fire until the chief priest was burnt alive and him untouched. As a result of the miracles God worked through him, many people were converted. This made him to demand for three Auxiliary Bishop for more evangelization work.
His works: Confessions written toward the end of his life in response to apparent criticism, and the letter to the soldiers of Coroticus helped so immensely for his evangelism. After his death in 461, he was buried at Downpatrick.The priests who he ordained moved to various parts of Africa and other places in the world to preach the good news.