On this date in 461 St. Patrick died

Today is not an official holiday, so most schools, businesses, and government offices will be open. However, it is the widely celebrated St. Patrick's Day holiday. On this date in 461 A.D. St. Patrick - one of the most effective missionaries in the history of Christendom - died.

The American celebration of St. Patrick's Day is known for Celtic music, green clothes, parades, four-leaf clovers, lots of drinking, and all things Irish. That said, St. Patrick was a real historical person who had a massive impact on the world in which he lived.

Patrick was born somewhere in Roman Britain in approximately 389 A.D. However, the location of his birth and all of the dates of his life are widely debated by historians even today. Britain was one of Rome's last conquests as the Romans invaded the Celtic island in 43 A.D. during the reign of Emperor Claudius. Britain's warring tribes proved to be a more complicated challenge than Rome's emperors had anticipated, so they halted the conquest after decades of warfare in the north of the island. They pulled back near the border of what we now call Scotland and built a wall to keep the natives out. The Britons, Picts, and Gaelic-speaking Scots of the north remained outside of Rome's control, and invading Ireland was a conquest that no emperor would ever attempt. In 313, the Co-emperors Constantine and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan, giving Christians freedom to worship. In 380, Emperor Theodosius made Christianity the Roman Empire's official religion. By Patrick's birth, Rome was a predominantly Christian empire. Patrick's grandfather had been a priest, and Patrick grew up as a Christian, though not particularly devout.

By the time of Patrick, the conquerors had become the hunted, and Rome was under assault from a number of directions. Roman Britain was under constant attack from Irish raiders, Picts, Scots, and the Germanic Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. In 405, the 16-year-old Patrick was captured by Irish pirates and taken to pagan Ireland as a slave. We don't know much about the early life of Patrick, but he was well educated – particularly for the standards of the chaotic times in which he lived.

In 410, the city of Rome was sacked by the Germanic Visigoths under their King Alaric. 410 was also the year Rome finally pulled its remaining forces out of Britain. The Romanized Britons were left to fend for themselves.

Patrick had been tasked with tending the sheep by his master, Milchu – an Irish chieftain. During the six years Patrick was a slave in Ireland, he became increasingly devout in his faith. Patrick escaped captivity and returned to his family in Britain in approximately 411. Two years after returning home, Patrick felt the call to become a priest. In roughly 433, he returned to Ireland as a missionary determined to convert the island to Christianity. Patrick crisscrossed Ireland preaching the gospel, baptizing thousands, and ordaining numerous Irish priests. Eventually, his efforts would prove wildly successful, and a uniquely Gaelic Church took hold in Ireland. Irish missionaries would subsequently play important roles in converting the Scots, Picts, and Anglo-Saxon England.

The Feast of St. Patrick is March 17 and is believed to be the day of his death. Patrick, while never formally canonized by the Catholic Church, became widely venerated as a saint, and by the Seventh Century, he was recognized as the patron saint of Ireland.

Irish, fleeing English tyranny and the potato famine, brought the Feast of St. Patrick with them to America and beyond. Today the holiday has become a celebration of Ireland and Gaelic culture.

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