Guide Note:Saint Patrick is the most popular and well-known of the three patron saints of Ireland. He was kidnapped as a teen from Roman Britain and taken to Ireland, then sold as a slave. Patrick said that God told him in a dream to escape by walking 200 miles to a boat headed for England. He relates in his Confesio that he had a dream in which the people of Ireland were calling to him to come and tell them about God. Patrick is credited with banishing snakes from Ireland, but they actually didn't exist there. It is said that the "snakes" he banished referred to the serpent symbolism in Druidism.

Fast Facts:

1. Born: ca. 373-387
2. Birthplace: Kilpatrick, Scotland
3. Death: ca. 461-493
4. Place of death: Saul
5. Much debate over the actual dates of events in Patrick's life
6. Believed by some to be buried in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland
7. Feast day: March 17 (date of death)
8. Kidnapped at 16 and taken to Ireland as a slave
9. Kept his master's flocks for 6 years
10. Escaped back to England by boat around 20 years of age
11. Returned to Ireland as a missionary around 433
12. Used the 3-leaf shamrock to teach the doctrine of the Trinity

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