Who Was the Real St. Patrick?

St Patrick’s Day, on 17 March, is now regarded as a prime opportunity for Irish politicians to travel abroad on a mission for ‘brand Ireland’. Few national saints have the global reach of Patrick: it has been calculated that church bells ring out in 800 worldwide locations to celebrate the feast day of this Roman Briton who brought Christianity to Ireland in the early 5th century. There were other missionaries already in Ireland — one Palladius had evangelised certain Irish communities — but Patrick emerges as the most historically vivid.

Source: www.spectator.co.uk