Meaning Latin "nobleman" or "patrician" (from patricius).
Figure Saint Patrick; fifth-century Apostle to Ireland (c. 387-461).
Feast day March 17 (Catholic, Anglican, Orthodox)
Traditions CATHOLICORTHODOXANGLICANPROTESTANT
In the Christian tradition
Saint Patrick is the fifth-century Romano-British missionary who, after capture by Irish slave-traders in his youth, returned to Ireland as a bishop and brought Christianity to the island. The Catholic, Anglican, and Orthodox calendars commemorate him on March 17, a major feast in Ireland and (in the diaspora) in the United States. He is the patron saint of Ireland.
Saint Patrick (c. 387-461) is one of the few patristic-period saints whose own writings survive: his Confessio (a spiritual autobiography) and his Letter to Coroticus are among the principal sources for his life. The boy of Romano-British nobility, captured at age sixteen by Irish raiders, taken as a slave to Ireland, escaped, returned home, and then heard a vision call him back as a missionary, brought Christianity to Ireland in a sustained mission across decades. The Saint Patrick's Day feast on March 17 is a major Catholic feast in Ireland and has become a wider cultural feast in the Irish diaspora. The Lorica of Saint Patrick ("I bind unto myself today / the strong Name of the Trinity") is one of the great Christian prayers of the Celtic tradition; the Christian-Prayers.com entry on the Lorica covers the prayer in depth. The name Patrick has been in continuous Christian use; modern English-speaking Christian families use it freely.