Saint Patrick was a Romano-Briton and Christian missonary, who is the most generally recognized patron saint of Ireland. When he was 14 he was captured from Britain by Irish raiders and taken as a slave to Ireland, where he lived for six years before escaping and returning to his family. After entering the Church, he returned to Ireland as an ordained bishop in the north and west of the island. By the 8th Century he became revered as the patron saint of Ireland.
Saint Patrick's Day(March 17th) is celebrated both in and outside of Ireland, as both a liturgical and non-liturgical holiday. In the dioceses of Ireland it is a both solemnity and a holy day of obligation and outside of Ireland, it can be a celebration of Ireland itself.
