Everything you need to know about Ireland's patron saint on St Patrick's Day

Saint Patrick’s Day is one of the most celebrated feast days of any saint around the world.

The patron saint of Ireland is celebrated on 17 March, as he died on this date in around 461 AD.

People across Ireland, Northern Ireland Canada and the US celebrate, as well as Irish descendants in the UK, New Zealand and Asia.

So, who was he and what did he do? This is everything you need to know about Saint Patrick.

Who was Saint Patrick?

Saint Patrick was a Bishop in Ireland and is regarded as the founder of Christianity in Ireland, converting the Irish people from Celtic polytheism to Catholicism.

He is known as “the Apostle of Ireland”, he was the Bishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland, which signifies that he was the leader and most senior figure of the church in Ireland.

Patrick was born in Britain in the early fifth century, near or around modern-day Cumbria. It is said that at 16 years old he was taken by pirates to Ireland, where he was held as a slave and worked as a shepherd.

It was during his six years of captivity in County Mayo that he converted to Christianity.

He is reported to have dreamt of his duty to become a bishop, and left Ireland after he had a dream that an angel told him he must leave.

Patrick walked nearly 200 miles from County Mayo to the Irish coast. When he returned home to Britain, he reported that he had experienced a second revelation in which an angel had told him to return to Ireland as a missionary.