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c. 432-433 CEPrimary source · 2 sourcesWell documented

Patrick Returns to Ireland as a Missionary Bishop

Enslaved on Irish soil as a teenager, he came back decades later to convert the people who had captured him

On the timeline · around c. 432-433 CE · Ancient and Early Christian IrelandAncient and Early Christian IrelandViking and Norman IrelandPatrick Returns to Ireland as a Missionary Bishop750 BCE500 BCE250 BCE1 CE250 CE500 CE750 CE

Quick facts

Captured into slavery at
Age 16
Returned as missionary bishop
c. 432/433 CE
Primary source
Patrick's own Confessio
Oldest surviving manuscript copy
Book of Armagh, c. 807 CE, Trinity College Dublin

What happened

Patrick, a teenager from Roman Britain, was captured by pirates at sixteen and sold into slavery in Ireland, where he worked for six years as a shepherd before escaping on foot to the coast and finding passage home. After training in Gaul and being ordained a bishop, he returned to Ireland around 432 or 433 CE as a Christian missionary to the land of his former captivity. Patrick was not the first Christian missionary to reach Ireland, since Christian communities already existed there, but he became by far the most famous, credited with securing toleration for Christians, training native clergy, and encouraging monasticism. Nearly everything known about his life comes from his own hand: a short autobiographical work called the Confessio, written late in life to defend his mission against accusers, survives in the Book of Armagh, a manuscript copied around 807 CE and now held at Trinity College Dublin.

Why it matters

Patrick's mission is the hinge between pagan and Christian Ireland, and the Confessio is both the foundation of his legend and the oldest surviving piece of writing composed in Ireland, marking the arrival of Latin literacy on the island alongside the new religion.

How we know

Patrick's own Confessio is the primary source for his capture, escape, and return; it survives in the Book of Armagh (Trinity College Dublin MS 52), written around 807 CE, among other later manuscript copies.

Sources

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Part of a timelineHistory of Ireland24 events · A passage tomb older than the pyramids, an alphabet of monks and manuscripts, and an island fought over, planted, starved, and finally split in twoView all →
Patrick Returns to Ireland as a Missionary Bishop · History of Ireland · SourcedStory