Historians over the centuries have reached a general agreement that St. Patrick was born around 385 A.D., was taken captive in 401 A.D. and returned to his native country in 407 A.D. He came to Ireland in 432 A.D., converted the pagan nation to Christianity and presided over the Church until his death, for which two dates are given in the early records—March 17, 461 and 492. On various grounds, the later date no longer finds acceptance. One significant fact substantiates the former: the High King Loiguire, who died in 462, is said to have outlived Patrick. A second factor favoring this date appears with the date 467 A.D. when Patrick’s successor Bishop Benignus is listed as presiding in Armagh. Setting the Saint’s death around 461 A.D. places his Apostolic work, the evangelization of a pagan nation, within a thirty-year period. 23Patrick was the son of a Roman official Calpurnius of Gaul (France); some historians refer to the location as Roman Britannia (Modern Britain). His father held the position of Roman Decurion, a kind of district commissioner, a burdensome position but one that came with social dignity and Patrick speaks of “the nobility of his birth” and of his father’s “manservants and womanservants” employed at his residence and farm.
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