St Patrick was a Briton…
During the last days of the Roman Empire, a sixteen-year-old boy was abducted into slavery by some savages outside the border of the civilized world. They took him to a land far away where they put him to work under horrible conditions. The young man who had never been religious decided to pray to God for deliverance from this slavery. He prayed consistently for 5 years until at last he was able to escape. He walked 200 miles to a seaport where he found passage on a ship that took him away from this horrible place. He returned home to happy parents who begged him to stay close and never leave again.
Although happy to be home, he could not sleep. He was tormented by dreams and visions. He heard a voice that told him to return to the land of his kidnappers and preach the word of Christ to the lost in the savage land. He needed no more convincing that he had to go, and that he did. The boy lived in what is now England. His kidnappers were Celtic tribesmen from across the water..what is now Ireland. The young Briton Patricius grew into an old Irishman named Patrick, St Patrick. So the patron saint of Ireland was an Englishman by birth! Patrick is credited with driving the idol-worshipping Druid religion out of Ireland and converting almost an entire population to Christianity.
Patrick who was once a slave in the flourishing slave trade in Ireland became their liberator. One of Patrick’s accomplishments was to put an end to this horrible slave trade. The Celts would kidnap hundreds at a time. The boys were used as sheepherders and girls as sex slaves. What the young Patrick thought to be a dark time turned out to be light and liberty for so many.
Sources: Who was St. Patrick? http://www.history.com/topics/who-was-saint-patrick
The Greatest Stories Never Told, by Rick Beyer
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