St. Patrick was born around 390 and died more or less 70 years later. For some unknown number of years, he was in servitude in Ireland to 'border raiders.'
"The traditional folk tales about Patrick (e.g., his using the shamrock to illustrate the concept of the Trinity, driving snakes from the island) are all pious elaborations of a later time."
--Encyclopedia of Catholicism (Harper Collins 1995)
