St. Patrick’s Day holiday – how did it begin? One story has it beginning in Dublin, Ireland, where there were two Protestant churches, one being Saint Patrick's. This saint's history began in the fifth century in Britain and not in Ireland. When Patrick, born in Britain, was around 16 years old, he was captured by British pirates and taken to Ireland where he was sold into slavery. For the next six years, while Patrick worked as a herdsman for his master, he learned the Irish language and became quite fluent in it. |