PATRICK, Sr, the apostle and the second bishop of Ireland, is supposed to have been born on the 5th of April 373, of a good family, at Kirkpatrick, near Dumbarton in Scotland. During some inroad of certain exiles from Ireland he was taken prisoner, and carried into that kingdom. After serving there for six years, and making himself master of the Irish language, he effected his escape, and returned home. It was about two years afterwards that he formed the design of converting the Irish. Repairing to the Continent to qualify himself for this undertaking, he studied under his mother's uncle, St Martin, Bishop of Tours, who ordained him deacon, and under St German, Bishop of Auxerre, who ordained him priest. Pope Celestine then consecrated him bishop, changed his name into Patricius or Patrick, and gave him a commission to evangelize the Irish. The new apostle reached his destination in 432, and landing, as some suppose, at Wicklow, proceeded to convert and baptize the natives. After labouring seven years indefatigably in this great work, he returned to Britain, which he delivered from the heresies of Pelagius and Arius. He then visited the Isle of Man, which he converted in 440. His return to Ireland took place in 448; and in thirteen years more the conversion of the whole island was completed. The remainder of his career was spent in superintending the monasteries of Armagh and Saul, which he had founded. After having established schools and an academy, he closed his life, in the 120th year of his age, in 493, and was buried at Down (now Downpatrick), in the same grave with St Bridget and St Columba. The genuine Works of St Patrick were collected and printed by Sir James Ware, 1656. There are no fewer than seven lives of the Irish apostle published in Colgan's Acta Triadis Thaumaturge. (See also Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland, by the Four Masters, edited by O'Donovan, Dublin, 1851.)