Who Was St. Patrick? By Dr. Jim Denison dr. jim denison Shutterstock.com The man we know as St. Patrick was born around 389 AD in England. His father was a deacon and his grandfather a priest. The Roman Empire was still in titular control of Britain, but their demoralized armies were unable to protect the island from Irish invaders. Farms were pillaged and teenagers enslaved. Patrick was taken at age sixteen. An Irish farmer bought him as a slave and put him to work tending sheep. Somehow Patrick came to personal faith in Christ in the midst of his tribulations. He later wrote, “The Lord opened to me a sense of my unbelief, that I might be converted with all my heart unto the Lord.”