St Patrick –

Patron Saint of Ireland

St Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. This means he is a person Christians
chose as an example for people to follow.

St Patrick’s real name was Maewyn Succat and he was born in Britain in 5th century.
When he was 16 years old he was captured and sold as a slave in Ireland. He lived and
worked as a shepherd in Ireland for 6 years. During this time he started to pray and
became very religious.
One night he had a dream that a ship was waiting for him. He ran away and found the
ship which took him home. When he came to Ireland he started to have dreams about
Irish people who called him to come back and teach them about Christianity. Maewyn
did not want to come back to Ireland, instead, he became a priest and took on a new
name: Patrick.
The dreams did not go away so after a few years Patrick decided to go back to Ireland.
As soon as he got back there he knew it was the right place for him. He stayed there
and spent his life teaching the Irish about Christianity.

A. Decide if these sentences are True or False:

1. St Patrick was born in Ireland. …..

2. When he was 16 he was sold as a slave. …..
3. He spent 6 years working as a farmer. …..
4. He had a dream about a ship. …..
5. He went home and became a priest. …..
6. He never came back to Ireland. …..
B. Number these pictures in order according to what happened in St Patrick’s life:

C. Complete the sentences below and match them with the pictures in Exercise A:

1. St Patrick was born in Britain .

2. He ___________ sold as a ____________ in Ireland.
3. He _____________ as a shepherd.
4. He ____________ a dream about a _____________.
5. He ______________ away
6. He found a _____________ which _____________ him home.
7. He _____________ a priest.
8. He _____________ back to Ireland to ____________ the Irish about God.