St. Patrick of Ireland (400s) | WEST

(Updated July 16, 2025)

This Author Quote Archive collects pertinent quotes from the Church Father, St. Patrick of Ireland.

Next to each quote are the Topic Quote Archives in which they are included.

This Quote Archive is being continuously updated as research continues. Quotes marked with “***” have not yet been organized into their respective Topic Quote Archives.

Treatises

St. Patrick, The Confession of St. Patrick (c. 452)

• The Sacrament of Holy Orders, and the Authority of the Priesthood | §1

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(§1)¹

I am Patrick, a sinner, most unlearned, the least of all the faithful, and utterly despised by many. My father was Calpornius, a deacon, son of Potitus, a priest, of the village Bannavem Taburniae; he had a country seat nearby, and there I was taken captive.

I was then about sixteen years of age. I did not know the true God. I was taken into captivity to Ireland with many thousands of people—and deservedly so, because we turned away from God, and did not keep His commandments, and did not obey our priests, who used to remind us of our salvation.

Letters

St. Patrick, Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus (c. 452)

• The Sacrament of Holy Orders, and the Authority of the Priesthood | §1

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(§1)²

I, Patrick, a sinner, unlearned, resident in Ireland, declare myself to be a bishop. Most assuredly I believe that what I am I have received from God. And so I live among barbarians, a stranger and exile for the love of God.

Footnotes

1. St. Patrick, St. Secundinus, Ludwig Bieler, trans., Ancient Christian Writers, Vol. 17: The Works of St. Patrick; St. Secundinus, Hymn on St. Patrick (New York: Paulist Press, 1953), 21. ↩︎
2. St. Patrick, St. Secundinus, Ludwig Bieler, trans., Ancient Christian Writers, Vol. 17: The Works of St. Patrick; St. Secundinus, Hymn on St. Patrick (New York: Paulist Press, 1953), 41. ↩︎