Motels Car rental Restaurants Bars Shopping Golf Courses Hospitals Police Dept. The roots of Irish observances are religious on March 17th. Saint Patrick, who's credited with converting Ireland to Christianity, died that day in 461 A.D. Or, so it's believed.
Some chronological mysteries remain about when the clergyman lived.
One historical account reports that Patrick was born around 387 A.D. at Kilpatrick, near Dumbarton, in Scotland. Another says Wales. Neither dispute that at age 16, Patrick was taken captive by raiders and sold to an Irish chieftain named Milchu. His first stay in Ireland then was as a slave. Patrick tended Milchu's flocks in County Antrim.