I can't say about St Pat's ancestory but I always understood that he hated Ireland, it's people & wished he's gone the way of the snake, I also take it that the early monks came to learn & study in Ireland, not to preach & teach, that around the 4th-6th centuries the people were well educated & from a well developed culture & with a belief & religon that was not to be supplanted by another, instead to co-exist using the benifits of both religons (unlike other areas where the missionaries replace one for the other, the Irish would not except this), Pat, I believe was of the opinion that while the rest of world thought highly of them (the Irish) he saw them as heathens. There are many of you out there with a far greater knowledge, I'd be happy to be set straight & corrected or further enlightened. Thanks Barry