Was St Patrick Welsh?

It is believed that Saint Patrick was born c. 387 and died 17 March c. 460. The Anglo-Saxons referred to the indigenous Britons in areas not under their control as 'Welsh' which comes from their word 'waelisc' meaning 'foreigner' or 'not one of us', so when we describe St Patrick as Welsh, it means he may have come from an area including Strathclyde, Northumbria, all of modern day Wales or Cornwall and parts of Devon.

We do know that he was born in the Romano-British town of Banna Venta Bernia, but we do not know this town's location. Many suggest it was Banwen in the Upper Dulais Valley, but there are also convincing suggestions for the Severn Valley, St Davids, Ravenglass in Cumbria and Strathclyde. We also know that he came from a wealthy family; Calpornius, his father, was a deacon and his grandfather Potitus, a priest, but there is no evidence that as a youngster Patrick was particularly religious. Roman influence at this time was waning; in fact, Wales had been virtually abandoned in 383 and Irish raiders were taking the opportunity to attack the undefended towns and take prisoners to use as slaves.

When he was about sixteen Patrick was captured and carried off as a slave to Ireland, probably in County Mayo, where he spent six years working as a shepherd and turned to his Christian religion for solace. It was then, according to his writing, that a voice, which he believed to be God's, spoke to him in a dream, telling him it was time to return to Britain. He escaped by walking 200 miles to the coast and taking a boat back to his homeland, where he began religious training. After his ordination as a priest he was sent back to Ireland to minister to Christians already living in Ireland, and to begin to convert those who were not Christian.