There will be a celebration of Holy Communion on St Patrick’s Day Saturday 17th March at 10.30am in All Saints Church.                                                                         St Patrick's Day was made an official Christian festival  in the early 17th century and is observed by the Church of Ireland. The day commemorates Saint Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. Patrick was a 5th-century Roman-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Much of what is known about Saint Patrick comes from the Declaration, which was allegedly written by Patrick himself. It is believed that he was born in England in the fourth century into a wealthy Roman-British family. His father was a deacon and his grandfather was a priest in the Christian church. According to the Declaration, at the age of sixteen, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken as a slave to Ireland. It says that he spent six years there working as a shepherd and that during this time he "found God". The Declaration says that God told Patrick to flee to the coast where a ship would be waiting to take him home again to England. After making his way home Patrick went on to become a priest. According to tradition Patrick returned to Ireland to convert the pagan Irish to Christianity. The Declaration says that he spent many years evangelising in Northern Ireland and converted "thousands". Tradition holds that he died on 17th March and was buried at Downpatrick. Over the following centuries many legends grew up around Patrick and he became Ireland's foremost saint.