St. Patrick May Lie Beneath Rude Slab at Downpatrick

DOWNPATRICK, Northern Ireland —  A rude slab of granite inscribed with a Celtic cross and the name “Patric” proclaims the grave of Ireland’s patron saint.

The stone, rough and broken, looks as old as Ireland itself, but the marker was placed outside the Anglican cathedral around 1900.

“I don’t feel people should be let down by that,” said Brian Turner, curator of the Down County Museum nearby. “You need a focus of attention.

“It is quite likely that the man who was St. Patrick is buried somewhere around here.”

Canon Brian Mayne, a prebendary of the Cathedral of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, said he is “99.9% certain” Patrick was buried somewhere on the hilltop, which attracted 20,000 visitors last year.

Turner called it “95% likely that he is buried in Down, or in Saul,” 2 miles away. He is assured by a tradition that can be traced to the 7th Century, although even that remote date is two centuries after Patrick’s death.

The hills around Downpatrick are dotted with sites related to Patrick in very iffy ways. Legend say Patrick landed at Saul, and 432 came to be the accepted date.

Another legend claims that he received last rites from St. Tassach, who is associated with a ruined church at Raholp, near Saul.

A few miles south, at Struell Wells, more ruins mark the pools where Patrick is supposed to have immersed himself all night, singing Psalms.

Patrick stories are found all over Ireland. The Roman Catholic and Anglican primates have their seats in Armagh because, it is said, Patrick chose the place.

Thousands of pilgrims fast and pray in the summer on a little island in Lough Derg, County Donegal, where, as the story goes, Patrick wrestled with demons. Many more climb Croagh Patrick in western Ireland, retracing a saintly journey.

Based on Patrick’s own writings, not one place in Ireland can definitely be associated with him. All he says about himself is that he was born in Britain, was taken captive in Ireland, escaped and later returned as a missionary.

Patrick probably lived in the 5th Century. The traditional dates are 432 for the beginning of his mission and 461 for his death.

The first lives of Patrick were written in the 7th Century and collected in 807 in the Book of Armagh, now a treasure of Trinity College, Dublin.

The Book of Armagh says Patrick’s grave was chosen by two oxen that were allowed to wander where they would, pulling a cart bearing the body.