At what age was Saint Patrick captured by Irish pirates?

According to Saint Patrick’s own account, he was captured by Irish pirates at the age of sixteen.

Patrick describes his capture in the Confessio, a Latin autobiographical work that is one of the main sources for his life. He says that Irish raiders seized him from his home in Britain and took him across the sea to Ireland, where he was enslaved and worked as a herder.

He says he spent six years in captivity before escaping. During that period, Patrick became more devout, and his later religious writings present the experience as a turning point in his spiritual life. He eventually returned to Britain and later went back to Ireland as a Christian missionary.

The age is based on Patrick’s own statement, although many details of his life remain uncertain. Historians also debate the precise location of his birthplace and captivity. The core point is not a later legend: the surviving Confessio specifically places his capture at sixteen.