We of Irish descent today celebrate God's use of St. Patrick to deliver us (mostly) from our pagan waywardness. A fun exercise, for cradle Catholics, is to try to figure your "spiritual genealogy" - who passed the Faith to your ancestors (assuming they weren't converts). For the Irish, it's a pretty good bet that it's traceable to St. Patrick. Rarely is it that clear. But I have a couple great-grandparents from Baden, in Germany, so I went to the Catholic Encyclopedia and found the following:
The southern part of the country received the Faith about 610 from St. Columbanus and his pupil St. Gall, who were followed a hundred years later by St. Pirminius. St. Trudpert labored in the Breisgau, and St. Kilian in the north-eastern part of the territory.In other words, Irish missionaries were responsible. St. Columbanus and St. Gall went to a religious school begun by St. Finian of Clonard. St. Finian had been placed, from an early age, under the care of St. Fortchern. St. Fortchern was the Bishop of Trim, Ireland who had been converted by St. Loman. St. Loman was a nephew of St. Patrick, and was consecrated bishop by today's saint.
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