Patrick is one of the most amazing Christians of all time. Born in England—ah the irony of the greatest hero in Irish history being born in England—he was captured and enslaved by Irish raiders when he was 16, around the year 400 A.D. He had grown up in a Christian home but during his captivity he committed his life to Christ. After six years he miraculously escaped and entered a twenty year period of intense study of the Bible. Then when he was about 40 he received a vision and God called him to return to Ireland to preach the Gospel to the Irish. His ministry was so blessed by God that the Irish were converted to the Christian faith en masse and then became some of the most effective missionaries of all time, reaching much of northern Europe with the saving message of Christ. It was Irish monks whom Cahill credits with saving civilization because of their translation and preservation of ancient documents.