What was st patricks birthday?

Answer 1

St. Patrick's Birthday On the eighth day of March it was, some people say, That Saint Patrick at midnight first saw the day. While others declare 'twas the ninth he was born, And 'twas all a mistake between midnight and morn; For mistakes will occur in a hurry and shock, and some blam'd the babby-and some blam'd the clock- Till with all their cross questions sure no one could know If the child was too fast-or the clock was too slow. Now the first faction fight in old Ireland, they say, Was all on account of Saint Patrick's birthday. Some fought for the eighth-for the ninth more would die, And who wouldn't see right, sure they blacken'd his eye! At last both the factions so positive grew, That each kept a birthday, so Pat then had two. Till Father Mulcahy, who confessed them their sins, Said, "Ye can't have two birthdays, unless ye be twins." Says he, "Don't be fightin' for eight or for nine, Don't be always dividin'-but sometimes combine; Combine eight with nine, and seventeen is the mark, So let that be his birthday." "Amen," says the clerk. "If he wasn't a twins, sure our hist'ry will show That, at least, he is worth any two saints that we know!" Then they all drowned the shamrock-which completed their bliss, And we keep up the practice from that day to this. (Edited and adapted from Dick's Irish Dialect Recitations, Wm. B. Dick, Editor, New York, Dick & Fitzgerald, Publisher, 1879)

Answer 2

There is no clear consensus on even the decade or year of his birth, only that he likely lived in the 5th century.
March 17, St. Patrick's Day, is the celebration of his reported date of death.