Palladius

Saint Palladius was a deacon from a prominent family of Gaul, according to some sources from Rome or Auxerre. Pope Celestine I consecrated him bishop and sent him, around the year 430, to preach the Gospel to the Christians of Ireland, then called the Scots. He landed near Wicklow and had some success, but then left for Scotland, where he reposed in the fifth century.

His mission came before the work of Saint Patrick, with whose life Irish tradition sometimes mingled his story. He is a saint of the undivided Church, commemorated on 7 July (new style, Western calendar).