how were times affected by what saint patrick did?

Answer 1

Thomas Cahill has written a whole book about this: How the Irish Saved Civilization. It's a very interesting book, and not too difficult to read, if you are interested.

But anyways, Patrick was a Romanized Briton who was captured by the Irish and made a slave. After some years, he escaped, but was converted to Christianity and returned to pagan Ireland to convert the heathens around 400 AD. He was successful in this, and that has had several consequences ...

In Ireland, of course, the conversion to Roman Catholicism has stuck and the Irish are identified world wide as a staunchly Catholic country. This has had many impacts on Irish life, government, and culture. Current consequences, for example, are in Ireland's restrictive abortion laws and the longstanding conflict with the Protestants.

In the broader world, however, Saint Patrick's conversion of the Irish - as mentioned by the answerer above - led to the founding of many monasteries. As the Roman empire collapsed, these monasteries became extemely important centers of learning. All across Europe, invading barbarians - who were often totally illiterate - destroyed cities and the libraries/knowledge they contained. Even Athens, for example, was sacked and the libraries burned by the Visigoths.

As European civilization spiraled into the dark ages, Ireland was an island of hope and learning. Scholars from across the Continent migrated to the monasteries that were Saint Patrick's heritage, bringing their books and knowledge with them.

Centuries later, as Europe once again stabilized, the Irish monasteries sent forth missionaries who sought to do as Saint Patrick had done and convert the heathens. These brave heirs to Saint Patrick's calling brought both Christianity and learning back to the rest of Europe. For example, Charlemagne's tutor (about 800 AD) was an Irish monk, and the famous monastery at Constance was founded by a party traveling from Ireland. The monks and missionaries went out as far as Italy for sure, and maybe even to places as far as Sicily and Kiev.

It is hard to believe that someone we know almost nothing about, Saint Patrick, could have had such a remarkable and long lasting impact, but that is the beauty of it!

Sadly, much of the literature and other treasures of the Irish monasteries that did so much for today's world were stolen or destroyed by the Vikings in raids between, say, 900 and 1100 AD.

Answer 2

By Christianizing Ireland, St. Patrick led to the creation of numerous monastaries throughout the area. These monastaries soon became a glimmer of learning and writing during the "dark ages". Many ancient Roman and Greek texts were preserved by the monks at these Monastaries. The Irish monks were also the first to practice Confession as modern Catholics know it, and even created the first copyright law: "to every cow its calf and every book its copy".