St Patrick

According to Patrick's own account, it was the Irish raiders who brought him to Ireland where he was enslaved and held captive for six years. [92] However, a recent alternative interpretation of Patrick's departure to Ireland suggests that, as the son of a decurion, he would have been obliged by Roman law to serve on the town council (Curia), but chose instead to abscond from the onerous obligations of this office by fleeing abroad, as many others in his position had done in what became known as the 'flight of the curiales'.