The Death and Burial of St Patrick
Patrick
now an elderly man, according to Legend and writings of the time intended
to spend the rest of his life in Armagh but having being advised by
the angel Victor who told him to return to Saul - this he did. On the
17th March in the year 461AD, Patrick received the sacraments at the
little church at Raholp at the hands of St Tassach,
later become the Bishop. Bishop of Raholp.
The Book of Armagh gives an account:
"But when the Angel came to him he gave him advice as to his burial
- 'Let the untamed oxen be allowed to proceed whenever they wish, and
where they shall rest let a church be founded there in honour of your
body'. And as the Angel said, the unsteady steers were chosen, and a
cart of steady weight was placed upon their shoulders, on which they
carried the sacred body, and in the place which is called Clogher, at
the east of Findubrec, they selected oxen from among the cattle of Conail,
they departed, the Son of God guiding them to Dun-leth-glaisse
(Downpatrick), where Patrick was buried".
There can be no certainty as to the exact spot of St. Patrick's burial. In 1900 the Belfast Naturalists Field Club placed a large granite slab, a memorial stone, from the nearby Mourne Mountains, traditionally making the statement that St Patrick's body is somewhere buried on the site A wonderful view of the Mourn Mountains can be viewed from the Down Cathedral.
It is believed that St. Columba known as St.Columcille
which translated "the dove of the church" and St.Brigid
share the same grave as St. Patrick, hence the well known couplet: In
Down, three saints one grave do fill, Patrick, Brigid
and Columiclle 
