The St Patrick's Day church celebrations will have a special feature this year with the 400th anniversary of Down and Dromore Church of Ireland cathedrals.

The services in Downpatrick today will mark the granting of the Royal Charter in 1609, and the Bishop of Down and Dromore Harold Miller will launch the Down Cathedral's Anniversary Appeal.

The day of celebrations is due to begin at Saul where, according to tradition, Patrick arrived on his missionary journey to Ireland in the 5th century.

The preacher at the Communion Service in the tiny church at Saul will be Jono Pierce.

This will be followed by a short pilgrimage on foot to Down Cathedral which was to be joined by pilgrims, the local clergy and community representatives.

There will also be an inter-denominational service at Down Cathedral, when the preacher will be Bishop Miller.

He will be standing in for Pastor Derick Bingham, who has been suffering from a serious illness.

After the service there will be a wreath-laying ceremony at the grave outside the cathedral which is traditionally thought to be the last resting place of St Patrick.

The Downpatrick service will be one of many to be held in Protestant and Roman Catholic cathedrals and churches throughout Ireland today, |including both St Patrick's Cathedrals in the Primatial city of Armagh.

These services are traditionally a celebration of the life and example of St Patrick, who was pre-Reformation, and the sermons on such occasions tend to concentrate on what both main traditions have in common.