A native of Drogheda, where his father was a wealthy merchant (p. 13), Bath was originally to join the Jesuits.
Due to the influence of Francis Nugent, he "made a last-minute decision and joined the Capuchins at Brussels in October 1592."
His appointment at Louvain was a result of the extreme lack of competent professors among the early Capuchins in the Netherlands.
Against this is the fact that he depart the Netherlands for Paris where he became lector of philosophy and theology at the friary at rue Saint-Honore.
His importance was underlined in 1598 when an English spy listed him ("At Paris – Father Patrick, a Capuchine, a gret scholer.")