St Brendan
St Brendan's Gaelic Football Club
Source: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02758c.htm
St. Brendan of Ardfert and Clonfert, known also as Brendan the Voyager, was born in Ciarraighe
Luachra, near the present city of Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland, in 484; he died at Enachduin, now
Annaghdown, in 577. He was baptized at Tubrid, near Ardfert, by Bishop Erc. For five years he
was educated under St. Ita, "the Brigid of Munster", and he completed his studies under St. Erc,
who ordained him priest in 512.
Between the years 512 and 530 St. Brendan built monastic cells at Ardfert, and at Shanakeel or
Baalynevinoorach, at the foot of Brandon Hill. It was from here that he set out on his famous
voyage for the Land of Delight. The old Irish Calendars assigned a special feast for the "Egressio
familiae S. Brendani", on 22 March; and St Aengus the Culdee, in his Litany, at the close of the
eighth century, invokes "the sixty who accompanied St. Brendan in his quest of the Land of
Promise". Naturally, the story of the seven years' voyage was carried about, and, soon, crowds of
pilgrims and students flocked to Ardfert. Thus, in a few years, many religious houses were formed
at Gallerus, Kilmalchedor, Brandon Hill, and the Blasquet Islands, in order to meet the wants of
those who came for spiritual guidance to St. Brendan. Having established the See of Ardfert, St.
Brendan proceeded to Thomond, and founded a monastery at Inis-da-druim (now Coney Island,
County Clare), in the present parish of Killadysert, about the year 550.
He then journeyed to Wales, and thence to Iona, and left traces of his apostolic zeal at Kilbrandon
(near Oban) and Kilbrennan Sound. After a three years' mission in Britain he returned to Ireland,
and did much good work in various parts of Leinster, especially at Dysart (Co. Kilkenny), Killiney
(Tubberboe), and Brandon Hill. He founded the Sees of Ardfert, and of Annaghdown, and
established churches at Inchiquin, County Galway, and at Inishglora, County Mayo. His most
celebrated foundation was Clonfert, in 557, over which he appointed St. Moinenn as Prior and
Head Master. St. Brendan was interred in Clonfert, and his feast is kept on 16 May. Voyage of St.
Brendan St. Brendan belongs to that glorious period in the history of Ireland when the island in
the first glow of its conversion to Christianity sent forth its earliest messengers of the Faith to the
continent and to the regions of the sea. It is, therefore, perhaps possible that the legends, current
in the ninth and committed to writing in the eleventh century, have for foundation an actual
sea-voyage the destination of which cannot however be determined. These adventures were
called the "Navigatio Brendani", the Voyage or Wandering of St. Brendan, but there is no historical
proof of this journey.
Brendan is said to have sailed in search of a fabled Paradise with a company of monks, the
number of which is variously stated as from 18 to 150. After a long voyage of seven years they
reached the "Terra Repromissionis", or Paradise, a most beautiful land with luxuriant vegetation.
The narrative offers a wide range for the interpretation of the geographical position of this land
and with it of the scene of the legend of St. Brendan. On the Catalonian chart (1375) it is placed
not very far west of the southern part of Ireland. On other charts, however, it is identified with the
"Fortunate Isles" of the ancients and is placed towards the south. Thus it is put among the Canary
Islands on the Herford chart of the world (beginning of the fourteenth century); it is substituted for
the island of Madeira on the chart of the Pizzigani (1367), on the Weimar chart (1424), and on the
chart of Beccario (1435). As the increase in knowledge of this region proved the former belief to
be false the island was pushed further out into the ocean. It is found 60 degrees west of the first
meridian and very near the equator on Martin Behaim's globe. The inhabitants of Ferro, Gomera,
Madeira, and the Azores positively declared to Columbus that they had often seen the island and
continued to make the assertion up to a far later period. At the end of the sixteenth century the
failure to find the island led the cartographers Apianus and Ortelius to place it once more in the
ocean west of Ireland; finally, in the early part of the nineteenth century belief in the existence of
the island was completely abandoned. But soon a new theory arose, maintained by thos scholars
who claim for the Irish the glory of discovering America, namely, MacCarthy, Rafn, Beamish,
O'Hanlon, Beauvois, Gafarel, etc. They rest this claim on the account of the Northmen who found a
region south of Vinland and the Chesapeake Bay called "Hvitramamaland" (Land of the White
Men) or "Irland ed mikla" (Greater Ireland), and on the tradition of the Shawano (Shawnee) Indians
that in earlier times Florida was inhabited by a white tribe which had iron implements.
In regard to Brendan himself the point is made that he could only have gained a knowledge of
foreign animals and plants, such as are described in the legend, by visiting the western continent.
On the other hand, doubt was very early expressed as to the value of the narrative for the history
of discovery. Honorius of Augsburg declared that the island had vanished; Vincent of Beauvais
denied the authenticity of the entire pilgrimage, and the Bollandists do not recognize it. Among the
geographers, Alexander von Humboldt, Peschel, Ruge, and Kretschmer, place the story among
geographical legends, which are of interest for the history of civilization but which can lay no claim
to serious consideration from the point of view of geography. The oldest account of the legend is
in Latin, "Navigatio Sancti Brendani", and belongs to the tenth or eleventh century; the first French
translation dates from 1125; since the thirteenth century the legend has appeared in the
literatures of the Netherlands, Germany, and England. A list of the numerous manuscripts is given
by Hardy, "Descriptive Catalogue of Materials Relating to the History of Great Britain and Ireland"
(London, 1862), I, 159 sqq. Editions have been issued by : Jubinal, "La Legende latine de S.
Brandaines avec une traduction inedite en prose et en poésie romanes" (Paris, 1836); Wright, "St.
Brandan, a Medieval Legend of the Sea, in English Verse, and Prose" (London, 1844); C.
Schroder, "Sanct Brandan, ein latinischer und drei deutsche Texte" (Erlangen, 1871); Brill, "Van
Sinte Brandane" (Gronningen, 1871); Francisque Michel, "Les Voyages merveilleux de Saint
Brandan a la recherche du paradis terrestre" (Paris, 1878); Fr. Novati, "La Navigatio Sancti
Brandani in antico Veneziano" (Bergamo, 1892); E. Bonebakker, "Van Sente Brandane"
(Amsterdam, 1894); Carl Wahland gives a list of the rich literature on the subject and the old
French prose translation of Brendan's voyage (Upsala, 1900), XXXVI-XC.
St. Brendan of Ardfert and Clonfert, known also as Brendan the Voyager, was born in Ciarraighe
Luachra, near the present city of Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland, in 484; he died at Enachduin, now
Annaghdown, in 577. He was baptized at Tubrid, near Ardfert, by Bishop Erc. For five years he
was educated under St. Ita, "the Brigid of Munster", and he completed his studies under St. Erc,
who ordained him priest in 512.
Between the years 512 and 530 St. Brendan built monastic cells at Ardfert, and at Shanakeel or
Baalynevinoorach, at the foot of Brandon Hill. It was from here that he set out on his famous
voyage for the Land of Delight. The old Irish Calendars assigned a special feast for the "Egressio
familiae S. Brendani", on 22 March; and St Aengus the Culdee, in his Litany, at the close of the
eighth century, invokes "the sixty who accompanied St. Brendan in his quest of the Land of
Promise". Naturally, the story of the seven years' voyage was carried about, and, soon, crowds of
pilgrims and students flocked to Ardfert. Thus, in a few years, many religious houses were formed
at Gallerus, Kilmalchedor, Brandon Hill, and the Blasquet Islands, in order to meet the wants of
those who came for spiritual guidance to St. Brendan. Having established the See of Ardfert, St.
Brendan proceeded to Thomond, and founded a monastery at Inis-da-druim (now Coney Island,
County Clare), in the present parish of Killadysert, about the year 550.
He then journeyed to Wales, and thence to Iona, and left traces of his apostolic zeal at Kilbrandon
(near Oban) and Kilbrennan Sound. After a three years' mission in Britain he returned to Ireland,
and did much good work in various parts of Leinster, especially at Dysart (Co. Kilkenny), Killiney
(Tubberboe), and Brandon Hill. He founded the Sees of Ardfert, and of Annaghdown, and
established churches at Inchiquin, County Galway, and at Inishglora, County Mayo. His most
celebrated foundation was Clonfert, in 557, over which he appointed St. Moinenn as Prior and
Head Master. St. Brendan was interred in Clonfert, and his feast is kept on 16 May. Voyage of St.
Brendan St. Brendan belongs to that glorious period in the history of Ireland when the island in
the first glow of its conversion to Christianity sent forth its earliest messengers of the Faith to the
continent and to the regions of the sea. It is, therefore, perhaps possible that the legends, current
in the ninth and committed to writing in the eleventh century, have for foundation an actual
sea-voyage the destination of which cannot however be determined. These adventures were
called the "Navigatio Brendani", the Voyage or Wandering of St. Brendan, but there is no historical
proof of this journey.
Brendan is said to have sailed in search of a fabled Paradise with a company of monks, the
number of which is variously stated as from 18 to 150. After a long voyage of seven years they
reached the "Terra Repromissionis", or Paradise, a most beautiful land with luxuriant vegetation.
The narrative offers a wide range for the interpretation of the geographical position of this land
and with it of the scene of the legend of St. Brendan. On the Catalonian chart (1375) it is placed
not very far west of the southern part of Ireland. On other charts, however, it is identified with the
"Fortunate Isles" of the ancients and is placed towards the south. Thus it is put among the Canary
Islands on the Herford chart of the world (beginning of the fourteenth century); it is substituted for
the island of Madeira on the chart of the Pizzigani (1367), on the Weimar chart (1424), and on the
chart of Beccario (1435). As the increase in knowledge of this region proved the former belief to
be false the island was pushed further out into the ocean. It is found 60 degrees west of the first
meridian and very near the equator on Martin Behaim's globe. The inhabitants of Ferro, Gomera,
Madeira, and the Azores positively declared to Columbus that they had often seen the island and
continued to make the assertion up to a far later period. At the end of the sixteenth century the
failure to find the island led the cartographers Apianus and Ortelius to place it once more in the
ocean west of Ireland; finally, in the early part of the nineteenth century belief in the existence of
the island was completely abandoned. But soon a new theory arose, maintained by thos scholars
who claim for the Irish the glory of discovering America, namely, MacCarthy, Rafn, Beamish,
O'Hanlon, Beauvois, Gafarel, etc. They rest this claim on the account of the Northmen who found a
region south of Vinland and the Chesapeake Bay called "Hvitramamaland" (Land of the White
Men) or "Irland ed mikla" (Greater Ireland), and on the tradition of the Shawano (Shawnee) Indians
that in earlier times Florida was inhabited by a white tribe which had iron implements.
In regard to Brendan himself the point is made that he could only have gained a knowledge of
foreign animals and plants, such as are described in the legend, by visiting the western continent.
On the other hand, doubt was very early expressed as to the value of the narrative for the history
of discovery. Honorius of Augsburg declared that the island had vanished; Vincent of Beauvais
denied the authenticity of the entire pilgrimage, and the Bollandists do not recognize it. Among the
geographers, Alexander von Humboldt, Peschel, Ruge, and Kretschmer, place the story among
geographical legends, which are of interest for the history of civilization but which can lay no claim
to serious consideration from the point of view of geography. The oldest account of the legend is
in Latin, "Navigatio Sancti Brendani", and belongs to the tenth or eleventh century; the first French
translation dates from 1125; since the thirteenth century the legend has appeared in the
literatures of the Netherlands, Germany, and England. A list of the numerous manuscripts is given
by Hardy, "Descriptive Catalogue of Materials Relating to the History of Great Britain and Ireland"
(London, 1862), I, 159 sqq. Editions have been issued by : Jubinal, "La Legende latine de S.
Brandaines avec une traduction inedite en prose et en poésie romanes" (Paris, 1836); Wright, "St.
Brandan, a Medieval Legend of the Sea, in English Verse, and Prose" (London, 1844); C.
Schroder, "Sanct Brandan, ein latinischer und drei deutsche Texte" (Erlangen, 1871); Brill, "Van
Sinte Brandane" (Gronningen, 1871); Francisque Michel, "Les Voyages merveilleux de Saint
Brandan a la recherche du paradis terrestre" (Paris, 1878); Fr. Novati, "La Navigatio Sancti
Brandani in antico Veneziano" (Bergamo, 1892); E. Bonebakker, "Van Sente Brandane"
(Amsterdam, 1894); Carl Wahland gives a list of the rich literature on the subject and the old
French prose translation of Brendan's voyage (Upsala, 1900), XXXVI-XC.
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