From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   May 16th - Brendan the Voyager, Abbot (RM)   
   Born c. 484-489; died at Annaghdown, Ireland, c. 577-583.   
      
   "I fear that I shall journey alone, that the way will be dark; I fear the   
   unknown land, the presence of my King and the sentence of my judge."-The   
   dying words of Saint Brendan to his sister Abbess Brig.   
   Like the wanderings of Ulysses, the story of Saint Brendan voyaging over   
   perilous waters was a popular story in the Middle Ages. We see him as only a   
   shadow in the old Celtic world, and who he was or where he came from is   
   uncertain, though it is supposed that he was born the son of Findlugh on   
   Fenit Peninsula in Kerry, Ireland, of an ancient and noble line. It is said   
   that he studied theology under Saint Ita (f.d. January 15) at Killeedy, that   
   he was a contemporary and disciple of Saint Finian (f.d. December 12) and   
   later Saint Gildas at Llancarfan in Wales, and that later he founded a   
   monastery at Saint Malo.   
      
   Another version of his early life says that the infant Saint Brendan was   
   given into the care of Saint Ita, who taught him three things that God   
   really loves: "the true faith of a pure heart; the simple religious life;   
   and bountifulness inspired by Christian charity." She would have added the   
   three things God hates are "a scowling face; obstinate wrong-doing; and too   
   much confidence in money." When he was six he was sent to Saint Jarlath's   
   monastery school at Tuam for his education, and was ordained by Bishop Saint   
   Erc in 512.   
      
   Though Brendan was a real person, fabulous stories are told how his   
   wanderings in search of an unknown land, perhaps the Faroes, the Canaries,   
   or the Azores. For seven years he voyaged to find the Promised Land of the   
   saints.   
      
   On the Kerry coast, with 14 chosen monks, he built a coracle of wattle,   
   covered it with hides tanned in oak bark softened with butter, and set up a   
   mast and a sail, and after a prayer upon the shore, he embarked in the name   
   of the Trinity. After strange wanderings he returned to Ireland and, about   
   559, founded a great monastery at Clonfert in Galway of 3,000 monks and a   
   convent under his sister Briga (f.d. January 21). He gave his monks a rule   
   of remarkable austerity.   
   Later he visited the holy island of Iona, which was the center of much   
   missionary activity. He founded numerous other monasteries in Ireland and   
   several sees. And he himself made missionary journeys into England and   
   Scotland.   
      
   It is said that Columbus, to whom Brendan's story would have been familiar,   
   may have been inspired by the saint's epic saga Navigatio Sancti Brendani   
   Abbatis. Long before Columbus, the Irish monks were renowned as travellers   
   and explorers. Tradition says that they reached Iceland and explored even   
   farther afield in the Atlantic-perhaps as far as America.   
   Scholars long doubted the voyage to the Promised Land described by Brendan   
   could have been to North America, but some modern scholars now believe that   
   he may have done just that. In 1976-77, Tim Severin, an expert on   
   exploration, following the instructions in the Navigatio built a   
   hide-covered curragh and then sailed it from Ireland to Newfoundland via   
   Iceland and Greenland, demonstrating the accuracy of its directions and   
   descriptions of the places Brendan mentioned in his epic.   
      
   Brendan himself stands out in a dark age as the captain of a Christian crew.   
   Like the Greeks and the Vikings, he had a craving for the sea, but he built   
   his boat, and launched it in the name of the Lord and sailed it under the   
   ensign of the Cross. It is a thrilling saga, for all its strangeness, and   
   set many a sailor later to search in vain for Saint Brendan's Island; but   
   none ever found it, though it was said at times to be seen, like an Isle of   
   Paradise, riding above the surface of the sea.   
      
   Now the great mountain that juts out into the Atlantic in County Kerry is   
   called Mount Brandon, because he had a little chapel atop it, and the bay at   
   the foot of the mountain is Brandon Bay. Brendan probably died while   
   visiting his sister Briga, abbess of a convent at Enach Duin (Annaghdown)   
   (Attwater, Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Gill, Little, Severin, Webb).   
      
   ******   
   Below I've recounted some of the many legends surrounding Saint Brendan:   
      
   There is a graphic description of one of their expeditions: "Three Scots   
   came to King Alfred, in a boat without oars, from Ireland, whence they had   
   stolen away, because for the love of God they desired to be on pilgrimage,   
   they recked not whither. The boat in which they came was made of two hides   
   and a half; and they took with them provisions for seven days; and about the   
   seventh day they came on shore in Cornwall, and soon after went to King   
   Alfred" (Gill).   
      
   Saint Brendan was chanting the office for the Feast of Saint Paul the   
   Apostle, when his brethren asked him to do so quietly for fear of disturbing   
   the sea monsters. He laughed, "What has driven out your faith? Fear naught   
   but the Lord our God, and love Him in fear. Many perils have tried you, but   
   the Lord brought you safely out of them all. There is no danger here. What   
   are you afraid of?" And he celebrated Mass more solemnly than before.   
      
   "Thereupon the monsters of the deep began to rise on all sides, and making   
   merry for joy of the Feast, followed after the ship. Yet when the office of   
   the day was ended, they straightway turned back and went their way"   
   (Plummer).   
      
   They sailed to another small, lovely island, in which there was a whirlpool.   
   "They went across the island, and found a church built of stone, and in it a   
   venerable old man at his prayers. . . . And the old man said to them, 'O   
   holy men of God, make haste to flee from this island. For there is a sea-cat   
   here, of old time, inveterate in wiles, that hath grown huge through eating   
   excessively of fish.' Thereupon they turned back in haste to their ship, and   
   abandoned the island.   
      
   "But lo, behind them they saw that beast swimming through the sea, and it   
   had great eyes like vessels of glass. Thereupon they all fell to prayer, and   
   Brendan said, 'Lord Jesus Christ, hinder Thy beast.' And straightway arose   
   another beast from the depths of the sea, and approaching fell to battle   
   with the first; and both went down to the depth of the sea, nor were they   
   further seen. Then they gave thanks to God, and turned back to the old man,   
   to question him as to his way of living and whence he had come.   
      
   "And he said to them, 'We were twelve men from the island of Ireland that   
   came to this place, seeking the place of our resurrection. Eleven be dead;   
   and I alone remain, awaiting, O Saint of God, the Host from thy hands. We   
   brought with us in the ship a cat, a most amiable cat and greatly loved by   
   us; but he grew to great bulk through eating of fish, as I said; yet our   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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