ST. BRENDAN THE NAVIGATOR (MAY 16TH)

 

St. Brendan on His Fabled Journey into the West

Edited by Bp. Joseph (Ancient Church of the West) 

St. Brendan the Navigator was born in AD 484 in Tralee, in County Kerry, in the province of Munster, in the south-west of Ireland. He was born among the Altraige, an Irish clan originally centred around Tralee Bay, to parents called Finnlug and Cara. He was baptised at Tubrid, near Ardfert by St. Erc of Slane, and was originally to be called "Mobhí" but signs and portents attending his birth and baptism led to him being christened 'Broen-finn' or 'fair-drop'. For five years he was both educated and given in fosterage to St. Íte of Killeedy, "The Brigid of Munster". When he was six he was sent to Jarlath's monastery school at Tuam to further his education.

At the age of twenty-six, St. Brendan was ordained a priest by St. Erc. Afterwards, he founded a number of monasteries. St. Brendan's first voyage took him to the outer islands of Ireland where he founded many monasteries. From there he is supposed to have embarked on his famous voyage of 7 years for Paradise. Many believe that St. Brendan discovered the Americas on this journey. This grand adventure into a strange land of giants, monsters, spirits and merpeople was immortalized in over 150 different Gaelic and Latin epic poems. 

May 16, 583 (traditional date): Brendan the Navigator, founder of a Celtic monastery in Clonfert, Ireland, died. Some Irish scholars have asserted that Brendan was among the first Europeans to reach America, nine centuries before Columbus.

Prayer of St. Brendan 

Help me to journey beyond the familiar

and into the unknown.

Give me the faith to leave old ways

and break fresh ground with You.

Christ of the mysteries, I trust You

to be stronger than each storm within me.

I will trust in the darkness and know

that my times, even now, are in Your hand.

Tune my spirit to the music of heaven,

and somehow, make my obedience count for You.

St. Brendan returned to Ireland and founded a monastery in Annaghdown. He also founded a convent at Annaghdown for his sister Briga. After a mission of three years in Britain he returned to Ireland, and evangelized further in various parts of Leister. He established churches at Inchiquin, County Galway, and Inishglora, County Mayo, and founded Clonfert in Galway c. AD 557. He died c. AD 577 in Annaghdown, while visiting his sister Briga. Fearing that after his death his devotees might take his remains as relics, St. Brendan had previously arranged to have his body secretly returned to the monastery he founded in Clonfert, concealed in a luggage cart. He was interred in Clonfert Cathedral, where his relics still remain. 

Collect

ALMIGHTY GOD, Who hast offered us this day to commemorate Thy most holy Saint, Confessor, Abbot, and Navigator, the Blessed Brendan, that we might be upheld by his holy prayers, and that we may glory in all of Thy mercies. Through Jesus Christ Our Lord, Who livest and reignest with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen. 

(Source Text: Wikipedia Commons, Collect from an Ancient Mass for St. Brendan, edited by Bp. Joseph)