Saint Brendan
Abbé de Clonfert, en
Irlande (+ 583)
Il pilota ses nombreux
disciples à travers les flots de ce monde, "vers la terre promise des
saints." Il doit sa réputation à la légende qui l'aurait fait naviguer
vers les îles Canaries et l'Amérique du Sud.
Moine irlandais, rendu
célèbre par ses "navigations aux îles fortunées", quelque part entre
les Canaries et le Groenland. Né en 484 à Clonfert, au sud-ouest de l'Irlande,
il entre au monastère de Llancarvan, fondé par saint Cado dans le pays de
Galles. La tradition rapporte qu'il débarqua avec des compagnons dans
l'estuaire du Léguer et qu'il fonda un monastère à Ploulec'h; Lanvellec est
sous son patronage. Deux paroisses, dans le Finistère, prétendent garder le
souvenir de ce saint, Kerlouan* et Loc-Brévalaire, mais l'identification de
Brendan avec Brévalaire est sujette à caution. A Loc-Brévalaire, le saint
patron est représenté en évêque (ou en abbé?), un dragon à ses pieds (diocèse
de Quimper et Léon)
* L'église
Saint-Brévalaire fut nommée du nom du saint patron de Kerlouan: Brévalaire,
moine navigateur irlandais. (ensemble paroissial La Côte des Légendes)
Saint Brendan est
également saint patron du diocèse de Kerry en Irlande -
En Irlande, vers 577,
saint Brendan, abbé de Clonfert et propagateur valeureux de la vie monastique,
devenu le héros d’exploits fabuleux racontés dans la célèbre Navigation de
saint Brendan.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1166/Saint-Brendan.html
BRENDAN (Bréanainn),
saint, abbé et missionnaire irlandais que la tradition associe à des voyages à
l’Ouest vers l’Amérique du Nord et peut-être même le Canada actuel, né vers
484, mort vers 578.
On croit qu’il naquit
près de Tralee, dans le comté de Kerry, en Irlande, de parents chrétiens. Il
fut ordonné prêtre à l’âge de 26 ans et, plus tard, il fonda le grand monastère
de Clonfert, dans le comté de Galway, dont il fut abbé. Le mont Brandon, dans
la péninsule de Dingle, porte son nom, et on pense que « l’île de Saint-Brendan
» se trouvait à l’est de cette montagne.
Saint Brendan est censé
avoir visité des lieux tels que les îles Féroé, l’Islande, l’île de Jan-Mayen,
les Antilles, les Açores, les Canaries et même le Groenland et le continent
américain. Bien que les Irlandais aient atteint l’Islande et y aient établi une
communauté religieuse avant l’an 800 de notre ère, rien ne permet d’associer
Brendan à cette aventure. Il n’existe pas non plus de preuve digne de foi qui
indique que Brendan ou un de ses compatriotes ait jamais atteint le Groenland
ou l’Amérique.
Une Vita Sancti
Brendani apparut très tôt. Elle fut suivie plus tard de la Navigatio
Sancti Brendani, dans laquelle des parties de la Vita avaient été incluses. Il
y a controverse sur l’époque de la parution de la Navigatio (Selmer pense que
le premier manuscrit fut rédigé vers la fin du xe ou au début du xie siècle).
La Navigatio raconte le ou les voyages du saint dans sa recherche du paradisum
terrestre (tir tairgirne) ou de la Terre promise des saints. Elle connut une
diffusion considérable et fut traduite en plusieurs langues ; il en existe un
grand nombre de manuscrits.
Il est bien plus
raisonnable de soutenir que les renseignements relatifs à des mers et à des
terres situées à l’ouest de l’Islande, que l’on peut dégager de certains
passages de la Navigatio Sancti Brendani, proviennent de récits de voyages des
Norvégiens dans l’Atlantique Nord (ou, dans les cas où il paraît être question
de l’Islande, de moines irlandais qui avaient fui l’Islande à l’approche des
Normands en 870) transmis par les nombreux Scandinaves qui se rendirent ou
s’établirent en Irlande pendant les années 800–1200.
Un examen attentif des
sagas islandaises pertinentes, la Saga d’Érik le Rouge (chap. XII), la Saga
d’Eyrbyggja (chap. LXIV) et le Landnámabok (chap. clxxi), mène nécessairement à
la conclusion qu’elles ne peuvent s’appliquer à aucune « Terre des Hommes
blancs » en Amérique ; et, certes, on ne peut découvrir aucune terre à six
jours de navigation à voile à l’ouest de l’Irlande. Saint Brendan ou d’autres
comme lui peuvent avoir traversé l’Atlantique, mais cette affirmation ne
s’appuie sur aucune preuve véritable. S’ils l’ont fait, ils n’y ont laissé
aucun souvenir même passager, tels que ceux dont on s’attend à trouver la
description dans les sagas islandaises. Nous pouvons donc supposer que les
Scandinaves ne sont pas entrés en contact avec, une colonie irlandaise
florissante sur la côte orientale du Canada ou des États-Unis d’Amérique.
T. J. OLESON
Navigatio Sancti Brendani
abbatis, ed. Carl Selmer (Notre Dame, Indiana, 1959), contient une
bibliographie complète sur le sujet.— Geoffrey Ashe, Land to the west (London,
1962).— Eugène Beauvois, La découverte du Nouveau Monde par les Irlandais,
et les premières traces du christianisme en Amérique avant l’an 1 000 (Congrès
international des Américanistes, Nancy, 1875).— R.-Y. Creston, Journal de
bord de Saint-Brendan (Paris, 1957).— Jón Dúason, Landkönnun og
Landnám Íslendinga i Vesturheimi (Reykjavik, 1941–47), 292–297, 665–670.—
Richard Hennig, Terrae incognitae.— Lanctot, Histoire du Canada, I :
45–59, 62.— G. A. Little, St. Brendan the navigator (Dublin, 1945).—
Fridtjof Nansen, In northern mists : arctic exploration in early times (2
vol., London, 1911), II : 42–56.— Denis O’Donoghue, Brendaniana ; St.
Brendan the voyager (Dublin, 1893).— Oleson, Early voyages, 100,
125.— E. G. R. Waters, The Anglo-Norman voyage of St. Brendan (Oxford,
1928).
© 2000 University of
Toronto/Université Laval
SOURCE : http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-f.php?BioId=34209
.jpg)
Ary
Renan (1857-1900). Saint Brandan tenant ses attributs (ancre, cloche). Ary
Renan. Lápiz sobre papel. s/f.
Saint Brendan de Clonfert nait
dans le royaume du Munster en 484, et connaît une enfance très vite bercée par
le christianisme. Il se rend dans le monastère de Llancarfan dans le Royaume de
Gwent (Pays de Galles) pour y apprendre le latin, le grec, les mathématiques,
la médecine et l’astronomie, et s’initie aux textes chrétiens.
Dès 515, Saint Brendan
voyage beaucoup, et part pour une quête de 7 ans afin de rechercher le jardin
d’Eden (comme le veut une tradition celte dictée par L’Immram, un ancien conte
mythologique). Il n’hésite pas à naviguer, s’aventurant sur l’océan Atlantique
sur un curragh, accompagnés d’autres moines. A la fin de sa quête, Brendan
retourne en Irlande, et conte son périple en affirmant avoir trouvé une île
assimilable au Paradis… Très vite, la nouvelle se propage et la légende se
forme : Brendan est alors surnommé « Le Navigateur », et de nombreux pèlerins
se rassemblent autour d’Aldfert, village où aurait démarré le périple du moine.
Mais Saint Brendan de
Clonfert ne s’arrête pas là et reprend la mer, à la recherche de nouveaux
territoires à découvrir… D’après le récit médiéval « Navigatio Sancti Brendani
abbatis », le moine aurait effectué 2 voyages importants, l’un le menant aux
îles Canaries, l’autre vers les Antilles. Il voyagera ensuite durant plus de 25
ans entre les îles Britanniques et la Bretagne. De nos jours, beaucoup de
spécialistes semblent douter de ces voyages, considérant la plupart des récits
vantant ses périples comme inexacts et incohérents.
C’est en 561 que Brendan
retourne en Irlande, et décide de fonder le monastère de Clonfert dans la
région de Galway. Il meurt ensuite entre 574 et 578 et fut canonisé par le Pape
Zacharie en 1243, fixant sa fête au 16 mai.
Les moines irlandais et
le voyage de Saint-Brendan
L'hypothèse d'expéditions
transatlantiques menées par des moines irlandais du Moyen Âge semble
raisonnablement valide. Nous savons qu'aux 5e et 6e siècles de notre ère, l'Irlande
est le foyer d'un bouillonnement culturel. Elle est la gardienne de la
chrétienté de l'Europe du Nord à la suite du déclin et de la chute de l'Empire
romain. À cette époque, les moines irlandais prennent le risque de traverser
l'Atlantique Nord en quête d'une mission de nature divine ou spirituelle. Ils
atteignent les archipels des Hébrides et des Orcades ainsi que les îles Féroé.
Les sagas scandinaves mentionnent que des moines irlandais habitent déjà
l'Islande lorsque les Scandinaves s'y implantent vers 870 de notre ère (même si
aucune preuve archéologique ne le confirme jusqu'à présent).
De tels exploits donnent
un air d'authenticité à l'histoire de Saint-Brendan. Né en Irlande vers 489, il
fonde le monastère à Clonfert dans le comté de Galway. Selon la légende, il est
septuagénaire lorsqu'il se lance dans une expédition vers l'ouest. Il part avec
17 compagnons sur un curragh, un bateau fait de peaux de bœuf sur une armature
en bois. D'après un récit du 10e siècle, Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis (Le
voyage de Saint-Brendan), les moines naviguent pendant sept ans dans
l'Atlantique Nord.
Ils finissent par
accoster à la « Terre promise des saints ». Après l'avoir explorée, ils
repartent vers leur point de départ en emportant avec eux des fruits et des
pierres précieuses. Brendan s'est-il rendu jusqu'à Terre-Neuve en se servant
des îles de l'Atlantique Nord comme de tremplins vers sa destination? En 1976
et 1977, Tim Severin, un écrivain et explorateur britannique, fait la
démonstration qu'une telle expédition est réalisable. Il reproduit un curragh,
le Brendan, et navigue jusqu'à Terre-Neuve. Si les moines irlandais ont
réellement traversé l'Atlantique, ce qu'ils ont accompli représente un exploit
d'une grande importance historique. Avant le 8e siècle, l'Irlande subit les
attaques répétées des Vikings. C'est donc peut-être par les Irlandais que les
Scandinaves apprennent l'existence de terres lointaine à l'Ouest.
©1997, site Web du
Patrimoine de Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador
Bibliographie
- Les premières explorations (en anglais)
SOURCE : https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/en-francais/exploration/le-voyage-de-saint-brendan.php
Güstrow
(Mecklenburg-Vorpommern). Dom: Kreuzigungsaltar (ca. 1500) von Hinrik Bornemann
mit der Inschrift „SANCTVS BRNDA“ im Heiligenschein - Heiliger Brandamus (Brendan der Reisende) in der Darstellung
als Abt mit einer brennenden Kerze in der rechten Hand und einem Buch in der
linken. (Zur Ikonografie siehe V. Mayr, Brendan (Brandanus) von Clonfert
(Clúana Ferta, von Irland). In: Lexikon der christlichen Ikonographie,
Band 5, S. 442–443.)
Güstrow
(Mecklenburg-Vorpommern). Cathedral: Altar of the Crucifixion (c. 1500) by
Hinrik Bornemann with the inscription “SANCTVS BRNDA” - Saint Brandamus (Brendan of Clonfert),
depicted as abbot holding a burning candle and a book.
SAINT
BRENDAN
Sanctus Brendanus |
Sanctus Brandanus | Saint Brendan of Clonfert | Saint Brandan
Fête: 16 mai
En plus de sa vita s'est
développée une biographie fabuleuse, le Voyage de saint
Brendan. Vers la fin du Moyen Âge, les deux versions se retrouvent et se
mêlent pour en former de nouvelles.
Vita
Gossuin de Metz, Image du monde
Navigatio
BIBLIOGRAPHIE
Recueils
Sanct Brandan. Ein lateinischer und drei deutsche Texte,
éd. C. Schröder, Erlangen, 1871.
Grosejan, P., « Vita s.
Brandani Clonfertensis e Codice Dubliniensi », Analecta Bollandiana, 48, 1930, p. 99-123.
Heist, W. W., Vitae Sanctorum Hiberiae ex Codice ilim
Salmanticensi nunc Bruxellensi, Bruxelles, Société des Bollandistes
(Subsidia Hagiographica, 28), 1965.
Moran, Patrick F., Acta Sancti Brendani: Original Latin
Documents Connected with the Life of Saint Brendan, Patron of Kerry and
Clonfert, Dublin, Kelly, 1872.
Plummer, Charles, Vitae Sanctorum Hiberniae, Oxford,
Clarendon Press, 1910, 2 t.
Plummer, Charles, Miscellanea Hagiographica Hibernica,
Bruxelles, Société des Bollandistes (Subsidia Hagiographica, 15), 1925.
Généralités
Burgess, Glyn S., « The life and legend of saint Brendan », The Voyage of Saint
Brendan: Representative Versions of the Legend in English Translation, éd. W.
R. J. Barron et Glyn S. Burgess, Exeter, University of Exeter Press, 2002, p.
1-11.
Comptes
rendus du recueil:
Réimpression:
Iannello, Fausto, «
Dell'oblio di un ancestrale monaco irlandese: Brendano di Birr, detto "il
Vecchio". Finzione, contaminazione o reductio funzionale? (Appendix:
"West Munster Synod", transl. from Old Irish by T. Shingurova)
», Studia monastica, 57:1, 2015,
p. 25-67.
Iannello, Fausto, «
Tradizioni e funzioni protettivo-apotropaiche di san Brendano di Clonfert in
ambito litanico ed eucologico », Revue
des sciences religieuses, 92:2, 2018, p. 179-200.
Wright, John Kirtland, The Geographical Lore of the Time of the Crusades: A Study in the
History of Medieval Science and Tradition in Western Europe, New York,
American Geographical Society (American Geographical Society Research Series,
15), 1925, xxi + 563 p. [HT] [IA]
Réimpression:
Permalien: https://arlima.net/no/78
Voir aussi:
> (aucun)
Rédaction: Mattia Cavagna
Compléments: Fausto
Iannello
Dernière mise à jour: 18 septembre 2021
SOURCE : https://www.arlima.net/ad/brendan_saint.html
LE
VOYAGE DE SAINT BRENDAN
VERSIONS
Vita sancti
Brandani abbatis (traduction latine de la version
française de Benedeit)
Actus sancti
Brandani (traduction latine de la version
française de Benedeit)
Brandans Meerfahrt (versions
en vers et en prose)
William Caxton, Golden Legende
Version courte tiréee de
la Llegenda àuria
Version catalane longue (San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Real
Biblioteca del Monasterio, N-III-5, f. 223v-226r, déb. XIV (Es 2)
Benedeit, Le voyage de saint Brendan (vers)
Gossuin de Metz,
version comprise dans l'Image du monde (vers)
Saint
Brandainne le moine (prose)
Autres
versions françaises en vers et en prose
La leggenda di
san Brandano (4 versions)
Version incluse
dans Lo libre
de las flos e de las vidas dels sans e sanctas, traduction de la Legenda aurea de Jacques de Voragine
BIBLIOGRAPHIE
RecueilsBarron, W. R. J., et Glyn S. Burgess,
éd., The Voyage of Saint Brendan:
Representative Versions of the Legend in English Translation, Exeter,
University of Exeter Press, 2002, xi + 377 p.
Comptes
rendus:
Réimpression:
Glyn S. Burgess and Clara
Strijbosch, éd., The Brendan Legend:
Texts and Versions, Brill, Leiden (The Northern World, 24), 2006, 395 p.
Généralités
Bottex-Ferragne, Ariane,
« Le "court Moyen Âge" de la Navigation de saint Brendan:
extinction et réception d'une tradition textuelle », Memini. Travaux et documents, 13, 2009,
p. 67-83. [www]
Brown, Arthur C. L., « The wonderful flower that came
to St. Brendan », The Manly
Anniversary Studies in Language and Literature, Chicago, University of
Chicago Press, 1923, p. 295-299. [HT] [IA]
Réimpression:
Burgess, Glyn S., « The life and legend of saint
Brendan », The Voyage of Saint
Brendan: Representative Versions of the Legend in English Translation, éd. W.
R. J. Barron et Glyn S. Burgess, Exeter, University of Exeter Press, 2002, p.
1-11.
Comptes
rendus du recueil:
Réimpression:
Gaffarel, Paul,
« Les voyages de saint Brandan et des Papœ dans l'Atlantique au moyen
âge », Bulletin de la Société
de géographie de Rochefort, 2, 1880-1881, p. 29-51. [Gallica]
Richard, Jean, « Voyages
réels et voyages imaginaires, instrauments de la connaissance géographique au
Moyen Âge », Culture et travail
intellectuel dans l'Occident médiéval, éd. Geneviève Hasenohr et Jean Longère,
Paris, Centre national de la recherche scientifique, 1981, p. 211-220.
Selmer, Carl, Francis Bar
et Anne-Françoise Labie-Leurquin, « Navigatio sancti Brendani », Dictionnaire des lettres françaises: le
Moyen Âge, éd. Geneviève Hasenohr et Michel Zink, Paris, Fayard, 1992, p.
1057-1058.
Réimpression:
Thurneysen, Rudolf, «
Eine Variante der Brendan-Legende », Zeitschrift
für celtische Philologie, 10, 1915, p. 408-420. [GB] [HT] [IA]
Ward, H. L. D., Catalogue of Romances in the Departement of Manuscripts in the British
Museum, London, British Museum, t. 1, 1883, xx + 955 p.; t. 2, 1893, xii +
748 p. (ici t. 2, p. 516-557) [GB: t. 1, t. 2] [HT] [IA: t. 1, t. 2]
Compte
rendu:
Répertoires
bibliographiques
Permalien: https://arlima.net/no/417
Voir aussi:
> (aucun)
Rédaction: Mattia Cavagna
Compléments: Antonio
Scolari et Laurent Brun
Dernière mise à jour: 23 septembre 2021
SOURCE : https://www.arlima.net/uz/voyage_de_saint_brendan.html#
St. James' Church, Glenbeigh, County Kerry, Ireland. Detail of right light in the hree-light window in the south-west wall of the transept, depicting Saint Brendan.
Also
known as
Brendan the Voyager
Brendan McFinlugh
Brendan of Clonfert
Brendan of Cluain Ferta
Borodon….
Brandan….
Brendain….
Breandan….
6
January as one of the Twelve
Apostles of Ireland
14 June (translation
of relics)
Profile
Son of Findloga; brother
of Saint Briga. Monk. Educated by Saint Ita
of Killeedy and Saint Erc
of Kerry. Friend of Saint Columba and Saint Brendan
of Birr, Saint Brigid,
and Saint Enda
of Arran. Ordained in 512.
Built monastic cells at
Ardfert, Shankeel, Aleth, Plouaret, Inchquin Island, and Annaghdown. Founded
Clonfert monastery and monastic school c.559.
Legend says that this community had at least three thousand monks,
and that their Rule was dictated to Brendan by an angel.
Brendan and his brothers
figure in Brendan’s Voyage, a tale of monks travelling the
high seas of the Atlantic, evangelizing to
the islands, possibly reaching the Americas in the 6th
century. At one point they stop on a small island, celebrate Easter Mass,
light a fire – and then learn the island is an enormous whale!
Born
460 at
Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland
c.577 at
Annaghdown (Enach Duin)
Prayer
for the Spirit of Saint Brendan
priest celebrating Mass on
board ship while fish gather
to listen
one of a group of monks in
a small boat
Additional
Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Brendan’s
Fabulous Voyage, by John Patrick Crichton Stuart Bute
Catholic
Encyclopedia: Saint Brendan
Catholic
Encyclopedia: Voyage of Saint Brendan
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
Roman
Martyrology, 1914 edition
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
The
Book of Saints and Heroes, by Leonora Blanche Lang
books
Battersby’s Registry for
the Whole World
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other
sites in english
1001 Patron Saints and Their Feast Days, Australian
Catholic Truth Society
Dictionary
of Canadian Biography
images
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
in italiano
Readings
Let the brothers and sisters
now sing
Of the holy life of Brendan;
In an old melody
Let it be kept in song.
Loving the jewel of
chastity,
He was the father of monastics.
He shunned the choir of the world;
Now he sings among the angels.
Let him pray that we may
be saved
As we sail upon this sea.
Let him quickly aid the fallen
Oppressed with burdensome sin.
God the Father; Most High
King
Breast-fed by a virgin mother;
Holy
Spirit: when They will it,
Let Them feed us divine honey.
– Guido of Ivrea, 11th
century; English translation from the Latin by Karen Rae Keck, 1994
MLA
Citation
“Saint Brendan the
Navigator“. CatholicSaints.Info. 31 August 2021. Web. 16 May 2022.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-brendan-the-navigator/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-brendan-the-navigator/
St. Brendan's Cathedral, Loughrea, County Galway, Ireland. Stained glass window by Sarah Purser in the western porch, depicting St. Brendan the Navigator at sea. This work is titled “Breandán Naoṁṫa ar an Muir” (see inscription at the bottom) and was created mid 1903 with dimensions 915 × 457 mm. It is her “only window she carried through all the design and craft stages with no assistant”. (See entry 374 in the list of her works at John O'Grady, The life and work of Sarah Purser, ISBN 1-85182-241-0, p. 244–245; Nicola Gordon Bowe et al, Gazetteer of Irish Stained Glass, ISBN 0-7165-2413-9, p. 57; St Brendan's Cathedral, Loughrea, ISBN 0-900346-76-0.)
St. Brendan
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.
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. While many locations had
been speculated, 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 those 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.
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.
SOURCE : http://www.ucatholic.com/saints/saint-brendan/
St. Brendan
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 Brigidof 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 theCuldee, 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 itsconversion 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 Paradisewith
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 inknowledge 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 those scholars who claim for the Irishthe 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 interestfor
the history of civilization but which can lay no claim to
serious consideration from the point of view ofgeography. 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.
Sources
Beamish, The
Discovery of America (1881), 210-211; O'Hanlon, Lives of the Irish
Saints (Dublin, 1875), V, 389; Peschel, Abhandlungen zur Erd- und
Volkerkunde (Leipzig, 1877), I, 20-28; Gaffarel, Les Voyages de Saint
Brandan et des Papœ dans l'Atlantique au Moyen Age in Bulletin de la
Societé de Géographie de Rochefort (1880-1881), II, 5; Ruge, Geschichte
des Zeitalters der Entdeckungen (Leipzig, 1881); Schirmer, Zur
Brendanus Legende (Leipzig, 1888); Zimmer, Keltische Beiträge in
Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum und deutsche Litteratur (1888-89), 33;
Idem, Die frühesten Berührungen der Iren mit den Nordgermanen in Berichte
der Akademie der Wissenschaft (Berlin, 1891); Kretschmer, Die
Entdeckung Amerikas (Berlin, 1892, Calmund, 1902), 186-195;
Brittain, The History of North America (Philadelphia, 1907), I, 10;
Rafn, Ant. Amer., XXXVII, and 447-450; Avezac, Les Îles fantastiques de
l'océan occidental in Nouv. An. des voyages et de science geogr.,
(1845), I, 293; MacCarthy, The voyage of St. Brendan, in Dublin University
Magazine (Jan. 1848), 89 sqq.
Grattan-Flood, William,
and Otto Hartig. "St. Brendan." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol.
2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 16 May
2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02758c.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Kieran O'Shea.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John
M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2021 by Kevin Knight.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02758c.htm
Sculpture of St Brendan, The Square Bantry, County Cork, Ireland
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.
From Ireland's Eye
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 Lord Jesus Christ
did not suffer him to harm us.'
"And then he showed them the way to the land which they sought; and
receiving the Host at the hands of Brendan, he fell joyfully asleep in the
Lord; and he was buried beside his companions" (Plummer).
Then they came to an island filled with flowers and fruit trees and found
harbor. "The Brendan said to his brethren, 'Behold, our Lord Jesus Christ,
the good, the merciful, hath given us this place wherein to abide His holy
resurrection. My brothers, if we had naught else to restore our bodies, this
spring alone would suffice us for meat and drink.'
"Now there was above the spring a tree of strange height, covered with
birds of dazzling white, so crowded on the tree that scarcely could it be seen
by human eyes. And looking upon it the man of God began to ponder within
himself what cause had brought so great a multitude of birds together on one
tree."
[He prayed with tears that God might reveal the mystery of the birds to him.]
"And the bird spoke to him. 'We are,' it said, 'of that great ruin of the
ancient foe, who did not consent to him wholly. Yet because we consented in
part to his sin, our ruin also befell. For God is just, and keeps truth and
mercy. And so by His judgment He sent us to this place, where we know no other
pain than that we cannot see the presence of God, and so hath He estranged us
from the fellowship of those who stood firm. On the solemn feasts and on the
Sabbaths we take such bodies as you see, and abide here, praising our Maker.
And as other spirits who are sent through the divers regions of the air and the
earth, so may we speed also.
"'Now hast thou with thy brethren been one year upon thy journey; and six
years yet remain. Where this day thou dost keep the Easter Feast, there shalt
thou keep it throughout every year of thy pilgrimage, and thereafter shalt thou
find the thing that thou hast set in thy heart, the land that was promised to
the saints.' And when the bird had spoken thus, it raised itself up from the
prow, and took its flight to the rest.
"And when the hour of evening drew on, then began all the birds that were
on the tree to sing as with one voice, beating their wings and saying, 'Praise
waiteth for Thee, O Lord, in Sion: and unto Thee shall the vow be performed.'
And they continued repeating that verse, for the space of one hour.
"It seemed to the brethren that the melody and the sound of the wings was
like a lament that is sweetly sung. Then said Saint Brendan to the brethren,
'Do ye refresh your bodies, for this day have your souls been filled with the
heavenly bread.' And when the Feast was ended, the brethren began to sing the
office; and thereafter they rested in quiet until the third watch of the night.
"Then the man of God awaking, began to rouse the brethren for the Vigils
of the Holy Night. And when he had begun the verse, 'Lord, open Thou my lips,
and my heart shall show forth Thy praise,' all the birds rang out with voice
and wing, singing, 'Praise the Lord, all ye His angels; praise ye Him, all His
hosts.' And even as at Vespers, they sang for the space of one hour.
"Then, when dawn brought the ending of the night, they all began to sing,
'And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,' with equal melody and
length of chanting, as had been at Matins.
"At Tierce they sang this verse: 'Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing
ye praises with understanding.' And at Sext they sang, 'Lord, lift up the light
of Thy countenance upon us, and have mercy upon us.' At Nones they said,
'Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in
unity.' And so day and night the birds sang praises to God. And throughout the
octaves of the Feast they continued in the praises of God.
"Here then the brethren remained until the Whitsun Feast; for the sweet
singing of the birds was their delight and their reviving. . . . But when the
octave of the feast was ended, the Saint bade his brethren to make ready the
ship, and fill their vessels with water from the spring. And when all was made
ready, came the aforesaid bird in swift flight, and rested on the prow of the
ship, and said, as if to comfort them against the perils of the sea: 'Know that
where ye held the Lord's Supper, in the year that is past, there in like
fashion shall ye be on that same night this year. . . . After eight months ye
shall find an island . . . whereon ye shall celebrate the Lord's Nativity.' And
when the bird had foretold these things, it returned to its own place.
"Then the brethren began to spread their sails and go out to sea. And the
birds were singing as with one voice, saying, 'Hear us, O God of our salvation,
Who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar
off upon the sea.' And so for three months they were borne on the breadth of ocean,
and saw nothing beyond the sea and sky" (Plummer; these stories are also
told in Curtayne).
In art, Saint Brendan is shown saying Mass on ship as the fish crowd round to
listen to him. He may also be shown holding a candle. Just inside the main doors
of Saint Patrick's, across from Saint Brigid (f.d. February 1), stands a statue
of Saint Brendan holding his ship. Brendan is the patron of seafarers and
travellers, and is venerated in Ireland (Roeder).
Interested in learning
more about Saint Brendan? Visit The Voyage of Brendan the Navigator and La Isla
Fantasma: San Borondon (in Spanish but some great pictures). The first
discusses the possibility that Brendan reached the New World. The second speaks
of the legend of Brendan's visit to the Canary Islands. Enjoy!
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0516.shtml
St.
Benin's Church, Kilbennan, County Galway, Ireland. Stained glass window
depicting Saint Brendan.
St. Brendan the Elder,
Abbot in Ireland
[Abbot of Cluain-fearta,
or Clonfert, upon the river Shannon.] HE was son of Findloga, and a
disciple of St. Finian at Clonard. Passing afterwards into Wales he lived some
time under the discipline of St. Gildas, also several years in the abbey of
Llan-carven, in Glamorganshire. He built in Britain the monastery of Ailech,
and another church in a territory called Heth. Returning into Ireland he
founded there several schools and monasteries, the chief of which was that of
Cluain-fearta. 1 He
wrote a monastic rule which was long famous in Ireland, taught some time at
Ros-carbre, and died at Enachduin, a monastery which he had built for his
sister Briga, in Connaught. He is named in the Roman Martyrology on the 16th of
May, on which he passed to bliss, in the year 578, in the ninety-fourth year of
his age. His life extant in MS. in the Cottonian Library is filled with apochryphal
relations of miracles; see Usher’s Antiq. p. 271, 471, 494; Smith’s Natural and
Civil History of Kerry, p. 412, and 68.
Note 1. Two
great monasteries in Ireland, the heads of their respective Orders, had the
same name of Cluainfearta: this on the Shannon, in Connaught, in the county of
Galway, where now is the episcopal see of Clonfert: the other founded by St.
Luan or Molua in Leinster, called from him Cluain-fearta-Molua. Cluain, in the
old Irish language signifies a retired or hidden place; and Fearta, wonders or
miracles. [back]
Rev. Alban
Butler (1711–73). Volume V: May. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/5/167.html
Le départ de Saint-Brendan et de ses compagnons, s.d. Artiste inconnu. Tiré de St. Brendan the Voyager du révérend Denis O'Donoghue, Brown & Nolan, Dublin, 1893) frontispice.
BRENDAN (Bréanainn), SAINT, Irish abbot and missionary, traditionally connected with voyages westward towards North America and possibly even to present-day Canada; b. c. 484; d. c. 578.
It is believed that he
was born near Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland, the son of Christian parents. He
was ordained at the age of 26 and later founded the important monastery at
Clonfert, County Galway, of which he was abbot. Mt. Brandon, on Dingle peninsula,
is named after the saint, and to the west of it is the supposed location of
“St. Brendan’s Isle.”
St. Brendan is reputed to
have visited such places as the Faeroe Islands, Iceland, Jan Mayen Island, the
Antilles, the Azores, the Canaries, and even Greenland and the mainland of
America. Although the Irish had reached and even established a religious
community in Iceland before A.D. 800, there is nothing to connect Brendan with
this venture. Nor is there any reliable evidence to show that either Brendan or
any of his countrymen had ever reached Greenland or America. Very early a Vita
Sancti Brendani was written and then later a Navigatio which incorporated parts
of the Vita and the date of which is disputed (Selmer dates the earliest
manuscript at the turn of the 10th to the 11th century). This Navigatio relates
the voyage or voyages of the saint in search of the paradisum terrestre (tir
tairgirne) or Promised Land of the saints. It was circulated in numerous
manuscripts and translated into many languages.
It is a much more
reasonable argument that, where the Navigatio Sancti Brendani contains what
might be construed as information about the seas or lands west of Iceland, this
was derived from accounts of the voyages of the Norsemen in the north Atlantic
(or, in cases where Iceland seems to be indicated, from the Irish monks who
fled Iceland at the approach of the Norsemen in 870) transmitted by the
numerous Scandinavians who visited or settled in Ireland in the years 800–1200.
A close scrutiny of the
relevant Icelandic sagas (Saga of Eric the Red, (chap. 12); Eyrbyggja saga
(chap. 64); and the Landnámabok (chap. 171)) can lead only to the conclusion
that they are inapplicable to any “White Men’s Land” in America, and indeed no
land is to be found in six days’ sailing west of Ireland. St. Brendan or others
like him may have crossed the Atlantic but there is no real evidence for this
view. If they did, they left not even transient memorials, such as one would
expect to find described in the Icelandic sagas. Therefore we may assume that
the Norsemen did not come into contact with a flourishing Irish colony on the
east coast of Canada or of the United States of America.
T. J. OLESON
Navigatio Sancti Brendani
abbatis, ed. Carl Selmer (Notre Dame, Ind., 1959) contains a full bibliography
and account of the MSS material. Geoffrey Ashe, Land to the west (London,
1962). Eugène Beauvois, La découverte du Nouveau Monde par les Irlandais,
et les premières traces du christianisme en Amérique avant l’an 1000 (Congrès
international des Américanistes, Nancy, 1875). R.-Y. Creston, Journal de
bord de Saint-Brendan (Paris, 1957). Jón Dúason, Landkönnun og
Landnám Íslendinga i Vesturheimi (Reykjavík, 1941–47), 292–97, 665–70.
Hennig, Terrae incognitae. Lanctot, Histoire du Canada, I, 45–59, 62. G.
A. Little, St. Brendan the navigator (Dublin, 1945). Fridtjof
Nansen, In northern mists: arctic exploration in early times (2v.,
London, 1911), II, 42–56. Denis O’Donoghue, Brendaniana: St. Brendan the
voyager (Dublin, 1893). Oleson, Early voyages, 100, 125. E. G. R.
Waters, The Anglo-Norman voyage of St. Brendan (Oxford, 1928).
© 2000 University of
Toronto/Université Laval
SOURCE : http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=87
St.
Michael's Church, Ballinasloe, County Galway, Ireland. Detail of the east
window by Frederick Settle Barff (1822–1866),
depicting Saint Brendan.
St. Brendan (Brendan the
Voyager, Brendan the Navigator) belongs to that glorious period in the
history of Ireland when the island, in the first glow of conversion to
Christianity, sent forth its earliest messengers of the Faith to the continent
and to the regions of the sea. The stories of Saint Brendan voyaging over
perilous waters were popular in the Middle Ages, and his travels were as well
known as the wanderings of Ulysses.
He was born on the Fenit Peninsula in Ciarraighe Luachra, near the present city
of Tralee, in the diocese of Ardfert and Aghadoe, County Kerry, Ireland, in
484. Many accounts agree that he was the son of Findlugh, from an ancient and
noble family. He was baptized at Tubrid, near Ardfert, by Bishop Erc. One
version of his early life says that the infant Saint Brendan was given into the
care of Saint Ita of Killeedy, "The Brigid of Munster," 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." When he was six he was sent to Saint Jarlath's monastery school
at Tuam for more childhood education. In 512 Bishop Erc ordained Brendan to the
priesthood; between the years 512 and 530 he built monastic cells at Ardfert,
at Shanakeel or Baalynevinoorach, and at the foot of Brandon Hill. It was from
here that he set out on his most famous voyage.
On the Kerry coast, he built a coracle of wattle, covered it with hides tanned
in oak bark softened with butter, set up a mast and a sail, and after a prayer
upon the shore, embarked in the name of the Trinity. For seven years he voyaged
to find the Promised Land of the saints, and fabulous stories are told of his
wanderings. The great seafaring legends attached to St. Brendan, first
committed to writing in the eleventh century, have for foundation an actual
sea-voyage the destination of which cannot ever be determined. These adventures
were called the "Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis" the Voyage or
Wandering of St. Brendan, commonly known as the Navigatio. Brendan set forth
with a company of monks, the number of which is variously stated as from 18 to
150, and after a long voyage of seven years they reached the "Terra
Repromissionis", the Paradise or Promised Land, a most beautiful island
with luxuriant vegetation.
Over the years there have been many interpretations of the possible
geographical position of this island. Various pre-Columbian sea-charts
indicated it everywhere from the southern part of Ireland, to the Canary
Islands, Faroes or Azores, to the island of Madeira, to a point 60 degrees west
of the first meridian and very near the equator. Belief in the existence of the
island was almost completely abandoned when a new theory arose, maintained by
those who claim for the Irish the glory of discovering America. This claim
rests in part on the account of the Vikings who found a region south of the
Chesapeake Bay called "Irland ed mikla" (Greater Ireland), and on
stone carvings discovered in West Virginia dated between 500 and 1000 A.D.
Analysis by archaeologist Robert Pyle and language expert Barry Fell indicate
that these carvings are written in Old Irish using the Ogham alphabet.
According to Fell, "the West Virginia Ogham texts are the oldest Ogham
inscriptions anywhere in the world. They exhibit the grammar and vocabulary of
Old Irish in a manner previously unknown in such early rock-cut inscriptions in
any Celtic language."
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 when he
built his boat, he launched it in the name of the Lord, and sailed it under the
ensign of the Cross. Dr. Fell goes on to speculate that, "It seems
possible that the scribes that cut the West Virginia inscriptions may have been
Irish missionaries in the wake of Brendan's voyage, for these inscriptions are
Christian. Early Christian symbols such as Chi-Rho monograms (Name of Christ)
and the Dextra Dei (Right Hand of God) appear at the sites together with the
Ogham texts."
It is true that the Irish monks were renowned as travellers and explorers
centuries before Columbus. Tradition says that they reached Iceland and
explored even farther afield in the Atlantic. Some scholars who long doubted
that the voyage described by Brendan could have made it to North America have
reconsidered their position based on the research and pilgrimage of British
navigation scholar Tim Severin. Severin, over several years in the late 1970s,
did an extraordinary thing: he built a hide-covered boat following the
instructions in the Navigatio, and 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, and proving that a
small boat could have sailed from Ireland to North America.
After many years of seafaring Brendan at last returned to Ireland. As the story
of the seven years' voyage was carried about, crowds of pilgrims and students
flocked to Ardfert. In a few years, many religious houses were formed at
Gallerus, Kilmalchedor, Brandon Hill, and the Blasquet Islands to serve the
many people who sought spiritual guidance from St. Brendan. Brendan then
founded a monastery at Inis-da-druim (now Coney Island, County Clare), in the
present parish of Killadysert, about the year 550. He journeyed to Wales, and
studied under Saint Gildas at Llancarfan. He visited Iona, and was a
contemporary and disciple of St. Finian. He left traces of his apostolic zeal
at Kilbrandon (near Oban) and Kilbrennan Sound. After three years 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.
The great mountain that juts out into the Atlantic in County Kerry is called
Mount Brandon, because he built a little chapel atop it, and the bay at the
foot of the mountain is Brandon Bay. He also founded the Sees of Ardfert, and
of Annaghdown, and established churches at Inchiquin, County Galway, and at
Inishglora, County Mayo. Brendan's most celebrated foundation was Clonfert in
Galway, in 557, over which he appointed St. Moinenn as Prior and Head Master.
The great monastery at Clonfert housed 3,000 monks, whose rule of life was
constructed with remarkable austerity, and also included a convent for women
initially placed under the charge of his sister, St. Briga.
Brendan died at Enach Duin, now called Annaghdown, in 577, on a visit to his
sister while she was abbess of a convent there. Despite a life of exceeding
piety and many dangerous travels, he had great anxiety about the holy Journey
of death. His dying words to Briga are reported to have been: "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."
Brendan's feast day is celebrated on May 16.
SOURCE : http://www.allsaintsbrookline.org/celtic_saints/brendan.html
St.
Brendan statue, Fenit Without, Co. Kerry, Ireland
St. Brendan the Navigator. This modern statue to St Brendan stands on Samphire Island which can be reached by a causeway from Fenit.
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The statue is 12 feet tall and is placed at Great Samphire Rock in Fenit Harbour, Tralee. Brendan is pointing West to the mouth of Tralee Bay and the Atlantic Ocean, one knee bent and the other foot pushed back, bracing his body against "a force 10 gale" which blows his cloak out behind him.
San Brendano di
Cluain Ferta Abate
Tralee, County Kerry,
Irlanda, 460 - Luachair Dedad, 577-583?
In irlandese è chiamato
Brénnain Clúana Ferta, ma è conosciuto anche come Brendan di Clonfert o
Brandano il Navigatore. Negli Annali irlandesi è nominato varie volte, ma la
prima notizia certa la troviamo nella «Cronaca» compilata verso il 740; essa
ricorda la fondazione della chiesa di Clúain Ferta (baronia di Longford, contea
di Galway) a opera di Brendano, avvenimento risalente al 558. La morte, invece,
si colloca tra il 577 e il 583. Brendano fu certamente un abate, ma non fu mai
consacrato vescovo, e avrebbe fondato il monastero di Enach Dúin (Annaghdown)
su una terra donata dal re del Connacht Aíd Abrat (578). Nel X secolo un
irlandese compose l'opera letteraria «Navigatio Brendani» in cui sono
raccontati i viaggi apostolici e le avventure occorse al santo abate; seguendo
il filone delle leggende di viaggi. Un'altra «Vita» afferma che Brendano aveva
una sorella, Bríg, ricordata nel Martirologio di Donegal al 7 gennaio e che
morì mentre le rendeva visita in Luachair Dedad; inoltre sembra che fosse parente
di altri santi irlandesi. (Avvenire)
Martirologio
Romano: In Irlanda, san Brendano, abate di Clonfert, fervido propagatore
della vita monastica, del quale è celebre il racconto di una leggendaria
navigazione.
In irlandese è chiamato Brénnain Clúana Ferta, ma è conosciuto anche come Brendan di Clonfert o Brandano il Navigatore. Negli Annali irlandesi s. Brendano è nominato varie volte, ma la prima notizia certa la troviamo nella ‘Cronaca’ compilata verso il 740; essa ricorda la fondazione della chiesa di Clúain Ferta (baronia di Longford, contea di Galway) ad opera di Brendano e questo avvenimento è posto in date diverse nelle opere letterarie successive, ma ne citiamo solo la prima, nel 558.
La ‘Cronaca’ riporta anche la notizia della sua morte, che anch’essa negli annali successivi è variamente interpretata dal 577 al 583; Brendano fu certamente un abate, ma non fu mai consacrato vescovo, era il figlio di Find Loga (486) e fu educato da s. M’Íte (570) dei Déissi.
La fonte a cui facciamo riferimento per queste notizie è la “Bibliotheca Sanctorum” e l’articolo biografico è a firma dell’irlandese Cuthbert Mc Grath, purtroppo lo scritto è talmente infarcito di notizie collaterali al santo, al punto che esso viene descritto in pochissimo spazio, mentre per il resto si parla del padre, delle fonti agiografiche e storiche irlandesi in cui è menzionato, del paese d’origine e dei suoi usi, ecc. il tutto nominando continuamente nomi lunghi e composti e la loro origine nella etimologia irlandese, che è difficile seguire e riportare; per chi fosse interessato, si può consultare il III vol. di detta Opera alla pagina 404-409, in cui è riportata anche la bibliografia.
Brendano avrebbe fondato il monastero di Enach Dúin (Annaghdown) su una terra donata dal re del Connacht Aíd Abrat (578) e sarebbe morto a 94 anni.
Prendendo altre notizie sparse, sappiamo che Cummian nella sua famosa ‘Lettera Pasquale’ lo chiama Brénnain moccu Alta stabilendo così la tribù a cui apparteneva e che fece visita a Columb Cille a Hinba accompagnato da altri santi fondatori di cenobi.
Nel X secolo un irlandese compose l’opera letteraria “Navigatio Brendani” in cui sono raccontati i viaggi apostolici e le avventure occorse al santo abate; seguendo il filone delle leggende di viaggi, in generale descritti nell’Immrama.
Un’altra ‘Vita’ afferma che Brendano aveva una sorella s. Bríg, ricordata nel Martirologio di Donegal al 7 gennaio e che morì mentre le rendeva visita in Luachair Dedad; inoltre sembra che fosse parente di altri santi irlandesi.
In seguito il culto per s. Brendano si diffuse in Scozia, nel Galles, in Inghilterra, in Bretagna, in Normandia, nelle Fiandre, raggiungendo perfino le coste del Mar Baltico.
La festa nei Martirologi irlandesi, poi riportata anche dal ‘Martyrologium Romanum’ è al 16 maggio; quadri e vetrate che lo raffigurano e sue reliquie, sono nel convento della Poterie (sec. XV-XVI) di Bruges in Fiandra (Belgio).
Autore: Antonio Borrelli
SOURCE : http://santiebeati.it/dettaglio/53375
Europe
and the discoveries: Brendan discovering the Faroe
Islands
Stamp
FR 252 of Postverk Føroya, Faroe Islands (common edition with
Ireland and Iceland)
Date
of issue: 18 April 1994
Artist: Colin Harrison
Europe
and the discoveries: Brendan discovering Iceland
Stamp
FR 253 of Postverk Føroya, Faroe
Islands (common edition with Ireland and Iceland)
Date
of issue: 18 April 1994
Artist: Colin Harrison
BRANDANO, San
di Raymond Lantier - Enciclopedia
Italiana (1930)
, Irlandese, nato
verso il 484 a Tralee (Kerry). Fondò numerosi conventi in Irlanda, tra cui
quello di Clonfert, ove divenne abate e morì verso il 578. È soprattutto
celebre per il racconto - popolarissimo nel Medioevo - del suo viaggio
settennale alla ricerca del Paradiso. Lo possediamo in una redazione
latina, Navigatio sancti Brandani, verosimilmente della fine del sec. XI,
e in numerose versioni, tanto nelle quattro lingue celtiche, quanto in
francese, inglese, sassone, fiammingo, italiano.
La leggenda di S.
Brandano si ricollega a tutta una serie di viaggi mitici verso i paesi
d'oltremare: tema favorito nella letteratura celtica dei primi secoli dell'era
cristiana. Alcuni episodî della navigazione di S. Brandano si ritrovano nel
viaggio di Bran figlio di Febal, e nella saga di Maelduin. Ma ci possiamo
chiedere se questa leggenda non contenga anche vestigia di tradizioni relative
a spedizioni marittime irlandesi e a stabilimenti in Islanda e in America, ai
quali sembrano alludere le saghe islandesi. La leggenda di Brandano, poi, si è
diffusa ben presto anche fuori dei paesi celti; e sembra l'abbiano conosciuta
anche gli Arabi, che ne hanno introdotto qualche episodio nella storia di
Sindbad il marinaio. L'isola di S. Brandano è stata indicata sulle principali
carte medievali fino ad epoca relativamente recente, per es. sopra una carta
veneziana del 1367, su quella anonima di Weimar del 1424; in quella di Beccario
(1435) è confusa con Madera, e Martino Behaim (1492) la pone ad ovest delle
Canarie. Nel trattato con cui la Corona di Portogallo cede ai Castigliani i
suoi diritti sulle Canarie, è detta "l'isola non ancora scoperta".
Dal 1526 al 1721 non meno di quattro spedizioni salparono dalle Canarie alla
ricerca dell'isola di S. Brandano.
Bibl.: A. Jubinal, La
légende latine de Saint-Brandan, Parigi 1836; Zimmer, Keltische Beiträge,
II, Brandans Meerfahrt, Berlino 1889; P. F. Moran, Acta Sancti
Brandani, Dublino 1872; O' Donoghue, Brandaniana, Dublino 1893; A.
D'Ancona, Scritti danteschi, Firenze 1913, pp. 45-46; C. Wahlund, Eine
altfranzösische prosaübersetzung von Brandans Meerfahrt, in Festgabe W.
Förster, Halle 1901, p. 129 segg.; id., in Skrifter utgifna af K.
Humanistika Vetenskaps-Samfundet i Uppsala, IV, 3 (1902); F. Novati, La
Navigatio S. Brandani in antico veneziano, Bergamo 1893, 2ª ed. 1896; J. K.
Wright, The geographical Lore of the Time of the Crusades, New York 1925.
SOURCE : https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/san-brandano_(Enciclopedia-Italiana)/
A woodcut which shows the scene from Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis where the saint celebrates a mass on the body of a sea monster. 15th century
Jean Larmat (Université de Nice). Le réel et l’imaginaire dans la Navigation de Saint Brandan in Voyage, quête, pèlerinage dans la littérature et la civilisation médiévales, Presses universitaires de Provence, 1976 : https://books.openedition.org/pup/4330?lang=fr
Jean
Larmat (Université de Nice). L'eau
dans la Navigation de saint Brandan de Benedeit in L’eau au
Moyen Âge, Presses universitaires de Provence, 1985 : https://books.openedition.org/pup/2947
Glyn S. Burgess. »Les fonctions des quatre éléments dans le Voyage de saint Brendan par Benedeit »Cahiers de Civilisation Médiévale Année 1995 38-149 pp. 3-22 : https://www.persee.fr/doc/ccmed_0007-9731_1995_num_38_149_2602
Silvère Menegaldo, « W.R.J. Barron, Glyn S. Burgess (éds.), The Voyage of Saint Brendan », Cahiers de recherches médiévales et humanistes [En ligne], Recensions par année de publication, mis en ligne le 29 août 2008, consulté le 16 mai 2022. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/crm/1003 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/crm.1003
Voir aussi : http://www.utqueant.org/net/fascinationbren.html
http://stmaterne.blogspot.fr/2007/05/saint-brendan-labb-orthodoxe-qui.html
http://saintbrendan.d-t-x.com/
