Far from being the domain of geeky teenage boys, comicbook superhero movies have become cultural phenonemon...and a commercial juggernaut. One wonders, why is that? What is the itch being scratched by these epic, larger-than-life battles between good and evil?

Among the most popular tales of the Celtic monks of Ireland is the story of St. Brendan. St. Brendan was an Irish monk living in the 6th century. According to legend, he and fourteen monks set sail from Ireland in a small ship known as a coracle or curragh , in search of the legendary "Island of the Blessed." The details of his fantastic journey, recorded in the 9th-century tale, the Navagatio , or "The Voyage of St. Brendan," survive in nearly 120 manuscripts and was immen