Brendan the Voyager

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 immensely popular in Medieval times.  The story is a kind of spiritual odyssey, similar to those of the Greek Ulysses, the Latin Aeneid and later Authurian legends of the search for the Grail.

It includes several charming episodes, such as the time Brendan and the other monks stopped on an island to celebrate Easter Mass. But as soon as they lit a fire, the island started to move. Running back to the ship, Brendan and his companions saw that they had landed not on an island but on the back of a whale! All told, his seven-year voyage took Brendan and company to Scotland, England, Iceland and Greenland, and perhaps even North America! Below are medieval illustrations and modern monuments to the great journey.

Whales: Anonymous after Hendrick Goltzius, Stranded Whale at Zandvoort, 1594

St. Brendan and crew celebrate Easter on a whale

St. Brendan and his disciples letting the Spirit blow them to their place of resurrection. Icon writer unknown.

Brendan and his monks' ship is carried by a giant fish in a German manuscript.

Saint Brendan, 484-577, figurative map of St. Brendan's legendary voyage; shows Mass being said on the back of a whale

This painting portrays St Brendan on one of his voyages when he meets Judas who, for a good act during his lifetime, is allowed one hour's release from hell each Christmas Eve.

St. Brendan by Edward Reginald Frampton (1872-1903). 1908

St Brendan the Navigator Catholic Church, Ormond Beach, Florida

Statue of St. Brendan on Great Samphire Island, Fennit, Ireland

In keeping with the tradition of the Fianna, Brendan is depicted as following their battle strategy - glún le glaoi agus troig le taca (knee bent toward the battle tumult, rear foot against a support, so there could be no retreat); leaning into a force 10 storm, like those he must often have faced at sea on his own travels, with his cloak blowing out behind him, grasping the Gospel, pointing out to sea and urging ever forward to spread the word of God.

St. Brendan the Navigator, Knock Shrine, County Mayo, Ireland (part of three-part monument to Saints Patrick, Kevin and Brendan)

Believed to be one of the earliest explorers to North America, St. Brendan stands upright on his ship with hands stretched forward to receive what challenges God has laid before him.

One of the more intriguing monuments to St. Brendan is the Gallarus Oratory, a dry-stone hut in southwestern Ireland that is thought to have been built as a chapel to serve pilgrims who had journeyed themselves to honor the wandering saint. The hut is a remarkable construction, having endured for a thousand years, and still able to keep out the rain!