Saint Brendan the Navigator
Brendan, priest and monk, was born at Tralee, County Kerry, around
460. He was educated by St. Ita and St. Erc of Kerry, and was a friend
of St. Columba. He founded Clonfert, among others. He died at Annaghdown,
sometime between 577 and 583.
He was the subject of an enormously popular folk-narrative first written down in the 9th Century as the Navigatio sancti brendani. Consequently he has become known as the patron saint of boatmen, mariners, sailors, travellers, watermen, and whales. There is no locateable English text of the Navigatio on the Internet; there is one in German, Die Reise des Heiligen Brendan, by David Stifter, of the University of Vienna. |