Prayer of St. Brendan, the Navigator

-Prayer of St. Brendan, the Navigator- 

When St. Brendan got back from his travels discovering America in a small wooden and leather boat around 564 AD, he wrote a book in Latin, 'Navigatio Brendani' or 'The Voyage of Brendan', which, some 900 years later (1477) convinced Christopher Columbus that there might just be something out there beyond the western horizon.
The rest is history!

After he got back to Ireland, Brendan, filled with a missionary zeal, sailed from his native Kerry, round by the Aran islands, in by Salthill to Galway and soon founded an Abbey at Annaghdown, five miles up the Corrib River from Galway City (which did not exist for another 700 years). 

Later on, he founded the Cathedral at Clonfert, between Portumna and Athlone, on the banks of the River Shannon. Clonfert Cathedral is still in use as a church today and has a most magnificent Romanesque doorway that attracts visitors from all over the world each year. St. Brendan is the Patron Saint of the Diocese of Clonfert and I suppose, he really is our Irish patron saint of Journeys and Voyages. 

He died at the Abbey in Annaghdown in the care of his sister, Briga and is buried at Clonfert. 

This is his prayer. It can be applied to many journeys, including the spirit and the mind.
It is as meaningful today as it was 1500 years ago.

-Prayer of St. Brendan, the Navigator-

'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'.

One of the many stories I tell on my Walking Tours of Galway. If you ever go to Galway, come join me on a wonderful walk of discovery in Galway, the City of the Tribes, European Capital of Culture 2020. Follow me on Twitter @galwaywalks or on Facebook www.facebook.com/galwaywalks/
Photo - Image from 'Navigatio Brendani', St. Brendan encounters a whale.

So, exactly who was it that first discovered America?

On the Galway's Horrible Histories Walk, I weave the Brendan Voyage tale into the stories I tell, explaining how in 929 AD the Vikings raided the Priory Abbey of Annaghdown, 4 miles up the Corrib River from Galway city, which was founded by St. Brendan for his sister, Briga, and where he died in 577 AD. Some time around 531 AD St. Brendan sailed to America with fourteen monks in a leather boat/coracle. He made it home, miraclously, ten years later and penned a best-seller manuscript recounting his voyage called 'De Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis'. (some 100 versions of this manuscript exist in museums and libraries all over Europe). A copy of Brendan's book was looted by the Vikings in their raid on Annaghdown (or possibly when they raided Clonfert, where Brendan is buried) and hey, guess what, some eighty years after the book was stolen, Leif Eriksson 'discovered' America around 1,012 AD ... funny how he never mentioned the book that his grand-dad, Eric the Red, had nicked when he visited Galway...! (He didn't pay the Library Fine either...must be enough to bail out the Irish economy by now!).

Anyway, fully 400 years later, around 1483 a certain sailor named Christopher Columbus visited Galway, as captain of a trading ship, from Coruna and on visiting the Church of St. Nicholas, he too borrowed a copy of Brendan's manuscript and yes, you guessed it, nine years later he was telling Queen Isabella that way out there in the west was a land filled with wondrous stuff, which he was eager to discover for her, entirely of course omitting that he too was following in the very large and confident footsteps of St. Brendan. (yes, I know St. Brendan was from Kerry, but he really only came into his own when he came to Galway, and that's a true story)

St. Brendan's feast day is celebrated on May 16, but you can also celebrate his birthday, on 27 November.

If you care to see how world explorer Tim Severin proved that St. Brendan could have discovered America in a hide and wattle boat, watch the video below ... it truly is an inspiring story.

Ever find yourself in Galway with an hour or two to spare, call me at 086-3273560 or email me at galwaywalks@gmail.com and we can walk and talk together, exploring Galway's Horrible Histories. It's a lot of fun, trust me. Galway Walks http://www.galwaywalks.com