An Irish MYTH?
     
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Ireland's St. Brendan the Navigator, not Columbus, discovered the New World!


Saint Brendan was born in 484 near Tralee, County Kerry and was ordained a priest in 512.

According to the legend, in about 530 AD, a monk told Brendan about a land far across the ocean. Eager to make converts, Saint Brendan left Ireland, accompanied by 17 to 150 monks, in a curragh, a wood-framed boat covered in sewn ox-hides, for a journey on the Atlantic Ocean that would take seven years. It is written that they reached a beautiful island with luxuriant vegetation and precious gems. Unfortunately they did not have GPS at their disposal and the exact location of this paradise is lost in history. Of course cartographers and historians over the centuries have tried to pin-point the position of Terra Repromissions (Promised Land of the Saints - Paradise) but have not been able to do so conclusively.

Join the Derby Boys at Brendan's Irish Pub in St. Matthews on St. Patrick's Day '08, Mar 17, 6-10 pm

GREAT IRELAND
In the nineteenth century, belief in Terra Repromissions’ existence had been abandoned until some Irish scholars claimed that Saint Brendan, thus Ireland, discovered America. Proof for this claim is based on the Norsemen who named a region south of Newfoundland, “Irland ed Mikla,” or Great Ireland, and on a legend of the native inhabitants of Florida that their country was once inhabited by a white tribe using iron tools. The scholars also conclude that the creatures and plants described in the legend of Saint Brendan originated from America.

Left: Whiskey decanter designed by Hibernian Ken McKiernan for Old Commonwealth Distillery... each year there was a different Irish theme.  Photo courtesy Eric Edwards

TIM SEVERIN and the rest of the story
In 1976-77, Tim Severin sought to prove that a voyage like Brendan's was possible.  He built himself a curragh and sailed from Ireland to Newfoundland . During the voyage Tim and company saw similarities between the legend and the actual local situation. Near the Faeroe Islands, Severin encountered flocks of seabirds near what could have been Brendan's Paradise of Birds, and they saw playful whales, which could have been the black sea monsters in the legend. The volcanoes of Iceland could have been responsible for the pelting with flaming, foul smelling rocks and the icebergs are indeed towering crystals… Severin proved that it was possible to cross the Atlantic with a curragh, but how did Saint Brendan navigate? …


One theory: he was lucky... but then how did he return to Ireland?


Another theory is that St. Brendan studied the astrological perfect aligned megalithic monuments, such as stone circles and tombs, and created some sort of a navigational aid, coincidentally shaped as a Celtic cross, found all over Ireland... hmmm...

Finally, who was the monk that told him about the Promised Land? 

After Brendan’s voyage, he founded several monasteries and befriended likewise travel-mad St. Columba.  Brendan died in 577.

Considering his adventurous life, his final words are remarkable: 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.