St. Brendan's Day

St. Brendan's Day

May 16St. Brendan, who lived in the sixth century, is one of the most popular Irish saints. In addition to founding a number of monasteries, including the one at Clonfert in Galway, Ireland, he was alleged to be the author of Navigatio Brendani, the story of his journey with a crew of four monks to a land across the ocean (the tale, however, is thought to have been written in the 10th century). No one, including St. Brendan himself, knew exactly where he had been when he returned, but a number of legends concerning the journey developed over the centuries—one of which claims that he actually reached the American continent.
In 1977, an Irishman named Tim Severin built a boat out of leather like the one described in Navigatio and set out to follow St. Brendan's instructions. After 50 days at sea, he ended up in Newfoundland, giving credence to the theory that St. Brendan reached America 1,000 years before Columbus.
SOURCES:
AnnivHol-2000, p. 83
BkHolWrld-1986, May 16
DaysCustFaith-1957, p. 124
OxYear-1999, p. 210