The Voyage of St. Brendan (Paperback)

"The Voyage of St. Brendan" is a translation from the Latin of one of the most famous and enduring stories of western Christendom, the "Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis." Written in Ireland perhaps as early as the year 800, "The Voyage of St. Brendan" chronicles the seafaring journey of St. Brendan, a prominent Irish Saint, who set sail to find the "Promised Land of the West" (which many believe to have been America) nearly 1,000 years before Columbus. St. Brendan believed that God had promised this land to the saints as their eternal inheritance, forever. Some accounts of this classic tale of martyrdom, fasted for forty days and forty nights, seeking God's will. It is said that an angel then came to him in a dream and promised to guide him to the Promised Land. Other accounts, most notably the Navigatio itself, say that Brendan learned of the mysterious Promised Land from Barinthus, who had sailed there himself. There Barinthus had found a great land of peace and plenty where the sun never set. This land was divided by a great river that ran east and west, and was guarded by an angel of the Lord. Yearning to see this "Promised Land of the Saints," Brendan purposed in his heart to sail there and see it for himself. While the routes of St. Brendan's journeys remain a subject of controversy, the tale of "The Voyage of St. Brendan" is of great interest, a strongly integrated text which derives from several centuries of Irish literary tradition.