Brendanus or Brandanus

ON S. BRENDANUS OR BRANDANUS

ABBOT OF CLONFERT IN IRELAND.

YEAR 587

Brendanus or Brandanus, Abbot of Clonfert in Ireland (S.)

BY THE AUTHOR G. H.

CHAPTER I.

Origin, education, instruction: monasteries built, S. Furseus instructed.

There flourished in Ireland, two of the same name Brendani, or Brandani, in the same sixth century of Christ. Of these one Founder & Abbot of the Birrensian monastery in Munster, Two Holy Abbots Brendani, is venerated XXIX November; the other Founder & Abbot of the Cluain-fertensian monastery, of whom here we treat, has celebrated veneration on this XVI May. Both together to have been with S. Kieranus Bishop of Sagir, is reported in his Life, on the day V March by us illustrated, no. 16. In the Life of S. Niennidhius XVIII January chap. 7: both disciples of S. Finnian. & of S. Finnianus Abbot of Cluain-Eaird XXIII February edited by Colganus no. 19. Among their disciples are recensed two Brandani, namely Brandanus son of Finlogh, of whom now we treat, & Brandanus Biorra or Birrensian, who was held a Prophet in those Schools & also of the Hibernian Saints. Died S. Finnianus XII December, about the year 563. But Brendanus Birrensian is said by Ussher to have closed his last day in the year 571, & S. Brendanus Cluain-fertensian in the year 577, by others in the preceding year. Hence difficulty arises that to each their proper acts be assigned. S. Finnianus, Abbot of Surdensian, by Brendanus secular & divine letters taught is reported in his Life, by us edited XVI March, but who Brendanus was, is not known. In the first Life of S. Columba Abbot of Hi in Colganus, & by Ioannes Mabillon in century I Benedictine attributed to Comminus Albus the ancient author, about the year 668 having died, The soul of S. Brendanus Birrensian seen carried into heaven. no. 7 these things are read: Likewise on a certain day S. Columba in highest morning calls his minister Diermitius, saying thus: Of the sacred Eucharist the ministries let be quickly prepared: today indeed of B. Brendanus the natal is the day. To the asking minister, why such he commanded, since no messenger from Scotia of his death had preceded; at length the Saint said: Obey my command: for this past night I saw suddenly heaven opened, & choirs of Angels of S. Brendanus's soul descend to meet, by whose luminous clarity the whole at the same hour was illuminated the world. Thus there, which in the Constance among the Normans Breviary, which we have printed in 1609, & in the Menology of Bucelinus, & by Mabillon in the Index of Passed Over, are applied to S. Brandanus who is venerated XVI May. But also Adamnanus Abbot of Hi, who afterwards but in the same century the Life of the same S. Columba Abbot in three books composed, in book 3 chap. 11 in the title asserts, that S. Brendanus is the founder of that monastery, which in Scottish is called Birra. The same afterwards about S. Brandanus Cluain-fertensian still living treats, as below will be said. But with the Birranus Abbot to XXIX November transferred, what pertain to the Cluain-fertensian, we shall pursue.

[2] In the fourth Life of S. Patrick in Colganus no. 79, S. Patrick full of the spirit of prophecy, prophesied about Saints, who in those regions after his death should be, & their names & times in which they were to be born revealed, just as… about S. Brendanus who in the 120th year after the blessed man's death was sprung. Which in the tripartite Life of the same book 3 chap. 47 thus are narrated: Existing in the region of Luachariae, Was the origin of S. Brendanus predicted by S. Patrick? he predicted that great Patriarch of monks & star of the West in the Western part of Munster to be sprung, namely the great Brendanus from the stock Hua-Alta, defining that he would be born in the 120th year, which was fulfilled. We illustrated the Acts of S. Patrick on day XVII March, & in the Appendix §4 we treated of similar Prophecies, but ambiguous as to truth, that often from one Saint to others they seem to be transferred, & the greater part to years 30 or 60 are restricted. We referred moreover the death of S. Patrick to the year of Christ 460, to which if be added only years 20, the nativity of S. Brandanus would not badly be attributed to the year 480: & since in the Annals of the monastery of Innisfallensian, in Ware about the Writers of Hibernia, he is said to have lived 97 years, to the above-indicated year 577 his death rightly would be referred. But S. Brendanus, as his older Acts have, was the son

of Finlocha the High Senator (according to others, the nephew of Athil) of the lineage of Eugenius from the Fragnil (according to others Stagnil) region of the Munstermen sprung.

[3] There wrote some Life of St. Brandan Augustinus Magraidin, an Augustinian Canon of the monastery of the Island of All Saints, in the year 1405 deceased: who concerning his education in Colganus on January 16 in the Appendix to the Life of St. Ida or Ita ch. 3 these things relates: Nourished the pious boy Brendan was for one year in the house of his parents: and the year finished there came the holy Bishop Ercus after St. Brandan, he is educated by St. Ida: and led him with himself, that he might be reared with the most holy Virgin Ita in her famous monastery, formerly called Cluain-chreduil, but now Kill-ite, that is the Cell-of-Ita, near the roots of the mountain Luachra, in the region Hua-Conaill Gabhra dwelling; and St. Ita with great joy received the holy infant, and nourished him five years, and loved him greatly. And seeing the glorious Virgin Ita him with a joyful frequently mind, she asked him saying: O holy infant, what gladdens you, Holy one? The little one said in childish speech: he is instructed by the Bishops Erce Because I see you speaking to me and other holy Virgins like you, those always gladden me, holding me in their hands. The Saint said to him: Be there concerning you, my son, joy in heaven. After now five years there came the above-said holy Bishop Ercus, and led St. Brendan with him to read: and St. Ita was sad about the absence of her fosterling. Thus far there. But what afterward he did, from the same Augustinus Magraidin relates Colganus on February 11 at the Life of St. Hierlatius or Jarlath the Bishop, where in ch. 3 these things are recounted: The boy of good disposition Brendan, burning with love of the Scriptures, and by St. Hierlatius or Jarlath and longing to see the divine examples of the Saints, with the wished-for Master's leave thought, first that the holy Bishop Erlatheus he should visit, and afterward the holy men of the land. But before to St. Erlatheus he had come, to his holy nurse, by name Ita, he proceeded, that her blessing as an inheritance he might possess: who said to him: Go, she said, and the rules of the Saints, who them in work have fulfilled, learn. Do not indeed learn from Virgins, lest scandal you incur from men. The holy Ita therefore, the Holy Spirit revealing, her fosterling forewarned; that a certain layman would meet him, who among the Saints of God was to be reckoned. And when Brandan on his way proceeded, and so he leads Colman the son of Lenin behold, as foretold his holy nurse, he had meeting him a certain man in the journey, who Colman the son of Lenin was called: to whom St. Brandan said: Do, man, penance, because God has called you to salvation, and you will be as an innocent dove in the sight of God: and therefore he called him Colman, as if dove's hand, on account of the innocence of the work… After these things St. Brandan to St. Erlatheus the Bishop, in Connaught then dwelling, with this holy man dwelling; the cups of salutary doctrine thirstily drinking remained. And he began also himself among the other gifts of God with the prophetic Spirit to be strong. For sometimes, the holy Spirit revealing, to the Pontiff Jarlath the place of burial he foretold thus: Not here will you rise again, Father, but elsewhere will be your resurrection. To whom the elder said: O holy boy, why do you hide so many secrets of God in yourself? For I know that the Holy Spirit you have, and to him he foretells the place of burial: and much power in you lies hidden. You to me came that you might learn, and from this now my Master you shall be: receive therefore me a monk, and a disciple to you henceforth: tell therefore the place of my resurrection. To whom Brandan said: Toward the East set out, and where the wheels of your chariot shall be broken, there an oratory build and remain, there also many shall rise again with you in glory. The holy Pontiff ascended his chariot, and undertaking the journey not far from his cell were broken the two wheels of the chariot, and there was built a monastery, whose name is Tuaim-da-gualand. Thus far there: to which like things adds Colganus from a Kilkenny MS., in which he is called not a boy but a youth, and toward the end these things are added: But holy Brandan, with the prayer and blessing of St. Jarlath the Pontiff, departed to another place. Colganus thinks St. Brendan then returned to his former Master Ercus the Bishop, whom he says in the year 512 died. He could also have gone to SS. Nennidhius and Finnian; with one of whom that he was a disciple, with the other Brandan, above we indicated.

[4] He often visited his nurse St. Ida or Ita, of whom above we treated; in whose Life by us on January 15 edited these things at no. 21 are indicated. St. Brandan asking at a certain time B. Ita about the three works, Things more pleasing to God he learns from St. Ida: which to God more please, and about the three which much displease; the handmaid of Christ thus answered: True belief with a pure heart in God, a simple life with religion, generosity with charity, these three much to God please. But a mouth detesting men, and an affection of evils in the heart, a tenacious confidence in riches, these three much to God displease. St. Brandan and all who there were, such a sentence hearing, glorified God in His handmaid. Moreover St. Ida took care through St. Brandan to herself to be brought two nuns, into the sin of the flesh fallen; who afterward worthy penance doing, their life in sanctity spent: as is indicated at no. 15 and 33.

[5] In the MS. Life of St. Brandan in the possession of James Ussher, on the Origins of the British Churches p. 910, it is said Brendan the son of Findlog many monasteries and cells through diverse regions of Ireland founded: he founds monasteries, in which three thousand monks, as is asserted by the elders, under him were. Of whose Rule thus in his Life it is read he testifies the same Ussher p. 919. he prescribes a rule from the mouth of an Angel: There wrote St. Brendan a rule by an Angel dictated, according to which he ordered his life, and that until today remains among the successors of St. Brendan. And he adds p. 1050. Nor is that other than that law of Kiaran and Brendan, whose amplified use in the year 743 in the Annals of Ulster we observed. Afterward as is said in the Life from an Irish MS. preserved with us, Brandan carrying with himself the holy rule, from the mouth of an Angel written, returned to the Bishop Ercus, received from him the sacred Orders. But after these things a great people was gathered to him, leaving the world and their own, and of nearly three thousand monks the father he was, a man of wondrous abstinence and by virtues famous. And this, as is added in the Lessons of the Breviary of Aberdeen, the years from Christ's birth thirty- two and five hundred being revolved. he founds Cluain-ferta: The chief by him founded monastery was Cluain-ferta, by Ware Clonfert called, afterward into an Episcopal See erected under the Archbishop of Tuam, situated in the region of Connaught and the County of Galway at the Shannon river, which a little above receives the Suck river: it is distant 28 English miles from Galway to the east, and nine from Athlone.

[6] St. Furseus is venerated on January 16: in whose Life second, by us illustrated, these things are handed down ch. 3. There was, to Phyltanus (according to others Fintanus) at the island of Esbre an uncle, by name Brendan, a Prelate venerable, in twofold science and honesty of morals in God's service eminent, He receives the parents of St. Furseus. who on the island, which Cluainferta is called, a monastery had built: in which with the religious there dwelling monks he himself very much to reading and prayers devoted himself. To him his nephew Phyltanus with his wife and family hastening, the things which to him in his youth had befallen, with much sobbing interrupting the words narrated, and of his straits the remedy and of his necessities the relief with most humble prayers besought. Whose sufferings the venerable Pontiff pitying, in the cell of guests, which suitable was held, them he received: and with many dishes and delicious foods them, although common food would have sufficed, he refreshed. But the following night while their wearied limbs with the rest of slumber they had refreshed, so great a light from heaven over the house, where they reposed, shone, that the procurator of that same hospice contemplating the brightness, if also a fiery heat he had felt, the whole habitation to be burning would have thought. Terrified indeed and as if in an ecstasy of mind placed he rose, By the heavenly light he understands this one chosen by God. and with a hurried course panting to the Bishop went: whom in his accustomed vigil of night by bending his knees praying he found, and the thing which he had seen with trembling lips in order related. Understanding the man full of God a heavenly guard to be with the guests received, having called together in silence the more religious Monks and Clerics, to the hospice he hastened: and arriving the brightness indeed throughout the whole he saw, but nothing of fiery heat or fiery injury he felt. Entering moreover the Prelate reverently the sleepers he found, and rejoicing and glad, the sign of the holy Cross all around made over them he blessed, and thereupon step by step to the monastery he returned, and to the accustomed prayers as one devout to God he applied himself … While these things were being done the months of Gelgehes being completed she bore, and the blessed offspring to the venerable Bishop in the name of the holy and undivided Trinity she offered to be baptized. the one born he baptizes: The holy indeed Pontiff, since already in him by revelation the charismata of the Holy Spirit infused he had known, a triduan fast being proclaimed, with all his Clergy and people his the boy diligently received, and at the sacrosanct baptism's font reborn, by the name Furseus (which from his virtues in our speech from the Scottish tongue is interpreted) called him. and afterward instructed him: Whom not only with carnal riches thenceforth he fostered, but also of the divine doctrines with most easy doing applied to the pages to the full he educated, and none the less in monastic learning he instructed him. Thus far there, and ch. 4 no. 20 it is said St. Furseus, leave received from the blessed Prelate Brandan, to the island Rathmath to have passed over. Mabillon above praised in the 2nd Benedictine century has the prior Life of St. Furseus, from our January and other MSS. reprinted, and of this Life, from which the things already cited we have culled, makes the eulogist Arnulphus, of the Lagny monastery, by St. Furseus built, created Abbot about the year 1066. In which this displeases that St. Brendan a Bishop he calls, who only a Presbyter was and Abbot. Colganus in his notes to this Life does not think St. Brendan the uncle to have been of Phyltanus or Fintanus, the parent of St. Furseus. Moreover the place Esbre island he would prefer to be read the island Erbsen or Orbsen, which is in the Western Connaught region, in which a sacred temple by St. Brendan built to have been he asserts is handed down in his Irish Life. The rest to the judgment of the reader we leave.

CHAPTER II.

Illustrious deeds among other Saints. Fabulous Acts rejected: sacred Cult. Miracles.

[7.] Adamnan in book 3 of the Life of St. Columba the Abbot, when in ch. 11 he had treated of the death of St. Brendan of Birr, as above we said, in ch. 17 mentions St. Brendan

of Clonfert, and of other holy Abbots, to him by singular friendship joined, in these words: At another time four to visit Saint Columba of monasteries holy founders from * Scotia crossing over, in * Hinba him they had found in the island; of whom the illustrious names, Comgell Mocu-Aridi, Cainnech Mocu Dalon, Brendan Mocu-Alti, Visiting St. Columba the Abbot. Cormac the nephew of Liethan. These with one and the same consent chose, that Saint Columba before them in the Church the sacred mysteries of the Eucharist should consecrate. Who to their bidding submitting, together with them, on the Lord's day according to custom, after the reading of the Gospel the church he enters: and there while the solemnities of the Masses were being celebrated, St. Brendan Mocu-Alti, he sees a fiery globe over his head. as afterward to Comgell and Cainnech he intimated, a certain hairy fiery globe and very luminous from the garment of St. Columba, before the altar standing and the sacred oblation consecrating, so long burning and like a certain pillar upward ascending he saw, until the same sacrosanct mysteries were completed. Thus Adamnan. Which also in the second Life of the said St. Columba, in Colganus above indicated to Comineus attributed, at no. 12 are handed down; as also in bk. 2 of the fifth Life ch. 106, which in Latin edited Colganus, in Irish by the Great O'Donnell of Tyrconnell in the year 1532 written; in which Brendan Abbot of Clonfert is named, whose grandfather is said Altas to have been called. The other companions of the journey are St. Comgall, Abbot and founder of the monastery of Bangor in Ulster, in the year 601 deceased, whose various Acts we illustrate on the day 10 of May; St. Cainnech or Kanicus, Abbot of Ossory and Patron of Kilkenny, venerated on October 11; and Cormac Abbot of Durrow, on June 21.

[8.] We illustrated on the day March 8 the Acts of St. Senan the Abbot of Iniscathy, in which at no. 20 these things are read: While there he was, a ship landed, monks conveying pilgrims. For in that ship were borne fifty monks, by fatherland Romans: whom either of stricter life or of skill in the Scriptures, then in Ireland much flourishing, the desire thither had drawn, that there they might live under the magistery of certain holy Fathers, He receives Roman monks: whom in holiness of life and in monastic discipline's rigor they had understood to be conspicuous. They were moreover into five companies, each of which ten comprehended, divided: of which one to St. Finnian, another to St. Senan, the third to St. Brendan, the fourth to Barrus, the fifth to Kieran drew the calling. Among them moreover a decree existed as long as in the sea they remained, that each company on its Patron leaning for protection, on its several days of the ship and of the things to be done about it should undertake the care. Thus far there, which in the Notes with some scruple are examined. Again at no. 41 these things are handed down: When on a certain day St. Brendan and St. Kieran to St. Senan came, that him, as in years and dignity superior (for he was a Bishop, He visits St. Senan, but they Presbyters) for a spiritual Father and Confessor they might be able to receive; it happened the cook to have nothing, whence either the guests or the domestic Brothers he might refresh. Which when there understood Nectanus Kenn-shoda the Prince of Y-figinte, to his steward he commands, that all, which for the royal table he had, of food and drink the provision, at once should bring to St. Senan and the other servants of God in Iniscathy. The bidden things the steward executes, and the Prince himself soon follows to the island's harbor, and there to St. Senan and the servants of Christ his and his posterity's services and clientship offers and consecrates, and from them humbly asked, a large benediction carries back. Thus far there, and in the Life of the same in verse written at no. 27 they are had, and they are said to have come admonished by an Angelic oracle, and by Colganus the said Brendan is reckoned Abbot of Clonfert, of whom here we treat.

[9.] On May 14 is venerated St. Carthacus by surname Mochudda Bishop and Abbot of Lismore in Munster, whose birth is said in the second Life by the Angel to St. Brendan foretold in these words: Likewise St. Carthacus was prophesied by the Angel to St. Brendan, who found the land of promise of the saints, He foretells various things about St. Carthacus. saying to him: There will come to you quickly a wondrous Brother, who your people here and in the future will aid, and the region of Kerry will divide the men, and his name will be Carthacus among you, and many in his solemnity will rejoice. He indeed a great congregation from many peoples to the Lord on the day of judgment will gather, and his first city Rahen will be called, set in the middle of Ireland in the region of Meath, namely in the people Ferakeelt called, and it will be famous: but more famous the second and greater, and a great principality it will hold: which will be called Lismore. Thus far there, together with our annotations.

[10.] Many intricate things are in the Acts of St. Maclovius or Machutus, Bishop of the city of Aleth in Brittany Armorica, which now from him Macloviopolis, commonly Saint-Malo is called: Of these Acts some are edited in volume first of the Acts of the Saints of the Benedictine Order p. 217, Some Brendan instructs St. Maclovius, where at no. 1 it is said, while from childhood to the literary he was given discipline under Brendan, at that time a man in sanctity and science most famous, both the superiors in industry and the inferiors in humility he surpassed. Other his Acts are extant on November 15 in Surius by the author Sigebert of Gembloux, who in ch. 6 various things inserts about an island of the sea, in which the citizens of heaven were said to dwell: and which above in the life of St. Carthacus, the Land of promise of the Saints is called: by Sigebert held to be of Clonfert: Then, says Sigebert, him his Master's and Abbot's Brendan's example animated, whose whole intention to the happy island to be sought no less burned: for he of this new pilgrimage the inciter was and author, as the writing of his Life demonstrates: which if anyone desires to read, what about it he ought to esteem, from the judgment of the wise let him learn. Which the same about the instruction is to be said of St. Gurvallus, St. Maclovius's successor in the Episcopate: of whom some Acts will be given on the day June 6.

[11] There are also third Acts of the same St. Maclovius edited by John du Bosc, in the Fleury Library, in which in chapter 1 it is said, in the valley of Carruana a most elegant and most noble monastery situated, over which Brendan, a religious Confessor of Christ, as Abbot presided: in which on the night of the vigil of holy Easter a mother her son brought forth: whom Brendan then baptizing from the sacred font lifted, and afterward as a spiritual son spiritually thenceforth to be educated received: and faithfully from his first age, until he could speak and letters by learning know and understand, he nourished … Seeing his blessed Master, that already letters he could learn, he wrote for him on a tablet the elements. Then in three chapters it is narrated, how St. Machutus, by the wave of the sea unharmed by the prayer of St. Brendan was saved. [And in another Life he is said to have had him as a companion of a seven-year voyage], Afterward ch. 5 is indicated the voyage of both in these words: An island, in those parts most famous, in the Ocean namely set, by the name Ima, with his Master and companions he arranged by sailing to go. It was said moreover not the least of Paradisiacal to have a likeness of delights. The ship therefore prepared with all for so great a voyage opportune and necessary things, trusting altogether and hoping in the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom eternally as to the Only-begotten of God the Father both the winds and the sea obey, setting out about ninety-five in number Brothers, with one spacious ship commit themselves to the deep. Where hither and thither long sailing wandering, when now for a prolonged time, although without disaster or loss or destruction of any of their own, by the voyage wearied, the island which they sought to find they could not; the Orkneys being traversed and the other Northern islands to their fatherland they return. Soon in chapter 6 Machutus ordained Bishop, to the aforesaid island, by the mouth of many laudable, in which by report it was said heavenly citizens to dwell, with his sacred formerly Master Brendan and other sacred equally men, set out to sail. In which voyage many in the sea remaining or persisting years, to a seven-year period they come: and so it was done, that by a yearly recurrence in turn the years interrupting, seven times holy Easter befell them in the sea to celebrate; and by I know not what relation about a giant resuscitated and a sea-monster, mingled, chapter 7 thus is concluded: Thus with hymns and spiritual canticles praising the Lord, with a prosperous enough course to their native land and ancestral seats unharmed they returned home; accompanying them He, who said to His disciples, Behold I am with you even to the consummation of the age all the days.

[12] You have a specimen of the most famous voyage, from the Acts of St. Maclovius taken, about which first it could be doubted, whether Brendan, in the first Acts related, does not seem some Armorican, and plainly diverse from St. Brendan the Irishman, although by Sigebert and another anonymous writer through homonymy deceived, the things which about this man's seven-year voyage commonly were spread, to the same have been attributed. Then will ask deservedly someone, how according to Sigebert's admonition is from the judgment to be learned of the wise, whose history as full of fables is omitted. what ought to be esteemed about the writing of the Life of St. Brendan. This double we have from ancient MS. codices many collected, but, with Vincent of Beauvais in book 21 of the Speculum historiale ch. 81, that pilgrimage history, on account of certain apocryphal deliriums, which in it seem to be contained, utterly from that work we cut off. The same words from Vincent repeats Molanus in his Notes to May 16. James Ware the Irishman on Irish writers p. 12, asserts, in the Life of St. Brendan many vain and feigned or apocryphal deliriums to be handed down, especially about his seven-year voyage to islands previously unknown. James Ussher the Irishman also confesses, about his seven-year voyage prodigious fables to be told. Meanwhile Colganus strives to build up this seven-year voyage, and on the day March 22 celebrates the Departure of the family of St. Brendan to this voyage, and widely from various things deduces the beginning of the voyage, as the reader there can see. Moreover he relies on the testimony of the ancient Life of St. Abban the Abbot of Magharnuide, which he thinks before nine hundred years composed, in which on March 16 by him edited at no. 43 these things are handed down: At another time, after returned is St. Brandan from his voyage of seeking the land of promise, wishing to ask him about the wondrous things, which he saw in the Ocean, he went to him. But holy Brandan, an Angel of God bidding him, to meet B. Abban with great joy came: and holy Abban asked him all things which he wished. And St. Brandan all the wondrous things, which were found in the Ocean, to him diligently narrated: and for some days together in divine colloquies and Angelic visitations they remained, and the brotherhood between themselves and other Saints and between their pastors always firmly they confirmed. Blessing moreover God, and praying for themselves, and kissing each other each

of them in the kiss of peace, to his own returned. Thus far there, which could have been true: For according to Ecclesiasticus, those who sail the sea, narrate its perils: why not also, if any wondrous things they have beheld? ch. 43. 26 but there could not apocryphal deliriums by St. Brendan be narrated, which at the beginning perhaps through some poetic license were augmented, and afterward historically deduced. Thus we rejected what to the Acts of St. David Archbishop of Menevia were intruded, as if St. Barrius sitting on a horse the sea had crossed, and to him upon a marine sea-monster met St. Brendan. Their ships could have had ensigns of a horse and a sea-monster, and thence taken the occasion of this fable. More things in that relation displeasing in the Notes to chapter 4 of the Life of the said David on March 1 we indicated.

Briga, in the monastery called Enachduin, in the province of the Connaughtmen in the people Huabruin, and there St. Brendan on the 17th of the Kalends of June his spirit emitted, and in his city Clonfert was buried, and so it is indicated by the unpublished writer of his Life. sacred to his cult Which like things in Ware are read. To his veneration afterward was consecrated the Clonfert Cathedral Church, whence its Bishops, were called Comorbans, that is successors, of St. Brendan, of which word we treated in the Appendix to the Life of St. Patrick §. 2 no. 16, that his successors also Comorbans of St. Patrick were called. His sacred memory is celebrated in the Irish, Scottish, English, and everywhere other calendars, in the MS. Florarium, the Appendix of Ado, the Martyrology of Cologne and Lübeck in the year 1490 printed, likewise in the Auctarium of Greven and Molanus to Usuard, and in Canisius, Galesinius, and with all these in the present Roman Martyrology. He is celebrated with an ecclesiastical office under a semidouble rite in the whole diocese of Coutances among the Normans: in whose Breviary Lesson these things are read: With vigils and fasts his body he macerated, and the greatest part of his time in prayer he consumed. In Scotia many under regular discipline he ruled; whom to faith and piety having exhorted, by many famous miracles, he migrated into heaven. Which somewhat amplified are read in Saussay, attributing him to the said Coutances.

[14] John Trithemius, in book 3 on the Illustrious Men of the Order of St. Benedict ch. 31 St. Brendan to his Order ascribed in these words: whether he is to be ascribed to the Benedictines. Brendan an Abbot, born in Ireland of generous parents, a man of most holy conversation, who exasperated by the Britons, them having cursed, crossed over to Gaul: where to the norm of Benedict with his companions he began to serve as a soldier, and many to be famous for miracles. He many notable is said to have had disciples. His feast on the 14th of the Kalends of January is venerated. He flourished in the year of the Lord 570. Thus Trithemius, not without errors, as many other things: for neither about the exasperation done to him and the crossing to Gaul anything solid anywhere is extant. Saussay on January 11, those things to a certain Beandan an Abbot ascribes. Meanwhile on the said November 19, by the example of Trithemius, is referred in a certain MS. Benedictine Calendar, Brandan an Abbot in Scotia, about whom wondrous things are read: and in the Scottish Menology of Dempster Brandan an Abbot, who by Mooch invited the Northern islands traversed and with piety imbued. The same by the cited Trithemius celebrate on this May 16 Wion, and by his example Dorganius, Menardus, and with a most prolonged encomium Bucelinus: but of which some pertain to St. Brendan of Birr, as above we admonished. Ussher those, who their own rule for their monks in Ireland prescribed, enumerates Columba Abbot of Iona, Comgall of Bangor, Carthacus of Lismore, Albeus of Emly, and St. Brendan of Clonfert, who from the mouth of an Angel a rule for his own prescribed: let see therefore the reader, whether probable it is either this to have dismissed, or the Benedictine on him to have superinduced.

[15] John Capgrave in the Legend of England these things toward the end of the Life of St. Brendan has: There was offered to St. Brendan on the way a certain man mute from his mother's womb, miracles. and him blessing he his tongue, at once freed was the mute: and as well in the said Legend, as in the Irish MS. of his Life it is handed down, him praying, a young man dead, when to the sepulcher he was dragged, to have risen again. Nor is there doubt but that by many famous miracles he led his life, and by them after death shone; but it is to be lamented those by the prodigious of the seven-year voyage fables mingled to be obscured. On the day June 14, memory June 14 and 24. is celebrated his memory in the MS. Usuard, in Alsace or at the Rhine augmented, in these words: On the same day the birthday of B. Brandan the Abbot, the most wondrous pilgrim upon the sea. He by nation Maurolycus, Wion, Ferrarius, and in the English Martyrology of Wilson and the Scottish of Dempster. Likewise on June 24, in a certain MS. Benedictine Calendar, and a Bishop he is held, whose wondrous pilgrimage is read.

* alternatively Ireland.

* alternatively Iona