Saint of the Day: St. Brendan “the Navigator”

Abbot (ca. 486-575)

His life

+ Brendan was born near Tralee, Ireland, and educated by Erc, Bishop of Kerry.

+ After becoming a monk, Brendan established new dmonasteries in Clonfert, Annadown, Inishadround, and Ardfert. He is also said to have founded abbeys in Scotland and Wales.

+ Saint Brendan died at the abbey of Clonfert in 575 and he became one of the most popular Celtic saints. He is honored as one of the saints known as the “Twelve Apostles of Ireland.”

+ Devotion to Saint Brendan became widespread after the publication of a fantastic tale called The Navigation of Saint Brendan, which tells of a sea voyage Brendan undertook with a group of his monks to an island across the Atlantic Ocean called “the Land of Promise of the Saints.”

+ Some of the details of The Navigation of Saint Brendan may be based in fact, as it seems that Irish monks did travel to the Faro Islands and to Iceland.

For prayer and reflection

“The just will flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a Lebanon cedar, planted in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God.”—Psalm 92:13-14

Spiritual bonus

Today we also remember the Carmelite priest Saint Simon Stock, who is most often celebrated as having received the Brown Scapular of Mount Carmel in a vision from the Mother of God. This important early Carmelite leader and saint died in 1265.

Prayer

Grant us, O Lord, that amid the uncertainties of this world we may cling with all our heart to the things of heaven, for through the Abbot blessed N. you have given us a model of evangelical perfection. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(from The Roman Missal: Common of Holy Men and Women—For an Abbot)

Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.