Kneen points out that there are many (10?) Irish Saints
named Brenainn but thinks that it was Brendan the Navigator,
abbot of Clonfert, who was intended.
c. 486- c. 575 Born near Tralee, became monk and later
Abbot; main centre of activity was Western Ireland.
Feast day May 16
His cult was strong, especially in Ireland, from the mid 9th
C. It was however the visionary fairy story Navigation of
St. Brendan which dates from the 10-11th C that made him
truely well known. This romance, almost certainly completely
fictional, deriving from Irish folklore and apocryphal
Christian writings, was composed by an expatriate Irish
monk. In it St Brendan voyaged with a band of monks to an
island of promise in the Atlantic and accomplished
incredible exploits.
