The Voyage of St Brendan

1. The Voyage of St Brendan Music from The Brendan Voyage, an orchestral suite for uilleann pipes Played by Liam O'Flynn; Composed by Shaun Davey; Tara BCD 501

2. Menu Maps: 1. Voyage2. Ireland The voyage – medieval sources Outline of Brendan’s life Preparing for the voyage Scenes from the voyage Fact or fiction? Inspiring modern art Matching music & pictures Notes on the voyages of Brendan & Tim Severin – pdf format Internet connection required

3. The story of St Brendan Fourteenth century manuscript Brendan Voyage: Track 3 Jig Water under the Keel

4. The story of St Brendan’s voyage Modern tapestry There are twenty-four different pictures Begin reading at bottom left-hand corner People bringing stores onto the boat. People waving farewell to the monks. Casks, waterskins and other supplies for the journey. Scenes from early Irish life: A harper. A piper. A warrior on horseback. A huntsman. A chariot. The burial of one of the travellers at sea. Inhabitants of the land which Brendan visited. The young man who directed Brendan home. Brendan’s boat. Click here for a note on what can be seen in the tapestry

5. Brendan's life - an outline Born around 500 AD. A monk from County Kerry. He wanted to take the Christian faith of other lands. He and fourteen other monks built a boat and sailed the Atlantic. The boat was made from skins stretched over a wooden frame with a kind of hood for shelter. Behind the more imaginative stories of their many adventures, there is probably some historical event or a genuinely hard-won experience. In 1977 Tim Severin sailed to America in a boat exactly like St Brendan’s. Click here for a note on St Brendan’s voyage in pdf format - internet connection required

6. Brendan's sea Dingle peninsula & Atlantic This and the following eleven drawings by David Rooney are taken from Brendan the Navigator by G.O. Simms O'Brien Press, ISBN 0-86278-241-4 Brendan Voyage: Track 2 The Brendan Theme Click here for map of Ireland

7. Visiting Enda Island monastery of Aran

8. An alternative An illustrated narrative poem ISBN: 1-85390-645-X

9. Preparing the boat Wooden frame and skins

11. The bird messenger The voyage ahead

12. Jaconius The friendly whale Brendan Voyage: Track 1 Introduction Click here for picture

13. Jaconius The friendly whale Medieval picture

15. St Ailbe greets Brendan In remembrance of Christ

16. The sparkling pillar The beauty of God's creation Brendan Voyage: Track 5 The Cliffs of Mykines Click here for picture

17. Rescued from a monster fish By a fire-breathing creature Brendan Voyage: Track 8 The Gale

18. Rescued from a monster fish By a fire-breathing creature Medieval picture

20. Attacked by a gryphon

21. Attacked by a gryphon Medieval picture

22. The volcano Brendan comforts the monks

23. Comforting Judas Driving away the demons

24. Visiting Paul the Hermit Brendan Voyage: Track 2 The Brendan Theme

25. Brendan ponders on the meaning of his wonderful voyage Medieval drawing

26. Fact or fiction? Some people think that the story of Brendan’s voyage is more fiction than fact, saying: 1. Such a fragile vessel as a currach could not possibly sail in the open sea. 2. Many of the tales seem incredible, such as, the monks: were ‘raised up on the back of sea monsters’; passed by ‘crystals that rose up to the sky’; were ‘pelted with flaming, foul smelling rocks by the inhabitants of a large island on their route’, and finally arrived at the beautiful land they called ‘Promised Land of the Saints’. • Others point to the success of Tim Severin’s voyage, 1977-79: • 1. His boat, constructed on the same lines, successfully crossed the Atlantic. • 2. He witnessed similar sights: • whales swam around and even under their boat – they could have been even friendlier in Brendan’s time, before motorized • ships would make them wary of man, so friendly that they may well have lifted the monks’ boat in a playful gesture; • island of Mykines, one of the Danish Faroe islands, with its thousands of seabirds – Brendan’s ‘The Paradise of Birds’; • ‘Island of Sheep’, the larger of the Danish Faroe islands - the word Faroe itself means Island of Sheep; • Labrador-Greenland iceberg belt (‘The Crystal Pillar’) - the monks had never seen icebergs before, so their description • of them as ‘towering crystals’ would make sense; • Iceland, with Icelandic volcanoes - the ‘Island of Smiths’ and the ‘Fiery Mountain’ - the volcanoes, active for many • centuries, might well have been erupting when the monks stayed there, pelting the monks 'with flaming, foul • smelling rocks’; and • landed on the island of Newfoundland - might well have been Brendan’s ‘Land promised to the Saints’. • Severin’s journey did not prove that Brendan and his monks landed on North America. However it did prove that a leather currach could have made a voyage such as that mapped out in medieval accounts. Click here for fact Click here for fiction

27. Inspiring art today sculpture Sculpted and carved in clay by the artist in Michigan. The plaques are then cast in a sand/stone compound. Finally a patina is applied by hand to bring out the details Brendan peers toward the western sun from the helm of his craft. His face is weathered, clothes are tattered; his monk's tonsure long grown out. A whale's tale breaks through the waves.

28. Inspiring art today painting Colin Wilkin

29. Inspiring art today stamp joint issue by Faroe (‘Island of Sheep’) Iceland (‘Fiery Mountain’) & Ireland 1994

30. 1 2 Matching music and pictures 4 3 3 Music A Music B Music C Music D