Proof Of St. Brendan’s Discovery Of America
I think it’s safe to say that the jig is up: Christopher Columbus was not the first explorer to discover America. It’s widely believed now that the Chinese, the Vikings and also possibly the Irish monk, St. Brendan, beat Columbus to this illustrious title.
What we know for certain about St. Brendan (c. 484 – c. 577) is that he was born in Co. Kerry and he set up many Christian missions throughout his lifetime of travel. In truth, the rest of what we know about the famous saint is largely based on legend and taken from the Voyage of St. Brendan, an Irish voyage story, and other culture’s versions of the same tale. The story describes St. Brendan’s search for the Garden of Eden as he travels across the Atlantic Ocean to the The Isle of the Blessed. From this story, St. Brendan as “the Navigator” or “the Voyager” emerged and has led some to speculate that The Isle of the Blessed was in fact America.
There are a couple of reasons why it’s believed that St. Brendan’s journey actually happened in real life. We’ll start with the fact that the Irish were sea-faring people and were even respected by the Vikings as such which lends some credibility to the story. Furthermore, the type of leather-clad boat St. Brendan would have used to travel across the Atlantic is strong enough to reach America. We know this because in 1976 a British adventurer named Tim Severin successfully made the very journey St. Brendan may have on a vessel similar to what the monk is thought to have used. And then there is the interesting theory that Columbus possibly used the story of St. Brendan to help him cross the Atlantic. Of course, there’s no definitive evidence to support this idea; but a persuasive piece of the puzzle comes from Columbus himself who in 1492 said “I am convinced that the terrestrial paradise is in the Island of Saint Brendan, which none can reach save by the Will of God”.
The last piece of mystery continues with a cave located in West Virginia. In the early 1980s, a marine biologist from Harvard University named Barry Fell discovered writings on a cave’s wall that he believes to be ogham, the ancient Celtic alphabet used during St. Brendan’s time. According to Fell, the cave wall carvings tell the story of the Christian nativity. Obviously, the script on the cave’s walls cannot be confirmed and many historians don’t buy into Fell’s theories; however, there are people who agree with Fell too!
In the end, we don’t have conclusive proof that St. Brendan reached America. Nevertheless there is always the possibility that his leather-clad boat did make it across the ocean and the cave wall etchings are a result of an amazing journey.
Related posts:
[...] first Old-Worlders to set foot in the New World. Claims for that distinction have been made for Irish monks, Chinese mariners, Basque fishermen, and Phoenicians (among others), and you can draw your own [...]
Leave your response!