Brendan, Abbot

Brendan was born probably near Kerry, Ireland. At six he was sent to a monastic school for his education and was ordained in 512. He founded many monasteries in Ireland. Clonfort was a center of missionary activity, and three thousand monks lived, worked, studied, and prayed there under his direction. He wrote an epic manuscript on his five to seven year voyage to the Land of Promise, a bestseller in Europe in the Middle Ages. It described the first European voyage to North America. Saint Brendan is the patron saint of sailors.