Brandon Creek #1 and Brandon Creek #2 by Larry149

BRANDON CREEK, IRELAND

This Journal entry ties in with my (Wall Art) images Brandon Creek #1 and Brandon Creek #2

Brandon Creek is the traditional place of departure for America of Saint Brendan and fourteen monks, in early times.

St. Brendan, Patron Saint of the Diocese of Kerry (Ireland) was born in the year 484 AD. Tradition has it that together with fourteen monks he set sail from Brandon Creek approximately 535 AD to take the Gospel to the ‘unknown continent’ to the west.

It took seven years for the monks to reach America across uncharted waters. The account of the journey is written in the medieval manuscript “Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis”. St Brendan died at Annaghdown, Co. Galway in the year 578 AD, and is buried at Clonfert, Co. Galway.

Inspired by the ‘Navigatio’, Tim Severin, Explorer and Oxford Graduate, constructed a boat with a wooden frame, tied together with leather thongs, a skin of oak bark leather, stitched together with flax and protected by wool grease. Following closely on the route described by St. Brendan, he set sail from this Creek on 17th May, 1976, with four colleagues, and arrived in Newfoundland thirteen months later, to prove that the voyage of St. Brendan and his monks was not only possible, but probable.

St Brendan described his route as via The Isle of Sheep, The Paradise of Birds, The Isle of Smiths, The Land of Crystal Pillars, Through the Region of Fog to The Promised Land. 1400 years later Tim Severin recognized these ‘Stepping Stones’ on his route, as, The Hebrides, The Faroes, Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland and America.

“Legend has it that St. Brendan, a man of God, pushed back the boundaries of knowledge and explored new worlds. Brendan discovered a new world which offered a second chance to mankind. Fourteen centuries later, Brendan was followed by millions of his sons and daughters. They sought the opportunity to live free from hunger and repression. As we sail into the unknown waters of the future, we will follow Brendan’s mast and go forth with faith and courage towards new horizons together”, — Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, on his visit to Ireland, 1984.