“When he had ceased to speak, we asked him his name, and whence he had come. There is one-half of the island up to this river, which you are not permitted to pass over return, therefore, the way you came’.” While we were thinking about things, there appeared suddenly before us a man, shining with a great light, who, calling us by our names, addressed us thus: ‘Welcome, worthy brothers, for the Lord has revealed to you the land He will grant unto His saints. We wanted to cross over the river, but did not know which way we should go, and we waited for God to show us what He wanted us to do. On the fifteenth day we discovered a river flowing from the west towards the east. All the plants were flowering plants, and all the trees, fruit trees the stones under our feet were precious gems. And when the boat touched the shore we landed, and walked round about the island for fifteen days, yet could not reach the other shore. After an hour or so, a great light shone around us, and land appeared, spacious and grassy, and bearing all manner of fruits. “When we entered the boat and set sail, clouds over-shadowed us on every side, so dense that we could barely see the prow or the stern of the boat. When my dear son and I had traversed the island, he led me to the western shore, where there was a small boat, and he then said: “Father, enter this boat, and we will sail on to the west, towards the island called the Land of Promise of the Saints, which God will grant to those who succeed us in the latter days.” The brethren, after compline, passed the night in their respective cells until the cock-crow, or the bell tolled for prayer. No food was served but fruits and nuts, roots and vegetables of other kinds. They had one dining hall and one church for all, where they sang the divine offices. They lived apart from each other physically, but they were joined spiritually, well grounded in faith, hope, and charity. As we sailed unto the island the brethren came forth from their cells towards us, like a swarm of bees. He and some of his brothers hastened out to meet me, for God had revealed to him that I was coming. So I went to visit him, and reached the island after a three days’ journey. After some time I learned that he had many monks with him there, and that God had worked many miracles through him.
VOYAGE TRAINSLATION FULL
Then Barinthus, in reply, told them about a particular island: “My dear son Mernoc, the steward of Christ’s poor, had fled away from me to become a hermit, and found, near a rocky mountain, an island full of delights. When Brendan questioned him, Barinthus could only weep, and throw himself prostrate on the ground, and continue praying but Brendan raising him up, embraced him, saying: “Father, why should we be grieved on the occasion of your visit? Have you not come to give us comfort? You ought, indeed, to cheer up the brethren, so in God’s name, make known to us the divine secrets, and refresh our souls by telling us about the wonders you have seen upon the great ocean.” One night, while he was engaged in his spiritual warfare at a place called Brendan’s Meadow of Miracles, a monk named Barinthus, of the race of King Niall, came to see him. He was a man of great abstinence and many virtues, and was the spiritual father of nearly three thousand monks. St Brendan, son of Finnlug and great-grandson of Atla, of the race of Eogen, was born in the marshy region of Munster. The Dean of Canterbury Cathedral reads the whole story aloud, in three videos posted on the Cathedral site, here. I have, however, lightly modernized the translation, so what you see on this page is a hybrid of O’Donoghue’s work and my own. The book is fully digitized on Google Books, here. This translation of the Nauigatio sancti Brendani abbatis began with Denis O’Donoghue’s translation in Brendaniana: St Brendan the Voyager in Story and Legend (Dublin: Browne and Nolan, 1893).
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