At 10:19 PM 5/19/97 +0100, you wrote:
>Today, 16 May, is the feast of ...
>
>Brendan, abbot of Clonfert (577 or 583) - Any experts on
>the *Navigatio* out there?
>
Sorry this is almost exactly two months after the feast day, but I've been
desperately scrambling to finish a paper on early Irish hagiography. I am
no expert on Brénainn, but I have read his Lives [Latin and Irish (the
latter in translation)] and I thought I'd share my favorite part of his
voyage. But before I do, I'd also like to include one of the most moving
passages I've encountered in vitae, from the Life of Brénainn. He spent his
last days with his sister Bríg and shared with her his fears about his
imminent death: "I fear that I will have passed away alone, that the
journey will have been dark. I fear an untried land, the presence of the
king, the sentence of the judge." (Timeo," inquit, "si solus migrauero, si
tenebrosum fuerit iter; timeo inexpertam regionem, regis presentiam, iudicis
sententiam." Plummer Vitae Sanctorum Hiberniae I 150). OK, on to the funny
stuff. I envision this as a Flying Circus production, starring John Cleese
as Brénainn and Eric Idle as the preconis.
Vitae Sanctorum Hiberniae - ed. Charles Plummer. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1910.
Vol I, pp 136-7
Vita Prima Sancti Brendani - a conflation of the Navigatio Brendani and the
Vita Brendani
To set the stage, Brénainn and his crew have just returned from their 5 year
mission, but having been kept from the most blessed island. Íte has
admonished her foster-son for setting out on his adventure without seeking
advice from her, as she could have told him that he would be denied entrance
when he was riding on the backs of dead animals. Instead, she tells him, he
must get himself a spanking new wooden boat, without any taint of blood, and
then he should have better luck with the promised land. When the boat and
the companions (including all the artisans who helped make the boat, asking
this as their only wage) are all set to go, along comes a 'quidam preconis
in populo gerens officium' - the best translation I can offer is public
crier, but the translation of the Irish version has 'jester'. Take your
pick. And away we go...
This preconis humbly asked on bended knees that the man of God (Brénainn, of
course) would allow him to go with him. The pious father consented to his
humble entreaties and let him in with the others. Then the man of God
tonsured him, so that he might bear the sign of religious dedication on his
head. And the sailors in the name of the Lord first came to the island
Aran, where they found the holy men of God Enda, Pupa, and Nochat, with whom
they stayed for one
month in sincere charity.
After this, from Aran they sailed through the sea, until they saw a most
noble (?) island, on which they saw coming to the shore rodents in the
likeness of cats that wanted to eat human flesh. Seeing them, the brothers
said amongst themselves: 'Why are those beasts looking at us like that?'
Brénainn answered: 'They want to eat us all.' Then the man of God said to
the dupe (a little liberal - the preconis): 'Rise, and take the body of our
Lord Jesus Christ; and offer yourself in sacrifice to your Lord, who offered
himself to the Father as a sacrifice for you; so that for a brief work of
suffering you may have the reward of eternal glory. I heard,' he said, 'the
choirs of angels calling you from their abode.' Listening also to the
heavenly reward that was promised to him in exchange for the terrestrial,
and preparing himself for martyrdom, the preconis said: 'O Brénainn, saint
of God, by what work do I deserve to see God today?' And accepting the
viaticum with blessings, obeying the father even unto death, he went on to
the beasts. The rodents fell upon him like famished flies on meat, and in
an instant devoured his flesh to the bones. And awaiting the exact moment
of the end of the battle, his companions buried his bones.
They sailed away without delay.
Et cum parati essent omnes ad intrandum nauim, tunc uenit quidam preconis in
populo gerens officium, qui, genibus flexis suppliciter rogauit, ut uir Dei
secum ire permitteret. Tunc pius pater precibus supplicantis inclinatus,
vna cum ceteris admisit. Et totondit eum uir Dei, et silicet signum
religionis in capite deferret. Et nauigantes in nomine Domini primo
uenerunt ad insulam Ayrne, vbi sanctos Dei Endeum et Pupeum et Nochatum
inuenerunt, cum quibus in caritate non ficta per mensem unum comorati sunt.
Post hec inde nauigantes per mare, uiderunt quandam insulam ualde altam, in
qua uiderunt mures in similutidinem cati; qui, uenientes ad litus, carnes
hominum deuorare cupiebant. Fratres hos uidentes, inter se dixerunt: 'Quid
bestie iste aspiciunt?' Respondit Brandanus: 'Nos omnes deuorare
desiderant.' Tunc iterum ait uir Dei preconi: 'Surge, et accipe corpus
Domini nostri Iesu Christi; et offer te in sacrificium Domino tuo, qui pro
te se optulit Patri in sacrificium; ut pro breui labore patientie habeas
brauium eterne glorie. Audiui', inquit. 'choros angelorum in sedibus suis
te uocantium.' Audiens quoque preco pro terrenis celestia sibi promitti,
parans se ad martyrium, ait: 'O sancte Dei Brandane, quo labore merui Deum
uidere hodie?' Et accepto salutis uiatico, obediens patri usque ad mortem,
perrexit ad bestias. Ad quem, uelut musce famelice ad carnes, mures
accedentes, subito usque ad ossa carnes eius deuorarunt. Et ibidem finem
certaminis expectantes, sepilierunt ossa eius.
Nec mora inde nauigantes ...
Bethada Naem nErenn - Charles Plummer, ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1922.
Vol II, pp. 52-53
xvii. Here now is the story of the Isle of Mice
Brendan bade farewell to the saints of Aran, and left a blessing with them,
and they sailed on due west across the ocean, and saw after a while at a
distance from them a notable fair island. And they steered their boats
towards, till they reached the brink of it. And they saw the shore full of
hideous furry mice as large as cats. The brethren asked Brendan: 'What do
yonder mice want?'
said they. 'Their desire is to eat and devour us,' said Brendan.
Thereupon was revealed to Brendan that it was the death hour of the jester
who was in the boat with them. So he said to him: 'Arise,' said he, 'and
take the body and blood of Christ, and depart to the eternal life, for I
hear the song of the angels calling thee to them.' Then the mind of the
jester rejoiced at this saying, and he said: 'Ah, Lord,' said he, 'what good
have I done that I
should be taken to heaven so speedily?' Brendan answered and said that it
was fitting that he should fulfill the will of God.
So when he had received the body and blood of Christ, his spirit leapt
forth, and was straightaway borne with great joy to heaven, where is Jesus
Christ with the nine orders of Heaven about Him. His body was then thrown
upon the shore, and the mice devoured it, and left nothing but the bare
bones upon the shore. The company of Brendan buried his bones afterwards,
and his name was inscribed in the Martyrology, for he was a glorious martyr.
And herein is seen the kindness of the Lord, that the sinner who came last
to the ship should be
chosen of Him to go first to heaven.
-Maeve
He who gives to anyone a liquor in which a mouse or weasel is found dead,
shall do penance with three special fasts.
--The Penitential of Cummean
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