St. Brendan, patron of the Diocese of Kerry and Clonfert in Ireland, has been chosen as the patron saint of our Parish.  Choice of his name is very appropriate for he was a renowned pioneer of foreign missions and Florida is still a great field of Missionary endeavor.

Born in 483 near Tralee, Co. Kerry, St. Brendan labored in a land owhere St. Patrick had laid the foundations of a spiritual empire that was to last to Bishop Erc, first Bishop of the Diocese of Kerrry, Brendan was filled with zeal for the spread of the Gospel.  He spent fourteen years in Kerry during his early youth but only the most meagre accounts of these years are available.  They do, however, convey an impression of Brendan's application to study and of a character unusually strong.  Contrasting with the paucity of authentic record, the old legends tell with much detail of his providential protection in times of danger and of his sustenance in need.  Of this early period of his life, and indeed the subsequent ten years, but one fact is known:  that he had the occasional companionship of his devoted and saintly sister Briga.

At the age of twenty, Brendan went to the theological school of Clonfoish to pursue his ecclesiastical studies.  On the way he encountered a heathen warrior named Colman MacLenin whom he later converted to the faith and who in due course became the first Bishop of Cloyne, and who is now venerated under the name o St. Cloman.

In the year 513 Brendan was ordained to the preisthood by Bishop Erc.  Immediately after ordination he began to establish several monasteries in Ireland and in the steady stream of his disciples he saw the enduring strength of Irish monasticism.  All through his early manhood Brendan's mind was fired by one ambition, animated by one great desire - to seek now lands and thereby win more souls for Christ.  So, after some twenty years labor at home after ordination, he, with a few companions, set sail for foreign shores and thus began those voyages which won for him immortal fame and the remarkable epithet "The Navigator."

For periods varying between two and seven years Brendan is said to have explored the western ocean.  Some accounts place his landing in Newfoundland, and others mention the Virginian Capes.  While these accounts are not authoritative, there is said to be proof in indigenous remains that Irishmen had settled in America centuries before the Spanish sighted its shore.  It is said, too, that the Darien Indians spoke a language akin to that of the primitive Irish, and that an eight-century people in Florida were speaking the Irish tongue.  In the old records are also to be found some grounds for believing that St. Brendan labored among the early Mexicans.  In fact in many ancient maps St. Brendan's Island, under various denominations, was marked in the western sea and to some extent influenced Columbus.  However, of the actual land discovered by St. Brendan nothing authentic is known.

Returning to Ireland after his adventures in the western world, Brendan's fame brought religious thronging to his monasteries.  About the year 530 A.D. he directed his missionary activity towards the people of England, Scotland and Wales.  Everywhere he went he followed his calling with the superb abandon of one who acknowledged it eternal and bounded only by the commandments of God.  A shrine to St. Brendan in Teneriffe may not be unconnected with his voyage to Plaestine.

About the year 540 A.D., Brendan again returned to his native country where his life continued to be a prolonged striving for perfection.  He never failed to see the infinite possibilities of the Mission, the urgency of this welfare for souls.  In his declining years he still founded many monasteries, notably Clonfert.  This latter was the last great venture of his life.  For many more years he toiled up and down the Irish countryside.

On Sunday, May 16th, 577 A.D.. at the age of ninety-four St. Brendan passed to his eternal reward at this sister Briga's convent in Anaghdown, Co. Kerry.  His alleged last words to his sister were:  -"I fear as I pass away all alone, and as the journey is darksome I fear the unknown region, the presence of the King, the sentence of the Judge."  In all honor, Brendan -  Saint and Navigator -  was laid to rest in the place of his choice, Clonfert.