Capitulum IX

Chapter IX

Quādam diē vīdērunt īnsulam nōn longē ab illīs. Cumque cœpissent nāvigāre ad illam subvēnit illīs prosper ventus in adjūtōrium ut nōn labōrāssent plūs quam vīres poterant sustinēre. Cum vērō nāvis stetisset in portum præcēpit vir Deī omnēs exīre forās. Ipse autem ēgressus est post illōs. Cumque cœpissent circuīre illam īnsulam vīdērunt aquās largissimīs mānāre ex dīversīs fontibus plēnās piscibus. Dīxitque Sānctus Brendānus frātribus suīs: “Faciāmus hīc opus dīvīnum. Sacrificēmus Deō immaculātam hostiam quia hodiē est Cēna Dominī”. Et ibī mānsērunt usque in sabbatum sānctum Paschæ. Perambulantēs autem illam īnsulam invēnērunt dīversās turmās ovium ūnīus colōris id est albī ita ut nōn possent ultrā vidēre terram præ multitūdine ovium. Convocātīsque frātribus suīs Sānctus Brendānus dīxit illīs: “Accipite quæ necessāria ad diem fēstum dē grege”. Frātrēs vērō secundum mandātum virī Deī festīnābant ad gregem. Quī statim accēpērunt dē grege ūnam ovem. Et cum illam alligāssent per cornua sequēbātur illa quasi domestica illum quī tenēbat ligātūram in manū suā usque ad locum ubī stetit vir Deī. Iterum ait vir Deī ūnī ex frātribus: “Accipite agnum immaculātum dē grege”. Quī festīnāvit et fēcit sīcut sibi injunctum fuērat. Cum illī parāssent omnia ad opus crāstinæ diēī ecce appāruit illīs vir habēns in manū sportam plēnam pānibus subcinericiīs et cētera quæ necessāria erant. Cum hæc posuisset ante virum Deī cecidit prōnus super faciem suam tribus vicibus ad pedēs sānctis patris dīcēns: “Unde mihi meritō margarīta Deī ut paschāris in istīs sānctīs diēbus dē labōre manuum meārum?” Sānctus Brendānus ēlevātō eō dē terrā et datō ōsculō dīxit: “Fīlī Dominus noster Jēsūs Chrīstus prōpōnit nōbīs locum ubī celebrāre possīmus sānctam suam resurrectiōnem”. Cuī ait prædictus vir: “Pater hīc celebrābitis istud sabbatum sānctum. Vigiliās vērō et missās crās in illā īnsulā quam vōs vidētis prōposuit Deus celebrāre suæ resurrectiōnis”. Dum hæc dīxisset cœpit obsequium famulōrum Deī et omnia quæ necessāria erant in crāstinum præparāre. Fīnītīs omnibus et illātīs in nāvim dīxit ad Sānctum Brendānum: “Vestra nāvicula nōn potest amplius portāre. Egō vōbīs trānsmittam quæ vōbīs necessaria sunt dē cibō et dē potū usque in pentēcostēm”. Sānctus Brendānus dīxit: “Unde tū nōstī ubī erimus post octō diēs?” Cuī ait: “Hāc nocte eritis in illā īnsulā quam vōs vidētis prope et crās usque in sextam. Posteā nāvigābitis ad aliam īnsulam quæ est nōn longē ab istā īnsulā contrā occidentālem plagam quæ vocātur paradīsus avium. Ibīque manēbitis usque in octāvās Pentēcostēs”. Interrogābat quoque Sānctus Brendānus illum quōmodo potuissent ovēs esse tam magnæ sīcut ibī vīsæ sunt. Erant enim majōrēs quam bovēs. Cuī ille dīxit: “Nēmō colligit lac dē ovibus in hāc īnsulā nec hiems distringit illās sed in pāscuīs semper commorantur diē noctūque. Ideōque majōrēs sunt hīc quam in vestrīs regiōnibus”.

One day they saw an island not far from them. As they had begun to sail towards, a favourable wind came up to help them, so that they should not to toil more than their combined strengths would allow. When the ship had truly reached the harbour, the man of God ordered them all to disembark; but he went forth after them. As they had begun to walk around that island, they saw waters full of fish flowing out many plentiful springs. And Saint Brendan said to his brethren: “Let us perform here the divine office. Let us sacrifice to God the immaculate host, for today is the Lord’s Supper.” And they remained there until the Holy Saturday of Easter. As they toured the island, they found out many companies of sheep, all of the one same white colour, so that they could no longer see the ground because of the multitude of sheep. Saint Brendan summoned his brethren and told them: “Take from the flock what is needed for a holiday.” So the brethren followed the command of the man of God, hurried up towards the flock and at once took one sheep from it. As they had bound it by the horns, it followed in a nearly tame way the one who held the bridle unto the place where the man of God was standing. Again, the man of God said to one of the brethren: “Take from the flock an immaculate lamb.” The latter hurried to do as he had been told. As they had made everything ready for the office of the next day, a man suddenly appeared to them holding a basket full of loaves baked under ashes and everything else that was needed. He put it down before the man of God and flung himself face to the ground to the holy father’s feet, saying: “Whence do I deserve, pearl of God, that you should celebrate Easter from the labour of my hands?” Saint Brendan raised him from the ground and gave him a kiss, then said to him: “My son, our Lord Jesus Christ proposes us a place to celebrate his holy resurrection.” The aforementioned man told him: “Father, here you shall celebrate this Holy Saturday. Verily, God has proposed you to celebrate the vigils and tomorrow the masses of his resurrection on the island that you see here.” Once he had spoken, he began to prepare the observance of the servants of God and everything that was needed for the following day. After he had finished and brought everything into the ship, he said to Saint Brendan: “Your boat cannot carry more. I will hand down to you what you need for food and drink until Pentecost.” Saint Brendan said: “Where do you know from where we shall be after eight days?” The other answered him: “Tonight you will be in this island you see nearby, and tomorrow too until the sixth hour. Then you will sail westwards unto another island that is not far from this one, and that is called the paradise of birds. You will stay there until the octave of Pentecost.” Saint Brendan also asked him how the sheep could be as big as they had seen them. They were indeed bigger than cattle. The other told him: “Nobody retrieves milk from the ewes on that island, and the winter does not exhaust them, but they always remain day and night on pasture. That is why they are bigger here than in your lands.”

Capitulum X

Chapter X

Prōfectīque sunt ad nāvim et cœpērunt nāvigāre datā benedictiōne vicissim . Cum autem vēnissent ad aliam īnsulam, cœpit illa nāvis stāre antequam portum illīus potuissent tenēre. Sānctus Brendānus præcēpit frātribus exīre dē nāvī et ita fēcērunt. Tenēbantque nāvim ex utraque parte cum fūnibus usque dum ad portum vēnit. Erat autem illa īnsula petrōsa sine ullā herbā. Silva rāra erat ibī et in lītōre illīus nihil dē arēnā fuit. Porrō pernoctantibus in ōrātiōnibus et in vigiliīs frātribus forās dē nāvī vir Deī sedēbat intus.

They went back to their ship and, after they had given a blessing in return, began to sail away. But when they had come to the other island, the ship stopped before they had reached the harbour. Saint Brendan ordered the brethren to disembark, and so they did. They held the ship on either side by ropes until it came into the harbour. That island however was rocky and without any grass. Woods were rare and there was no sand on its shore. Then the brethren spent all the night out of the ship in prayers and vigils, while the man of God stood inside.

Capitulum XI

Chapter XI

Sānctus vērō Brendānus sciēbat quālis erat illa īnsula sed tamen nōluit illīs indicāre nē fuissent perterritī. Māne autem factō præcēpit sacerdōtibus ut singulī missās cantāsset et ita fēcērunt. Cum ergō sānctus Brendānus et ipse cantāsset missam in nāvim cœpērunt frātrēs crūdās carnēs portāre forās dē nāvī ut condidissent sale et etiam piscēs quōs sēcum tulērunt dē aliā īnsulā. Cum hæc fēcissent posuērunt cācabum super ignem. Cum autem ministrāssent lignīs ignem et fervēre cœpisset cācabus cœpit illa insula sē movēre sīcut unda. Frātrēs vērō cœpērunt currere ad nāvim dēprecantēs patrōcinium sānctī patris. At ille singulōs per manūs trahēbat intus. Relictīsque omnibus quæ portābant in illam īnsulam cœpērunt nāvigāre. Porrō illa īnsula ferēbātur in ōceanum. Tunc poterant vidēre ignem ārdentem super duō mīliāria. Sānctus Brendānus narrāvit frātribus quod hoc esset dīcēns: “Frātrēs admīrāminī quod fēcit hæc īnsula?” Aiunt: “Admīrāmur valdē nec nōn et ingēns pavor penētrāvit nōs.” Quī dīxit illīs: “Fīliolī meī nōlite expavēscere. Deus enim revēlāvit mihi hāc nocte per vīsiōnem sacrāmentum hujus reī. Īnsula nōn est ubī fuimus sed piscis. Prior omnium nātantium in ōceanō quærit semper suam caudam ut simul jungat capitī et nōn potest prō longitūdine quam habet nōmine Jasconius”.

Saint Brendan knew well what that island was, yet did not want to tell them, lest they would be terrified. On the next morning, he ordered that every priest should sing a mass, and so they did. While Saint Brendan himself was therefore singing a mass in the ship, the brethren began to unload raw meats from the ship, in order to preserve them in salt, and fish too that they had brought from the other island. At the same time, they put a cooking pot on the fire. But while they were attending to the fire with wood and the pot was nearly boiling, the island began to move like a wave. The brethren soon ran up to the ship and called upon the patronage of the holy father. He pulled them in one by one by the hands. They left everything that they had brought on that island and sailed on. The island was carried off upon the ocean. They could then see the fire burning on over two miles away. Saint Brendan told the brethren what it was, saying: “Brethren, are you amazed at the doings of this island?” They answered: “We are greatly amazed indeed and a tremendous fright has pierced us through.” He said to them: “My dear sons, do not be afraid. For God has revealed to me this night in a vision the mystery of this thing. Not upon an island were we, but upon a fish. It is the eldest of all those that swim in the ocean, and is always looking after its tail to join it together with its head, but is unable to do so because of its length. Its name is Jasconius.”