Feast Day 16 May

St. Brendan was born in what is now County Kerry, Ireland, about 486 A.D.,approximately 25 years after the death of St. Patrick. He was taken from his family at a very young age and raised by St. Aida of Killeedy under the patronage of Bishop Erc of Kerry. He became a monk, then a priest and finally an abbot. He had a very strong influence on the early Celtic church, which at the time was poorly organized, and he is regarded as one of Ireland's most important saints. He was responsible for founding a number of abbies and monastaries, including the one at Clonfert in Galway, where he died about 578 A.D.

He is known as Brendan the "Voyager" or the "Navigator" because of the many voyages he made around the British Isles and to the coast of Brittany. Even skeptics concede that he visited the Holy Isle of Iona on the west coast of Scotland where he met with St. Columba. However, the voyage for which Brendan is best known is shrouded in the midst of legend.