St. Paul daily globe., 1888-02-08
WHY NOT ST. BRENDAN?
An Irishman Seems to Have the
Call on Columbus, Erickson and

An Irishman Seems to Have the
Call on Columbus, Erickson and
the Rest.
To the Editor of the Globe
Your special from Washington says
that Miss Maria A. Brown, of Boston, is
at the capital endeavoring to have the
discovery of America by Lief Erickson,
in the tenth century. made part of the
proposed celebration of 1892, and, with
the assistance of Knute Nelson. she is
having good show for success. Now I
submit that if, in the coming celebra-
ton, Columbus is to be Shorn of any of
his nhonors they be given to the
source from which the great diScoverer
drew inspiration or information. 1t is
true the Morse came to America 400
years before Columbus, but it was not
until late years that the world became
cOnverSant with their voyages, and
there is no evidence that Columbus
knew of them. He had other very
natural sources of information through
the close race, religious and commercial
connections between Spain and Ireland,
and the chronicles of the latter country
will establish the fact that st. Brendan
came here in $40, aud in the accounts of
his voyage and explorations he is stated
to have made a fifteen-days' journey
into the interior, until he came to
great river flowing from the north. st.
Brendan was great man of learning,
and after his return to Ireland founded,
among others, the celebrated abbey of
Cionfert, which is said to have had at
one time no less than 5000 monks,
whose schools were frequented by
students from the continent. st.
Virgilius (Feargal or FarreD, an Irish
missionary to Germany, and bishops of
Saltzburg in the eighth century, was one
the first to advance the theory of the an
tipodes and the sphericity of the earth
For this, on complaint of st. Boniface,
he was summoned to Rome by Pope
Zachery, and his defense of his position
was so satisfactory that proceedings
against him were QuaShed. The Able
BreShaur says that VirgiliuS proved to
the pope ''that the Irish had been accus-
toned to communicate with transat-
lantic world" Virgilius certainly knew
of the voyage of his cOuntryman, ST..
Brendan, aid there are to-day preserved
in the Imperial library at Paris no less
than eleven manuscripts, in date rang
| ing from the eleventh to the fOurteeth
covery. 1t was these accounts of Bren-
dams voyage and Virgilius' theory that
induced Columbus to make his voyage
across the Atlantic; and it is curious.
perhaps significant, fact that 1t is re-
| corded IN an Italian work of the seven
teenth century that the first man of Col
umbus' expedition to set foot on Amer
lean soil was an Irishman named Patri-
cius Maguirus. From st. Brendan in
$40 to Paddy Mcguire in 1892! If any
| further proof is needed of the Irish dis
covery of America, it is found
in the writings of the ''Norse
Sagas," upon which the Erickson
claim for recognition is based.
The Morse voyages were made in the
eleventh century, and as the NOrsemen
| had been driven out of Ireland just
prior thereto, it is not hard to under
stand from whence they drew inspira-
tion as to Western land. The Morse
Sagas'' give the honor of the earlier
discovery to Irishmen, for in their
works they call the country Ireland il
Mikla," or, Great Ireland, and going
| down on the coast ''they found there, .