The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1898-03-05
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA.
st. BrendHn, of Ireland, Came in the
Sixth Century,.


discovered by the ancient Irish centur-
les before Columbus landed on these
shores, is again being discussed very
generally, says the Boston Globe.
1t has long been asserted, and excel
lent authorities quoted in support there
of, that st. Brendan sailed from Ireland
and landed in America toward the close
Of the Sixth century.
Quite a number OF authorities have
been cited by a correspondent of the
Globe, Mr.. Daniel Dryer, who maintains
that there is not only good ground for
claiming that ST. Brendan did discover
America, but that the evidence pointing
| in that direction is almost Overwhelming.
He asserts that the records prove that
Ireland was settled by men we'll skilled
in the arts and sciences of the times,
and that the Phoenicians, who peopled
Ireland more than one thousand years
| before st. Brendans time, were the most
celebrated Of ancient navigators.
"Tacitus,' he says, writing of Agri-
cola and his conquest of England, says
| the harbors and channels of Ireland
were better known to merchants and
commerce than those of Britain in his
time. Why, then, should it be matter
OF wonder that hundreds of years after
| great and celebrated Irish navigator
should attempt the exploration of the
Atlantic ocean? There is nothing WON
derful about it. In fact, it is quite in
line with the spirit of the early Irish
Christians, who, it is admitted, navl-
gated to Iceland and there spread the
| gospel.
irish annals written centuries before
Columbus time bear testimony to the
fact of st. Brendans sailing from the
west coast of Ireland in the latter part of
the Sixth century, and discovering land
after long voyage. Two voyages are
distinctly mentioned and such hold
| dld the news take on the civilized ma
lions of Europe at that time that long
before the voyage of Columbus st. Bren-
dams discovery was u subject for writ
ers In various nations. Various rhymes
in the French and Dutch languages con-
corning the land discovered by st,
Brendan existed centuries before Column
| bus.
Jacobus Voraginius, provincial Of the
Dominicans and bishop of Genoa, the
| birthplace OF Columbus, in his Golden
Legend, gave special attention to st.
| Brendnn's land and the Italians marked
| 1t on their maps Of the period Opposite
Europe and Africa, from the south of
ireland to the end of Guinea And it
is remarkable fact that in the man
made by Paulo Toscanelli, of Florence,
for Columbus, before starting out on his
first voyage, the customary space was
occupied by st. Boronden's (Brendan's)
land That Columbus was we'll versed
In the Golden Legend of Bishop Jaco-
bus is assured by his quotations OF it's
striking expressions in his letters to his
sovcreigns"
The Scandinavians also preserve some
accounts that would seem to bear tcsti-
mony to the correctness of the old Irish
annals. In the Landambock, complied in
the Thirteenth century, it saws: "IJlf.
the squintcr son of Hognl, the white, oc-
cupicd the whole OF Reykianess lsouth
west promontory of Iceland) between
Thorskoliord and Hagrafel. lie had a
wife named Biorg, the daughter of Ev
Wind, the east countryman. They had
Il son named Attila the red, who married
Thorkotu, daughter of Hergil. They had
son named Ari, who was driven by a
tempest at lluitramannaland (whitc
mans land) which some call Irland it
Mikla (grcatcr Ircland), which lies in
the western ocean, near to Vinland the
good west from Ireland"
Then appears some undecipherablc
parts, but it adds: "Ari was not permit
ted to depart. but was baptized there"
The writer of this account was a grand
son OF Ari Marson, who claims to have
received the information from one Rafu.
n Limerick merchant and a kinsman of
his own.
lrland it Mikla is frequently spoken Of
In the northern sagas, and referred to
as being in the western ocean, west of
Ireland.
An interesting extract from those an
Gent document says: ITO the south Of
habitable Greenland there are numerous
wild tracts and enormous icebcrgs. The
country of the spraellngs lies beyond
| these. MARYLAND beyond this and Vim
land the good beyond the last. Next to
this and something beyond it lies Huitra-
mannaland, whittier formerly vessels
came from Ireland.
There several lrishmen and Iceland
ers saw and recognized Ari, the son Of
Mar and kotlu of Reykianess, concern
ing whom nothing had been heard for a
long time, and who had been made Il
chief by the natives"
The antiquity of the document from
which this excerpt is taken is acknowl-
edged by all modern antiqunrians, and
SO great an authority as Humboldt said
of it: "rhe Spraelinger related to the
Mortimer settled in Vinland that fur
thcr southwark (beyond the Chesapeake
bay) there dwclt white men who clothed
themselves in long white garments car