Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1901-10-31
AND ITS MANY ROMANTIC
LEGENDS.
FOUNDED IN THE YEAR $50
BY ST. Brendan, who is Said to Have
Been Voyaged to America More
Than Nine Hundred Years Be-
fore Columbus First Saw the Amer
icen Continent.


Shannon, in the very center of Ireland
stands a building which, dating its
foundation in the sixth century, is
now approaching complete restoration.
Surrounding it is chuchyard, the
gravestones Of which are in them
selves monuments of antiquity, and
yet they are infants in comparison
with the small but beautiful structure
standing in their midst. The build
ing is Clonfert Cathedral.
Here our footsteps touch the
threshold Of the dawn of Christianity
in the British Islands. While Anglia
was still wrapped in the darkness of
heathenism the light of the new re-
ligion had already risen upon Hiber
MIA, and it was here, on this very
spot, that ST. Brendan nearly 1,4000
years ago, laid the foundation of
monastery, ofwhich the present cathed-
raj is the successor. Here in the
ehancel lie his bones, and they have a
jealous guardian in the present rec
tor of the parish, Rev. Canon McLar-
ney.
The romance of religion was never
better illustrated than in the career
of st. Brendan in the history of the
cathedral which enshrines his re-
mains. The saint is known as ''the
navigator" and he is the patron saint
of sailors. He was born at Tralee,
in Kerry, in the year 4S1. At an early
period of his life he crossed to Great
Britain, and thence to France, found
ing monasteries or schools in his
progress. But it was not until 545
that he undertook the voyage with
which his name is chiefly associated.
This event, which was called "the
Setting Sail of st. Brendan and his
crew. was commemorated in the cal
endars of the Christian church on
March % every year for many cen
| turtles afterWard.
Whittier did the saint sail and what
| did he discover? This is a question
, upon which light has only recently
been thrown. The late bishop of Iowa
at a meeting in Dublin few years
ago asserted that st. Brendan not only
landed in America 900 years before
Columbus was born, but also evan
gelized a portion of the country at
that time. 1t is certain that the voy-
age lasted altogether a period of seven
years.
The belief that ST. Brendan was the
first European to visit America rests
upon a number of isolated but signii-
cant facts That the Icelanders and
the Norsemen preceded Columbus is
generally admitted, and when Colum
bus required information about his
proposed voyage he sought it in Ice
land and Ireland. One of the sailors
whom he took with him to America
was an Irishman named Patrick
Mcguire. Maritime intercourse be-
tween Ireland and Iceland was fire.
quent from the earliest days Of naviga-
ton. To various voyagers from time
to time the great western continent
was known as ireland the great
| lIrland ed mikla).
I Professor Rain of Copenhagen is of
opinion that this great Ireland of the
northmen was the country south of
| Chesapeake bay, including Carolina,
Georgia and east Florida There is a
remarkable tradition preserved among
the Shawnee Indians, who emigrated
more than a century ago from west
Florida to Ohio, that FLORIDA was
once inhabited by white men who
used iron instruments" Traces of
Irish origin have been observed
among some of the original tribes of
| North and Central America, which
suggest a presumption that those
countries had been colonized from Ire
land at some remote period.
Discovery by Cortez.
The history of early Irish Christian
missions to America affords another
proof of that country having been dis
covered by st. Brendan 900 years be-
| fore Columbus was born. In the year
1919, when Cortez and his 600 COM
panions landed in Mexico, they were
surprised to find that their coming
was welcomed by the Mexicans as the
realization of an ancient native tradi-
ton to the effect that many centuries
before white man had come across
the great ocean from the northeastina
boat with wings" (sa1ls) like those of
the Spanish vessels.
In the year 55S, six years after st.
Brendan's return to Ireland from his
voyage to America, he founded the
cathedral of Clonfert in County Gal
way. When he came to Clonfert, he
said:
This shall be my rest forever; here
will l dwell, for I have a delight
therein
When he was dying at Armagh
down, near Galway, on May Is, SIT,
when he was 96 years Of age, one of
his last requests was:
Bury me in my dear city of Clon-
fert."
His wish was granted. He was
buried in the place Z of honor: in the
cb&ncel of the cathedral.
Clonfert cathedral has suffered SO
many vicissitudes during the period
of 1,5A3 years of it's existence that it
is surprising anything ancient has re-
manned. 1t suffered greatly from the
incursiCns Of the Danes, who frequent
~ sailed up the river Shannon from
Limerick and attacked it. 1t was
burnt six times between the years 949
and 1865. In the year 1541 it was al
most totally destroyed. Bishop VOL |
ley repaired the Cathedral in the year
1854. From that time up to the pres
ent no general restoration was under |
taken till Canon McLarney took the |
work in hand
A Vanished City.