The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1921-07-30
THE IRISH WERE HERE FIRST.

THE IRISH WERE HERE FIRST.
EARLY Irish traditions have handed
down to us the memories and achieve
ments Of her sainted sons, writes
Father McDermott, G. IS. P. These
have been classified in three orders
or charlottesville first commanded by
st. Patrick, and composed of bishops
who shone like the sun; the second
commanded by ST. COLUMBIA, and com
posed of priests who shone like the
moon; and the third, under the orders
of Saints Colman and Aidan, composed
of bishops, priests and hermits, who
shone like the stars. To this last
mentioned class belonged st. Brendan
one of many famous travellers and
sailor monks. His zeal inspired him
| with the ambition to discover new
lands in the hope of converting souls
to God, and his visions are reckoned
among the poetic sources of the Di
vina Commedia (Ozanam, Oeuvres
vol. ", page 373).
ST. Brendan was born in the County
Kerry in 49, He died in 577. When
he was about fifty-six years Of age, he
set out on the most famous of his voy
ages mentioned by writer's of practic
! ally every European nationality. He
did not 60 alone; the old Irish calen
dars assigned special feast Tor the
"Egressio familiae S. Brendani" on
March %, and st. Aengus the Cul
dee, at the close of the eighth century
invokes in his .Litany "the sixty who
accompanied st. Brendan in his quest
of the Land of Promise"
In $40, we are told, st. Brendan
reached the Virginia Capes and trav
eled inland to a river running west
wards, supposed to be the Ohio. He
was absent in all seven years. The
story of his voyage and discoveries
were noised abroad among the crowds
of pilgrims and students who focked
| to the monasteries he had founded al
| Ardfert, and it is quite possible thai
the wanderlust seized upon many Of
his hearers, and that they desired tc
see for themselves the lands he had
discovered, and the animals and plants
| which he described, the accurate
knowledge of which he could have &C
quired only by visit to the western
continent.
/ In confirmation of this tradition, the
Morse Sagas, five centuries before
Christopher Columbus, though they at
tributed the discovery of the northern
part of the continent to the Scandi
navians, unhesitatingly gave to Irish
men the honor of the first discovery
at much earlier period. They ever
called the land Greater Ireland The
tNorsemen found, probably in Carolina
and Georgia, white people differing
in racial characteristics from the Els
quimaux of the north, and wearing
long robes or cloaks similar to the
dress of the early Inhabitants of Ire
land. These people, according tt
them, frequently bore Celtic crosses
in sort of religious procession, and
spoke the Irish language.
Several historians are of the opin
ion that the accounts of this voyage
together with the works of another
Irishman, St. virgilius, Bishop of Saltz
burg, first suggested to the active
| mind of Christopher Columbus the
existence of western continent. II
| will not be uninteresting to note that
when this illustrious native of Genoa
faced the unknown dangers of the
vast and unexplered deep, he was
accompanied by adventurous sons Of
| the Emerald Isle. It is recorded In
the work Of an Italian priest, John
Baptist Tornitori, published in the
seventeenth century, that when Colum
bus desired to land, the water was toe
shallow to permit the nearer approach
of his caravel, and a small boat was
launched to carry the admiral to the
shore. Reaching the shelving beach
one "Patricius Maguirus" leaped into
the water. and wading onward with the
boat in tow, was the first to set foot
on America SOIL The curious may
| read for themselves this memoir in
an authentic copy religiously preserv
ed in the library of the University OF
u
| ST. Louis.
SCULPTOR OF TINY HEAD or
| SAVIOUR, TIBURcIo ZAvALA.
Through the efforts of G. Bustillc
Reina, Chancellor of the Consulate
General of Honduras, the probable
origin of the carving of the face OF
Christ called the "Christus de Pro
funds" has been revealed. The carving
has been exhibited in various Ameri
can cities during the past few months
and attracted widespread attention. II
was advertised as having been carved
on bean by Honduran artist who
was, confined in prison about twenty
6ua xyn, ,-c Mr. Pnino