- published: 17 Dec 2010
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Saint Brendan of Clonfert or Bréanainn of Clonfert (c. 484 – c. 577) (Irish: Naomh Breandán; Icelandic: Brandanus) called "the Navigator", "the Voyager", or "the Bold" is one of the early Irish monastic saints. He is chiefly renowned for his legendary quest to the "Isle of the Blessed," also called St Brendan's Island. The Voyage of St Brendan could be called an immram (Irish navigational story). He was one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland.
Saint Brendan's feast day is celebrated on 16 May by Catholics, Anglicans, and Eastern Orthodox Christians.
In 484 Saint Brendan was born in Ciarraighe Luachra near the port of Tralee, in County Kerry, in the province of Munster, in the south-west of Ireland. He was baptised at Tubrid, near Ardfert, by Saint Erc. For five years he was educated under Saint Ita, "the Brigid of Munster", and he completed his studies under Saint Erc, who ordained him priest in 512. Between the years 512 and 530 St Brendan built monastic cells at Ardfert, and, at the foot of Mount Brandon, Shanakeel— Seana Cill, usually translated as "the old church"— also called Baalynevinoorach.
Brendan Smyth (8 June 1927 – 22 August 1997) was a Roman Catholic priest who became notorious as a child molester, using his position in the Roman Catholic Church to obtain access to his victims. During a period of over 40 years, Smyth sexually abused and indecently assaulted over 100 children in parishes in Belfast, Dublin and the United States. His actions were frequently hidden from police and the public by Roman Catholic officials. Controversy surrounding his case brought about the downfall of the government of Ireland in December 1994.
Born John Gerard Smyth, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Smyth, upon joining the Norbertine Roman Catholic religious order in 1945, changed his name to Brendan. The Norbertines, also known as the "Premonstratensians," were aware of Smyth's crimes as early as the late 1940s, yet they did not report him to either the Garda Síochána or the Royal Ulster Constabulary. Smyth was moved from parish to parish and between dioceses and countries whenever allegations were made. In some cases, the order did not inform the diocesan bishop that Smyth had a history of sexual abuse and should be kept away from children. He abused children in parishes in Rhode Island and North Dakota in the US and was suspected of similar actions while on pastoral work in Wales and Italy. Norbertine Father Bruno Mulvihill made several attempts to alert church authorities about the abuse committed by Smyth.