Page 17 - ModernParadiseFLIPBOOKcomplete

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monastery has been built with “an Oratory”. Another has “a vast hall well furnished

with seats and couches. The walls were hung with vases of various types of metal and
bridles and drinking horns chased with silver.” Brendan and his party visit many
islands: the “Island of Delights” where they’re told about another, “the Land of
Promise of the Saints”. Brendan is told “you are living before the Gates of Paradise”
“God’s Paradise over the sea”. They encounter “streams teeming with fish”
“enormous sheep” and “an island called the Paradise of Birds”.

The Northern seas can be challenging. “Clouds came down and covered us on all

sides so completely we could scarce make out the prow or the stern of the vessel but
after we had sailed an hour or two a brilliant light shone round us”. For three months
“foul weather at sea – heavy rain and hail storms – kept them from putting out”.
There are practical details about boat-building and seafaring: “Brendan and his
companions made a coracle using iron tools. The ribs and frame were of wood, as is
the custom in those parts, and the covering was tanned ox-hide stretched over oak
bark. They greased all the seams on the outer surface of the skins with fat and stored

away spare skins inside the coracle, together with 40 days’ supplies, fat for
waterproofing the skins, tools and utensils. A mast, a sail and various pieces of
equipment for steering were fitted into the vessel. “

Seafaring is also described: “Brendan commanded his brethren to go aboard. Then he
stepped aboard, the sails were hoisted and they set off toward the summer solstice.
The wind was fair and they needed to do no more than steady the sails. After fifteen
days’ sailing the wind fell and they rowed and rowed until their strength failed. From

time to time the wind would fill their sails. Forty days passed and they found
themselves without food.” They carried “flasks and leather water bottles” and trusted
to God to take them where they needed to go: “They sailed out into the open sea
where they refreshed themselves with food and drink every two days while their
barque was borne hither and thither over the face of the deep”. Several times they
“sailed for three months” “all the while they had nothing to look at but the sea and

the sky” and were “completely exhausted”. On landing they “jumped into the
shallows and fixed ropes to either side of the boat to drag it in to the shore”.

The dramatic force of the account lies in the many marvels they saw.
“A man appeared surrounded by an aura of shining light”
“From the very beginning of time it has remained exactly as you see it now”; people
“never felt the need for sleep” or “for tasting food or drink” “for it has been daylight
al the time” “Here there is no obscuring darkness but only perpetual day, the Lord
Jesus Christ being Himself our light”. Visitors returning note the “sweet smell of

[their] garments”