54 THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



II 



The Historical Background of the Legend 



Irish acta sanctorum — as other — were, as a rule, the production 

 of a monastery which claimed foundation by the particular saint in 

 question, or the possession of his relics, and of an age removed by 

 several generations, or, indeed, several centuries, from the epoch in 

 which he flourished. The extent and survival of the acta serve as an 

 index to the importance of the monastery rather than of the saint. 

 And although genuine historical tradition was usually present, in 

 general the bulk of the matter reflects the age of the composer, not that 

 of the hero. Now Clonfert became one of the great ecclesiastical 

 centres of mediaeval Ireland. Accordingly we find that the legend of 

 Brendan was well developed and his acta comparatively numerous. 



Christianity in early mediaeval Ireland was dominated by monas- 

 tic ideals. The country was organised ecclesiastically into a series of 

 monastic churches and monastic church unions ruled by the successors, 

 the "heirs," of the church founders of the fifth and sixth centuries. 

 The spirit of asceticism pervaded these institutions, and displayed 

 itself in many forms of self -mortification. One of the most general 

 of these penitential practices was that religious exile which is designated 

 in Latin peregrinatio and translated into English as "pilgrimage." 



The "pilgrim" was not, as in modern usage of the word, one 

 who made a journey to sortie definite locality in order to perform 

 certain devotional exercises. The Irish "pilgrim" was a man who, 

 from religious motives, left his home or his native land and went to 

 reside for a period of years or for the rest of his life in another locality 

 or in a foreign land. The command of God to Abraham — "Go forth 

 out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and out of thy father's 

 house, and come into the land which I shall shew thee" ^— was regarded 

 as having an application to Christians, as a counsel of perfection, and, 

 as the call to sacrifice all that the Irish heart held most dear, seems 

 to have exercised a peculiar fascination over the ascetics of the western 

 isle. It is frequently quoted in the literature relating to these ancient 

 religious exiles.^ 



Even in the sixth century men were passing "on pilgrimage" 

 beyond the Irish coasts; in the seventh and eighth centuries this 

 emigration movement grew to vast proportions. Some went east and 

 south — to Britain and the continent; others north and west. Colum- 

 ba's voyage to Scotland and settlement at lona was, there can be 



^ Gen. xii, 1. 



«L. Gougaud Chrétientés Celtiques (Paris, 1911), p. 136, 



