Panel: SKELLIG VERSUS ROME: THE MEDIEVAL IRISH CHURCH'S INVOLVEMENT WITHIN THE EUROPEAN CHURCH, SOCIETY AND CULTURE



741.4 - DIVERSE PARADISES IN THE ST BRENDAN LEGEND

AUTHORS:
Wooding J.M. (The University of Sydney ~ Sydney ~ United Kingdom)
Text:
In the best-known version of his voyage-legend, the Navigatio S. Brendani abbatis, St Brendan journeys through the ocean to a Terra repromissionis sanctorum ('Promised Land of the Saints'), which is an 'interim paradise' based on Rev. 20:4-7. The, less well-known, Life of St Brendan (Vita S. Brendani), takes its protagonists to a similar, but not identical, promised land, via another paradise island where they are denied entry by invisible denizens, who cite the biblical precept (John 14:2) that there are 'many rooms' in God's house. In this paper I will consider the implications of this motif for the meaning of the legend and its vision for salvation.