The second in Michael Carroll's series The Celtic Saints, SAINT BRENDAN is depicted standing at the bow of his vessel, which is based on Severin's boat. Though under full sail, his monks man the oars, just in case. The ship is afloat on a wave of spirals, and fills the center of the initial B which begins the saint's name. The knotwork-filled letter N spills into the border, which wraps around the panel depicting St. Brendan's crew.

This artwork is an original design, not copied from the ancients, each hand printed and painted in gouache by the artist onto hand-aged parchment paper. Within the limited edition of 250 total prints, the artist is offering SAINT BRENDAN in three color schemes: red, blue and green. At the end of the print run, the screen will be destroyed  and no further prints of this artwork will be issued.

Blue Version

BRENDAN THE NAVIGATOR St.Brendan (484?-577 AD) is famous as the Navigator, for that he was. His nautical adventures were celebrated in the eleventh century book Navigatio Brendani, which is the earliest surviving account. But he became a saint for another reason: he was a founder of monasteries. Verifiable facts about the man himself are few, but he was a contemporary and friend of Columba and Brigid, studied under the abbess St. Ida and later St. Erc, and was ordained a priest around the year 512. From then until 530, Brendan established a series of monastic cells in Kerry and founded the monastery of Ardfert. His greatest accomplishment was the founding of Clonfert monastery in Galway, which became a major center of  learning, culture and missionary work.

About the year 563, he took a dozen or so monks and set out to sea in a handmade, skin-covered boat. The Navigatio recounts their adventures as they visit a series of islands,  heading west with the setting sun. After encounters with sea monsters, whales, stormy weather and strange apparitions such as a crystal pillar stretching from sea to sky, Brendan and his faithful followers make landfall on a beautiful shore, a vast land of lush vegetation and game aplenty. But God calls Brendan to return home and so they must leave this wonderful new island unexplored.