St. Brendan the Navigator (c. 486- c. 578), also known as St. Brendan of Clonfert, is perhaps best known as the subject of the fictionalized romance Navigato Sancti Brendani (Brendan's Voyage), which according to the Clonfert-Monastic Settlement in Galway website, was "written by an Irish monk in the ninth or tenth century and describes the seven year voyage of Saint Brendan."

Navigato Sancti Brendani depicts St. Brendan as an explorer who discovers a land widely believed to be a representation of North America before the Norse Vikings, Amerigo Vespuci, or Christopher Columbus ever set foot on the continent. The seven-year voyage to locate the legendary island--alternately referred to as the Island of the Saints, Land of Delight, or Land of Promise--occurred while Brendan was older than 80 and features meetings with St. Patrick (who died in the century preceding Brendan's birth) and Judas Iscariot, betrayer of Jesus Christ. The tale...