Brendan of Birr

Background In early Christian Ireland the druid tradition collapsed under the pressure of the new faith. Study of Latin learning and Christian theology in monasteries flourished. Brendan became a pupil at the monastic school at Clonard Abbey. During the sixth century, some of the most significant names in the history of Irish Christianity studied at the Clonard monastery. It is said that the average number of scholars under instruction at Clonard was 3,000. Twelve students who studied under Finian became known as the Twelve Apostles of Ireland; Brendan of Birr was one of these.

Life Brendan of Birr is said to have been of a noble Munster family. It was at Clonard that Brendan became a friend and companion of Ciarán of Saigir and Brendan of Clonfert. in central Ireland in about 540, serving as its abbot. He emerges from early Irish writings as a man of generous hospitality with a reputation for sanctity and spirituality who was an intuitive judge of character.

The feast day of Brendan of Birr is 29 November.

Brendan's monastery at Birr was later to produce the MacRegol Gospels, which are now housed at the Bodleian Library in Oxford.