Malo (saint) - Voyages With Saint Brendan

Voyages With Saint Brendan

Malo is said to have been baptized by Saint Brendan and to have become his favourite disciple. However, serious doubt has been cast on the authenticity of this section of his life. He is said to have been one of those specially selected by that holy man for his oft-described voyage.

It was traditionally from Llancarfan Abbey that Saint Brendan and his disciple, Malo, with numerous companions set forth for the discovery of the "Island of the Blest". He then put to sea on a second voyage and visited the Island of Cézembre, in the seaward front of St Malo, where he tarried for some time. Supposedly, Maclovius was a dead giant, who Brendan revived with his holiness. Brendan than baptized him, before allowing him to return to being dead. It was supposedly on the occasion of his second voyage that he evangelized the Orkney Islands and the northern isles of Scotland. It is remarkable that Saint Brendan also laboured at Cézembre where he is said to have had a hermit's cell on a precipitous rock in the sea, whither he often retired. This may be the derivation of the association between the two men, although Baring-Gould suggested that, in this case, Brendan is a mistake for Branwaladr.