| OCR Text |
Show ST. BRENDAN AND FAIR GOD Irish Encampment in Greenland Wonderful Won-derful Library in ParisValue of Old Manuscripts Fortunes Pledged to Secure Their Return General But-terfield But-terfield Gets Access to the National Library of France His Research Regarding Re-garding St. Brendan's Voyage His Letter to Be Published. (Foreign Correspondence of Intermountain Catholic.) We now enter upon the examination of the claim of the Irish bards to the priority of right of discovery dis-covery of America for St. Brendan, and my own contention of his identification with the Fair God of the Mexicans and Mayas. Tho history and tradition tra-dition of Xorwegian exploration in the eleventh century, it is well known to every student of Scandinavian Scan-dinavian literature, .assumes the ocean voyage of Brendan to have been a reality. The Earl of Duf-ferin Duf-ferin in his work, "High Latitudes," tells U3 that the Xorsemen found the remains of an Irih encampment en-campment in Greenland. Prince Henry, the Portuguese Portu-guese explorer and princely patron of daring adventure ad-venture in the fifteenth century, fitted out at his own expense an expedition to continue the explora-tions explora-tions of St. Brendan and to search for the land discovered dis-covered by him. Let us now approach the documentary proofs of the actuality of the famous ocean voyage and the ! reasonable probability that the sailor-abbott reached America centuries before Lief Erickson visited the coast of Massachusetts. On my return to Paris from Egypt in 1831, I was a frequent visitor to Bibliotheque Xationale (the national library of France), where I made the acquaintance of Major: General Butterfield. The brave soldier and ditin-guished ditin-guished American, though neither of Irish descent nor a Catholic, was searching for information on the famous voyage of St. Brendan. By way of elucidation I may here say it is not every one who can get access to the manuscripts which are treasured treas-ured and rather exclusively reserved in the Bibliotheque Biblio-theque Xationale. If you are not personally acquainted ac-quainted witli some of the higher officials of the library, or intrude upon the chief librarian without letters of introduction from the ambassador or consul con-sul of your country, you are likely to fail in your expectations. And now a word as to the history of that marvel of book, pamphlet and manuscript repository, the Bibliotheque Xationale of Paris. To those unfamiliar unfa-miliar with the history and character of this wonderful won-derful cemetery of the thoughts, speculations, reasonings rea-sonings and intellectual industry of the scholars of the world, it will be interesting to learn that so intimately inti-mately identified is the institution with the political life of France that when the form of government changes, the library, like the young girl who becomes be-comes a wife, also changes its nam1. In the past it was known as the library of the king, the Royal, the Imperial and now the Xationale. King Pepin le Bref, son of King Charles, the "Hammer of France." away back in 750 A. D., wa3 the first collector of books and manuscripts which are today i possession of this library. Thus it i3 almost 1.300 years of age. The comparatively mod- j em building is arranged in the best possible manner and fireproof. The collection in H90 numbered 3,300.000 volumes. And now let us return to the General. As I was fairly well acquainted with the Chevalier Ledru j Casgrain, the assistant librarian. I was able to obtain ob-tain for General Butterfield daily access to the department de-partment des archives, where, under the vigilant ! eye of a courteous official, the manuscripts might be consulted. But. as the decipherment of those old Latin manuscripts taxed the ingenuity of the General Gen-eral severely, I recommended and introduced to him i a gentleman thoroughly competent in every way to read and copy ancient manuscripts. The reading of these priceless parchments and the modernizing of O their quaint and very often provincial latinity is an art that may onlv be acquired by patient and persistent per-sistent study. To the monks of the early middle I ages the scholars of the world are indebted for much of our classical and sacred literature. But for them our ancient classics would probably have perished. Many, we know, have perished; many we j possess are but fragments,' while others have had a I narrow escape from total annihilation. I TRICE OF MAXUSCRIPTS. J The unassessed value of manuscripts may be ? understood when we learn that in times past estates ) (Continued on page 5.) ST. BRENDAN AND FAIR GOD. (Continued from page 1.) have been exchanged for manuscripts; or hundreds of crowns left in pawn for the loan of one libretto. There were centuries when even the sale or loan of a manuscript was considered of such importance as to have been solemnly registered in public acts. Great and powerful as was Louis XL, king of. France, ho could not borrow the manuscript of Rasis. an Arabian writer, from the library of the faculty of Paris, without pledging a hundred golden crowns. For the loan of a volume of Aviccnmi, a baron offered to the library a pledge of five thousand thou-sand dollars, which was refused, because it was not considered sufficient to cover the risk incurred in allowing the book (written by hand) out of the library. li-brary. This was in 1471, fifty years after a Countess Coun-tess of Anjou bought a manuscript of sermons for two hundred sheep, ninety skins of martins and eighty bushels of wheat and rye. T have digressed from my beaten path leading to the. history of the voyage of Brendan that you may understand the extreue vigilance of the custodians custo-dians of tho National Library when ancient manuscripts manu-scripts are asked for, even by men of the responsibility responsi-bility and standing of General Butterficld. When I returned to my hotel after introducing the translator to the General, I found a telegram on my desk calling me to London on urgent business. busi-ness. I wrote a brief note to the General, expressing express-ing my regret that I would not be able to call upon him and in person say "good-bye," or, as the French have it, "au revoir." I gave him my address in London, requesting also that he would favor me with the result of his examination into the St. Brendan manuscripts. I fortunately have a copy of General Butterfield's letter with me, which I will mail you for publication next week. It will establish a probable and reasonable supposition that Quetzelcoatli the Fair God of the Mexicans and St. Brendcn are one and the same person. Irapuatofi Mexico. ' |
