26.8–14

The island is small, round, and bare (like a loaf of bread).  The landing place is barely wide enough to take the prow of the ship (like the place in a loaf of bread when a wedge has been cut out).  It is not easy to disembark.  Brendan tells the monks to wait in the boat until the local holy man gives them permission to come on shore.  Brendan goes off and finds two caves, facing a small spring.

[8] nimis rotunda illa īnsula: the roundness of the island suggests a loaf of bread shared at Holy Communion.  Jerome tells us that when Antony visited Paul each hermit was reluctant to take the first piece (Life of St. Paul of Thebes 11).

quasi ūnīus stadiī: the circumference of the island was only about a 1/8 of a mile.

[9] Dē terrā: “of earth," "of soil.”

petra nūda: the “rock” is a famous symbol for Christ and the church.

tantae altitūdinis: = tantum (erat) altitūdinis. The island was as tall as it was wide.

[10] invēnērunt ... potuisset: = invēnērunt portum ita strictum ut prōram nāviculae vix capere potuisset. Compare Matthew 7.14: “How narrow is the gate (Quam angusta porta) and straight is the way that leadeth to life, and few there are that find it!” The sharp incision into the bread-like island may reflect a now defunct part of the ritual of Holy Communion: a slice of the loaf was cut out and inserted into the chalice of wine, commemorating the spear wound inflicted on Christ by the Roman soldier Longinus; the blood from Jesus’ wound was seen as the purifying blood of salvation.

ascēnsum difficillimum ad ascendendum: but the landing was not as difficult as on the Island of Ailbe (ch. 12), perhaps reflecting spiritual progress.

[13] duās spēluncās: In Jerome’s account, Paul of Thebes had only a single cave.  The second cave here suggests that Brendan’s visit was preordained, and underscores that there are now two holy men present.  It may also reflect a responsory (song) called "Domine Audivi," sung on Good Friday at the moment of Christ’s death: “Christ will be known between two living creatures” (in medio duorum innotesceris animalium).

[14] fontem parvissimum: the water brought out of the by Moses in the desert was identified by St. Paul (the Apostle) with the spiritual sustenance from the rock that is Christ (First Corinthians 10.1-4).

rotundum in modum patulae: the spring is like the paten used at Holy Communion. Its roundness suggests a loaf of bread, especially that central to Holy Communion, and the one shared so famously by St. Antony and Paul of Thebes.

ubi surgēbat praedictus fōns, statim petra sorbēbat illum: the spring is therefore “living water”; compare John 7:37-3: “And on the last and great day of the festivity Jesus stood and cried, saying, ‘If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink.’”