Frederick Buechner has a knack for knocking haiographic saints off their high perch yet somehow revealing them as even more holy in the process. Brendan follows the path of his earlier novel, Godic, chronicling the adventures of a person who would later be remembered as a saint: Brendan, son of Finnloag of the fifth century.

The tale’s set in Ireland with Saint Patrick still in living memory. Brendan facilitated the rise of Christian rulers, founded monasteries, and searched the seas for Tir-na-n-Og—better known as Paradise. Fun historical fact: some historians suggest that Brendan actually made it to Florida! Paradise indeed.

Buechner’s Brendan has all the foibles expected of humans. Brendan’s guilt over the accidental death of a fellow monk after a rash word paired with the inadvertent salvation of thorn-in-the-flesh Malo makes Brendan’s character tangible to the reader.

This book has plenty of Buechner’s understated turn-of-phrase that reveals truth in a way that stops you in your tracks. There’s a scene where a female sailor dressed like a man is exposed and the fellow monks all start praising God for what they believe to be a strange sex-change miracle! Listen to how the narrator marks that moment as Maeve and Brendan (who was in on the ruse) embrace:

It was the greatest wonder of them all that day. To my mind it was the holiest as well but the brothers was all too busy praising God to mark it. (Buechner, Brendan, 192)

May we not be too busy praising God to see him in the absurdity of our day-to-day lives.

Buechner, Frederick. Brendan. HarperOne, 1987.