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Founded January 9, 1898
Re-Established November 1, 2016
Re-Organized November 27, 2018
St. Brendan - Morning Star Council No. 294 has its roots in some of the earliest days of the Columbian experience in Brooklyn.
Established in 1898, in the Cobble Hill - Downtown Brooklyn area, after many years of service to the community and to the Church, Morning Star Council No. 294 had, like so many other Brooklyn traditions, fallen into a state of inactivity.
Fortunately, resilience is another Brooklyn tradition, and in 2016, a group of men from St. Brendan's Church, in the Midwood neighborhood, began the effort to revive Council No. 294. As part of this work, they chose to honor their parish patron, leading to the co-naming of the council as "St. Brendan - Morning Star".
Who was "St. Brendan"?
Born in Tralee, County Kerry, in 484, Brendan was ordained a priest at age 26, whereupon he began to establish a series of monasteries. He is most famous for the eggressio familiae Sancti Brendani, the Voyage of St. Brendan and his Companions, a seven-year journey in which Brendan sought the Isle of the Blessed, which he referred to as Tír na nÓg, taking the name from the realm of the faeries in Celtic mythology. Upon his return, he continued to establish monasteries, the largest being at Clonfert, County Galway, as well as the Bishopric of Ardfert (now constituted as the Diocese of Kerry). He died in 577 in Annaghdown, County Galway.
Although there are those who scoff at Brendan's voyage as being purely legend, modern scholars have determined that there is a possibility of such a voyage having occurred. One such enterprising individual even went so far as to recreate the Brendan Voyage, using the means and materials which would have been available in the early 6th Century, and successfully journeyed from Ireland to Newfoundland, reporting that he had seen many of the sights which Brendan was supposed to have seen.
It is, therefore, entirely plausible - and indeed, some might say probable - that St. Brendan was the first European to land on the North American continent, some 500 years before Lief Erickson, and roughly 1000 years before Christopher Columbus. (We of course hold this to be definite, but we admit, we're slightly biased on the topic... )
As it is a point of fact that Christopher Columbus had studied, among other texts, the Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis (Voyage of St. Brendan the Abbot), prior to his famed voyage of 1492, it is eminently appropriate that these two men should be further linked by Council No. 294.
What's a "Morning Star"?
Interestingly, there are multiple figures in Christianity to whom the appellation "Morning Star" has been applied...
The Litany of Loreto describes the Blessed Virgin Mary as the Morning Star (Stella Matutina)
In the Byzantine traditions, St. John the Baptist is described as a "bright morning star", outshining the brilliance of the other stars and announcing the coming dawn of the day of grace, illuminated by the light of Christ.
In the Exultet, the Easter Proclamation sung at the Easter Vigil, Jesus Christ is described as "... the bright morning star that never sets..." This continues on a theme from the Book of Revelation, in which Christ describes Himself as "... the root and offspring of David, the bright morning star" (Rev. 22:16). St. Bede the Venerable takes his cue from this as well, declaring:
CHRIST is the Morning Star, who, when the night of this world is past, gives to his saints the promise of the light of life, and opens everlasting day.
Our Charter
A Charter is what gives an organization the right to exist, and lays out the purpose for that existence. At a special ceremony on November 10, 2019, St. Brendan - Morning Star Council No. 294 was formally presented with its revised charter, acknowledging both its history as Morning Star Council No. 294, and its future as St. Brendan - Morning Star Council No. 294.
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Supreme Council - Knights of Columbus
To whom it may concern - Greeting:
Whereas, it having been made known to the Officers of the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus that a sufficient number of eligible men residing in the city of Brooklyn in New York have duly petitioned that they be granted a charter and authorized to organize and maintain a Council of the Knights of Columbus within said city and it appearing to be for the benefit of said Knights of Columbus that their petition be granted:
Therefore be it known that the duly authorized Officers of the Knights of Columbus by and with the consent of said Supreme Council hereby authorize and direct the following named gentlemen to assemble and work as a regularly constituted Council of the Knights of Columbus to be designated by the name
St. Brendan - Morning Star Council No. 294
Reorganized Council No. 294 - November 27, 2018
And we do hereby grant to said Brothers aforesaid to receive members and perform all work of the Knights of Columbus agreeable to the usages of the Knights of Columbus, to exact from their members such fees as they shall judge necessary for the support of the Council, and the regular payments of all legal dues and assessments and to observe with due respect all ordinances emanating from the Supreme Council of the Knights of Columbus.
In testimony Whereof we have hereunto affixed our names under the seal of the Supreme Council.
Given this Ninth day of January 1898.
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