Bricc (Briccín da Beccóg)

Bricc (Briccín da Beccóg) (fl. 7th cent.), associated with Túaim Drecain (Tomregan, Co. Cavan), was a descendant of Ailill Ólom (qv), ancestral figure of the Éoganachta of Munster, according to late genealogies. At the time of the battle of Mag Raith (Moira, near Lisburn, Co. Down) c.637, he was a surgeon and priest and, according to the saga of that battle and other sources, he nursed Cenn-fáelad (qv) (d. 679), king of Tara, back to health following a serious head injury. He was also the head of the monastic school of Túaim Drecain, which may have had associations with Armagh. There is no extant Life of Bricc, but he is mentioned in two late and somewhat fabulous saints’ Lives, those of Caillín (qv) of Fenagh and Naile of Kinawley. He is also included among the second order of saints in ‘Catalogus sanctorum Hiberniae’. There are sufficient references to him in early sources, as well as in (now lost) local tradition in Fermanagh, Leitrim, and Cavan, to indicate that he was an historical person. It is likely that he died towards the middle of the seventh century. His name and feast-day are frequently confused with those of other saints; his correct feast-day is 9 May.