Bricin of Tomregan

Venerable Bricin of Tomregan was an Irish abbot of the monastery of Tuaim Dreccon in the territory of Breifne, today Tomregan in County Cavan. According to tradition he lived from about 590 to 650 and was known as a scholar and a healer.

The best-⁠known event of his life is tied to the battle of Magh Rath in 636. The nobleman Cenn Fáelad, gravely wounded in the head, was brought to Tomregan, where Bricin operated on him. During his convalescence at the monastic school Cenn Fáelad gained a perfect memory and gave himself to study; later he wrote works on law, grammar and history. A Romanesque carving in the medieval church of Tomregan showed this operation.

Bricin's name also appears in the Book of Fenagh, as a companion of Saint Caillin, and in the Life of Saint Naile of Kinawley. His veneration grew from the voice of the faithful, without a synodal decree; he is a saint of the undivided Church, honoured locally. The Irish calendars give two days: 9 May in the Martyrology of Tallaght and 5 September in the Félire Óengusso, the second being thought a copyist's slip (9/5 read as 5/9). His memory lives on in the place-⁠name Slievebrickan, "Bricin's mountain".