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Editions

• K. Meyer (ed.), 'Aided Bresail' ZCP 7 (1910) 305-7.
• J. O'Donovan, The Martyrology of Donegal: A Calendar of the Saints of Ireland (Dublin 1864).
• A. O'Sullivan (ed.) The Book of Leinster. Vol. VI (Dublin 1983) 1612.
• W. Stokes (ed. & tr.), Lives of Saints from the Book of Lismore (Oxford 1890) xxvii-xxviii.
• D. Wiley (tr.), 'Stories about Díarmait mac Cerbaill from the Book of Lismore' Emania 19 (2002) 53-59.
• ????? Études Celtique 2 (1937) 269-72.
• A new edition and translation of this text by D. Wiley is forthcoming.

Manuscripts

• The Book of Lismore (as part of Aided Díarmata meic Cerbaill (2))
• T.C.D. H. 5. 10 (1382)
• Franciscan Convent, Dublin MS A. 9, p. 39.
• Franciscan Library, Killiney, MS A 3 , p. 4 (= a fragment of the Book of Leinster)
• Maynooth, M17, p. 354 (in a copy of Aided Díarmata meic Cerbaill (2))
• Maynooth, M74, p. 214
• R.I.A., 23 G 25 (258) (appears to be in a copy of Aided Díarmata meic Cerbaill (2))
• R.I.A., 3 B 10 (260) p. 167 (appears to be in a copy of Aided Díarmata meic Cerbaill (2))
• R.I.A., 24 C 6 (261) p. 86 (in a copy of Aided Díarmata meic Cerbaill (2))
• R.I.A., 23 M 7 (287) p. 399 (appears to be in a copy of Aided Díarmata meic Cerbaill (2))
• R.I.A., 23 O 48 (476), 20 (72) (aka Liber Flavus Fergusiorum)
• R.I.A., 23 H 6 (478) p. 136 (in a copy of Aided Díarmata meic Cerbaill (2))
• R.I.A., B iv 2 (1080) p. 144
• R.I.A., 23 P 3 (1242) p. 11

Date

• No date has been proposed in print, and I hesitate to speculate until I have examined all the extant MSS.

Characters

• Díarmait mac Cerbaill (544-565), king of Tara from the Southern Uí Néill.
• Bressal mac Díarmata
• St. Colum Cille (alias Columba) (d. 597), pilgrim saint from Cenél Conaill (a branch of the Northern Uí Néill) who established an ecclesiastical foundation on Iona.
• St. Becán mac Cúla, an anchorite genealogically connected with the Éoganachta according to one source (CGSH 662.219), but to Dál Cais according to another (Félire Óengusso 112).  In the version incorporated in Aided Díarmata meic Cerbaill (2) he is said to be of the Ulaid.  His feast day is April 5.
• Luchair, a nun living in a church near Kells.

Notes

• This saga belongs to the Cycle of Díarmait mac Cerbaill.
• Keating (Foras Feasa, Pt. III, 66-69) also records a version of the story.  Another is incorporated into Aided Díarmata meic Cerbaill (2).
• The copy in the Book of Leinster appears in the margins of the Martyrology of Tallaght as a gloss on the nones of April (April 5) where Becán is commemorated.
• I've yet to examine all the extant copies of this story, but there seems to be two, possibly three, recensions.
• Stealing the sole cow of poor person was a serious sin.  See Cath Almaine for another example of this motif.
• The historicity of Bressal mac Díarmata is doubtful.  He is not listed in the genealogies and, so far as I know, this is the only text in which he appears.  He is, however, mentioned in a gloss in Félire Óengusso at April 5, which refers to this story.

Summary

In preparing a feast for his father Díarmait, Bressal lacks nothing save “a cow with fat livers” (bó co n-aeib n-ítha).  He finds out that one is in the possession of the nun Luchair, who lives at Cell Egnaig near Kells, but when she refuses to sell him the cow, he steals it and prepares the feast.  However, when the feast is at its height, Luchair appears and tells Díarmait of his son’s crime.  The king is furious that Bressal committed such an outrage in violation of his law and orders that he be put to death.

Soon after the execution, Díarmait begins to feel guilty about the sentence he imposed on his son, and he goes to Colum Cille for help.  The saint tells him to go to Becán of the Ulaid, who dwells on an unnamed island.  When Díarmait and Colum Cille reach the island, Becán calls Díarmait a parricide and tells him to get “beneath the earth,” and at that moment Díarmait sinks into the ground up to his knees.  Colum Cille, however, intervenes and asks Becán to raise Bressal from the dead.  Becán prays three times, each time bringing fifty men named Bressal out of Hell.  Díarmait’s son is raised in the last group.