Brian Rua O’Cearbhain

Brian Rua is a well-known 17th century Errisman. He is remembered as the prophet of Erris

Erris

Erris is a barony in northwestern County Mayo in Ireland consisting of over , much of which is mountainous blanket bog. It has extensive sea coasts along its west and north boundaries. The main towns are Belmullet and Bangor Erris. The name Erris derives from the Irish 'Iar Ros' meaning 'western...

, a large Barony in the north west of County Mayo. Papers relating to the life and the prophecies of Brian Rua, known collectively as "Tarngaireacht Brian Ruadh" were destroyed, apparently by his own son, who lost his temper with his father when the two had one of their regular disagreements.

Brian Rua lived in the parish of Kilcommon

Kilcommon

Kilcommon is a civil parish in Erris, north Mayo consisting of two large peninsulas; Dún Chaocháin and Dún Chiortáin. It consists of 37 townlands, some of which are so remote that they have no inhabitants...

 in the townland of Inver. Believed to have been born around the year 1648, the story of Brian Rua is known by every person, man, woman and child in Kilcommon parish into this 21st century. Passed down through the mouths of the people through successive generations from the 17th century, in 1906 a renowned Celtic scholar called Michael Timoney from Lahardane

Lahardane

Lahardane is a small village in the parish of Addergoole County Mayo, Ireland, adjacent to Lough Conn and to Nephin, and close to the towns of Crossmolina, Castlebar and Ballina...

 set out collect the story of Brian Rua and publish it, so that it would not be forgotten. The stories were carried down the generations in the Irish language

Irish language

Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...

 and published in that language. In 2000, as part of the Millennium Project

Millennium Project

The Millennium Project is an independent international think tank with 40 "nodes" around the world that gathers and accesses information on futures studies that produces the annual State of the Future report since 1997 and the Futures Research Methodology series Versions 1-3.The Project was formed...

, the story was translated into English and published as part of the book 'Traditional Cures and Gifted People' by Philomena Cronin.