Born c. 445 at Connaught. Died c. 540. Irish nobility. Having studied
under St. Benen (Benignus), he founded a monastery and college at
Cloonfush, near Tuam, which soon attracted scholars from all parts of
Ireland. The fame of Cloonfush is sufficiently attested by two of its
pupils, St. Brendan of Ardfert, and St. Colman of Cloyne. But, great
teacher as he was, he went, through humility, to avail himself of the
instruction of St. Enda at Arran about 495. He removed to Tuam about the
second decade of sixth century. St. Jarlath is included in the second
order of Irish saints, and on that account he must have lived to the
year 540. The "Felire" of Aengus tells us that he was noted for his
fasting, watching, and mortification. Three hundred times by day and
three hundred times by night did this saint bend the knee in prayer, and
he was also endowed with the gift of prophecy. His feast is kept on 6
June, being the date of the translation of his relics to a church
specially built in his
honour, adjoining the cathedral of Tuam. His remains were encased in a
silver shrine, whence the church--built in the thirteenth century--was
called Teampul na scrin, that is the church of the shrine.