Saint Iarlaithe mac Loga

Iarlaithe mac Loga , also known as Jarlath , was an Irish priest and scholar from Connacht, remembered as the founder of the monastic School of Tuam and of the Archdiocese of Tuam, of which he is the patron saint. No medieval biography of Jarlath is extant, but sources for his life and cult include genealogies, martyrologies, the Irish Lives of St Brendan of Clonfert, and a biography compiled by John Colgan in the 17th century. The Irish genealogies record the existence of two saints named Jarlath: Jarlath son of Lugh (Iarlaithe m. Loga), founder of Tuam, and Jarlath son of Trian (Iarlaithe m. Trena), bishop of Armagh. Jarlath of Tuam is said to have belonged to the Conmhaícne, who ruled over the greater part of what would become the parish of Tuam. The other saint is said to have belonged to the Dál Fiatach in east Ulster. He (which one?) is identified as the third Bishop of Armagh, that is after Patrick's heir Benignus and the Annals of Ulster and Innisfallen record his death in the year 481. In the two Irish Lives of Brendan, possibly of the 12th century, Jarlath is called a son of Lug, son of Trén, son of Fiacc, son of Mochta, and the First Life in the Book of Lismore continues the pedigree by calling Mochta a son of Bresal, son of Siracht, son of Fiacha the Fair. Both Lives substitute Imchada for Mochta and on this basis, Séamus Mac Mathúna argues that they go back to an original which conflates the genealogy of Iarlaithe mac Loga with that of his namesake in Armagh. Dónall Mac Giolla Easpaig suggests that the saints could refer to one and the same person: Jarlath appears briefly as a prominent figure in the medieval Irish Lives of Brendan of Clonfert. Brendan is said to have visited Connacht to study under the famous Jarlath.