Wikipedia

St Jarlath's College

St Jarlath's College (Irish: Coláiste Iarfhlatha) is a Catholic co-educational secondary school in Tuam, County Galway. The college was founded in 1800 and in 2009 absorbed St. Patrick's College, Tuam.[1] The College, which operates under patronage of the Archbishop of Tuam, is named after Jarlath, or Iarlaith, who founded a monastery in the town when, as legend has it, his chariot wheel broke. As of 2024, the enrolment was 625.[2]

St Jarlath's College
St Jarlath's College, founded in 1800
Location
Tuam, County Galway
Information
TypeSecondary school
MottoVeni lumen cordium
Religious affiliation(s)Christianity (Catholic)
Established1801; 223 years ago (1801)
(Amalgamated 2009)
PresidentJohn Kelly
Faculty43
Enrollment625
Websitehttp://www.jarlaths.ie/

History

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Pre-amalgamation crest of St Jarlath's College, in use until 2009

Foundation

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The original St Jarlath's College was founded in 1800 by the Archbishop of Tuam Edward Dillon, with the aim of preparing young boys for seminars formation at St Patrick's College, Maynooth. Dr Dillon had to seek permission to establish the college from the Protestant Archbishop of Tuam, Dr Beresford. It began with two thatched cottages at the Mall, Tuam later moving to a new building in Bishop Street, now commonly known as "the Old College".[3]

Its first president was Rev Oliver Kelly, who later became Archbishop of Tuam. In 1824, the facilities of the College were enlarged by the erection of additional houses in Bishop Street and in 1856, the site of the present college and grounds was bought by Archbishop John McHale. This property was known as Keighrey's Park and a portion of it was used as the town's fair green. McHale continued to set it as a fair green to the town commissioners at a yearly rent of 30 until 1875 in which year the college was extensively enlarged by the addition of two wings to the first building which had been erected in 1858.[4]

In 1851, Archbishop John McHale invited the Congregation of Christian Brothers to Tuam. The invitation resulted in the birth of Tuam CBS, and later St Patrick's College, a Catholic day secondary school, which was to play a not insignificant role in the education of young men from the lower orders in Tuam.[5]

Amalgamation

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St Jarlath's College (2008)

Plans to amalgamate St Patrick's And St Jarlath’s colleges had first been suggested in the late 1990s. At that time, a new school building had been promised by the Government. However, no such building materialised. The phasing out of boarding in St Jarlath's led to a reduced enrolment.

In March 2008, Archbishop Michael Neary (bishop), a trustee of both schools, announced to staff that the amalgamation would proceed in the absence of a new school building. The amalgamation process commenced in September 2008 with enrollment of all first year students in St Jarlath's. The process was completed in September 2009 when students from both schools amalgamated into the new school, in the old St Jarlath's building.

Opera

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Starting with The Mikado in 1944, the college's Amateur Operatic Society has performed a yearly musical or opera for the local community. The 1969 production, The Quaker Girl was the first to be held in conjunction with Mercy Convent, Tuam. The 2008 Opera was also in conjunction with St Patrick's College, due to the amalgamation process in progress at the time.[citation needed]

The tradition of the annual Opera was continued following the amalgamation, the 2009 Opera being the first production of the newly amalgamated school. The Opera has been successful[citation needed] in recent years[when?] in the Connacht Tribune organised musical awards, winning a Best Overall and a Best Chorus award in 2008 for Hot Mikado.[citation needed]

Sport

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The St Jarlath's College's senior football team hold the prestigious record of winning the Hogan Cup 12 times – the first time in 1947 [6] - more than any other school, and have also been runners-up on a further 14 occasions. The college also holds the record for winning the most Connacht Colleges Senior Football Championships, with an outstanding 49 wins.

Since amalgamation, the school has won three Connacht Senior titles, reaching the Hogan Cup Final in 2011. Under the management of Joe Burke, and captained by Ian Burke from Corofin, the school narrowly lost out to St Colman's College, Newry by just one point.

Sporting honours

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Notable staff

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Selected past pupils

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See also: Category:People educated at St Jarlath's College

Presidents

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St. Jarlath's College

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Name From To
Very Rev. Oliver Kelly (later Archbishop of Tuam) 1800 1806
Very Rev. Paul McGreal 1806 1817
Very Rev. James MacHale 1817 1821
Very Rev. Thomas Feeney 1821 1831
Very Rev. Martin Brown 1831 1837
Very Rev. James Ronan 1837 1838
Very Rev. William Cullinane 1838 1842
Very Rev. John Flanelly 1842 1845
Very Rev. Anthony Regan 1845 1849
Very Rev. Peter Reynolds 1849 1852
Very Rev. John McEvilly (later Archbishop of Tuam) 1852 1857
Very Rev. Patrick O’Brien 1857 1865
Very Rev. Ulick Bourke 1865 1878
Very Rev. Patrick Kilkenny 1878 1888
Very Rev. Michael O'Connell 1888 1893
Very Rev. John Fallon 1893 1898
Very Rev. Michael McHugh 1898 1903
Very Rev. Michael Higgins 1903 1910
Very Rev. Michael Conroy 1910 1915
Very Rev. Alex Eaton 1915 1923
Very Rev. Denis Ryder 1923 1928
Very Rev. Joseph Walsh (later Archbishop of Tuam) 1923 1940
Very Rev. Tim Gunnigan 1940 1947
Very Rev. Conor Heaney 1947 1961
Very Rev. Michael Mooney 1961 1971
Very Rev. Michael Walsh 1971 1977
Very Rev. Thomas Waldron 1977 1986
Very Rev. Dermot Maloney 1986 1994
Very Rev. Oliver Hughes 1994 2003
Very Rev. Conal Eustace 2003 2008

St Jarlath's College (post-amalgamation)

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Name From To
Very Rev. Brendan Kilcoyne 2008 2013
Mr. John Kelly 2013 -

References

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  1. ^ "St. Jarlath's history".
  2. ^ "St. Jarlaths College". Department of Education. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
  3. ^ "St. Jarlath's history".
  4. ^ "Tuam Schools in the Nineteenth Century". Places.galwaylibrary.ie. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
  5. ^ "St. Jarlaths College | Boys Secondary School, Tuam, Co. Galway". Jarlaths.ie. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
  6. ^ "Jarlaths Tuam County Galway St Jarlaths College Tuam Schools Tuam".
  7. ^ Melvin, John (8 May 2020). "Death of former Mayo footballer Fr. J.J. Cribbin". The Connaught Telegraph. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
  8. ^ "elaine-feeney". RCW Literary Agency. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  9. ^ "Some of the New Staff Members in SJC". 17 November 2011. Archived from the original on 8 February 2019.
  10. ^ Donoghue, Eamon (23 January 2015). "Schools GAA: Michael Meehan sparking St Jarlath's revival as tradition dies hard". The Irish Times. Today Meehan is back where it all began, teaching, managing and helping St Jarlath's adapt to a very different Hogan Cup landscape, made all the harder for them since 2006 when they ended the option for pupils to board in the school... In his third year teaching maths in the school, Meehan is also managing the school's junior footballers, having moved up from managing the first years for the previous two years.
  11. ^ "Mayo GAA mourn death of former footballer Fr JJ Cribbin". Hogan Stand. 10 May 2020. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
  12. ^ Moran, Seán (11 April 2020). "Finishers: How the evolution of substitutes has changed Gaelic football". The Irish Times. Kevin McStay, former Roscommon manager and a football analyst with this newspaper, remembers the past when he began playing in the 1970s and things were simpler and more clear cut... 'when I was at school in St Jarlath's I was on a team that never played subs. It wasn't until the end of my time there in the late 1970s that Jarlath's started using subs.

Further reading

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  • Cunningham, John (1999). St Jarlath's College, Tuam, 1800 - 2000. SJC Publications. ISBN 978-0-9536978-0-9.
  • Jordan Anthony, J. (2008). The Good Samaritans - Memoir of a Biographer. Westport Books. ISBN 978-0-9524447-5-6.
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