Ciarán of Clonmacnoise

Ciarán mac an tSaeir, born near Roscommon in 516 to a carpenter father, became the first abbot of Clonmacnoise after studying under Finian and Enda of Aran. He founded the monastery in 544 with ten companions, working personally on its earliest buildings before dying of plague seven months later in his early thirties. Columba of Iona later called him a lamp blazing with the light of wisdom, preserving the memory of a young man who carried charity and discipline to the heart of Ireland.