203 



true, these passages might be explained away, but the synod of Saint 

 Patrick gives more distinct intimation of the fact. " Quicunque cle- 

 ricus ab hostiario usque ad sacerdotem sine tunica visus fuerit, et si non 

 more Romano capilli ejus tonsi sint, et uxor ejus si non velato capite 

 ambulaverit, pariter a laicis contemnantur et ab ecclesia separentur." 

 The observance of the tonsure here alluded to, seems, however, to 

 have been soon neglected, and in this mighty matter of discipline, 

 which once engaged the attention of Europe, the Irish priesthood 

 appear to have dissented from the 40th canon of the Council of 

 Toledo.* 



The discipline, which the clergy then observed, they endeavoured 



as much as possible to brin^ into general use. They enjoined pe- 



nance-f* according to the guilt of the sinner ; Saint Patrick says, in 



one of his canons, " if any one is frail let him do penance (agat peni- 



tentiam) even from necessity, for God is merciful;".]: and the position 



is further illustrated by the work of Cumian in the seventh centuiy, 



" De mensura poenitentiarum." They prescribed times and seasons 



for fasting, they inculcated the exemplary benefit of pilgrimages, 



(Tigernach, ad ann. 6lO, mentions the death of a prince in pilgrimage, 



and of another in 723;) they enforced the observance of Easter, but 



at a period considered erroneous by the Roman see, and this variance 



in discipline was the ground of Pope Gregory's Letter in 592, addressed 



" universis'Episcopis per Hiberniam," in which he entreats them, that 



putting down all pride of heart, they should return to their Mother 



Church,^ so much the sooner as they knew they were daily sought by 



* See Stuart's Armagh, p. 623, and Lanigan's Eccl. Hist. vol. 3. p. 68, &c. 



+ See O'Conor's Rer. Hib. Script, vol. 4. p. 71, and Synod of Saint Patrick in Speljnan. 



X D'Acherii SpicUeg. torn. 9. p. 44. 



§ "Mentis tumore deposito, tanto citius .»d matrem vestram, quae filios suos expectat et 

 invitat, ecclesiam redeatis, quanto vos ab e4 quotidie expectari cognoscitis." — Vet Hib. 

 Syllog. p. 2. 



D D 2 



