204 



her ; while it must be admitted, that in the same letter he plainly 

 intimates they had not deviated in doctrine. " Nulla vos animorum 

 intentio a concordiae unitate dissociet, nulla persuasio rependo vos a 

 recto itinera defatiget."* 



It was not, however, until the year 630, that any active measures 

 were taken to adjust this difference: an assembly of the clergy was 

 then held at Leighlin, to debate upon the proper time for the celebra- 

 tion of this festival. Saint Lasrian being delegated by the Pope -to 

 defend the Roman custom, while Munic warmly supported the old 

 rules ; after much deliberation, the synod broke up without coming 

 to any decision. The discussion, however, had its effect, and Bede, 

 while he expressly arraigns the heresy of the " septentrionalis Scot- 

 torum provincia "-f- in this respect, does establish that the southern 

 Irish did conform to the Romish computation,-^- which he attributes 

 principally to the remonstrances of Adamnan ;.|. the rest of Ireland, 

 however, maintained the error, and Bede gives an admonitory letter 

 of Honorius on the subject,§ which a subsequent Pope was obliged to 

 repeat. II From neither of these ecclesiastical reprimands, does any 

 variance in doctrine seem to have existed or been alleged, and the 

 paschal question is the "head and front" of Cumian's charge of 



* Vet. Hib. Sylloge, p. 1. 



f " Si quidem gentes Scotorum, quas in australibus Hiberniae partibus morabantur, 

 jamjudum ad admonitionem apostolicae sedis antistitis, pascha canonico ritu celebrare didi- 

 cerunt."— Eccl. Hist. lib. 3. c. 3. 

 . + See Eccl. Hist. lib. 5. c. 16. 



§"AnnoDom. incarn. dcxxxv, misit idem Papa Honorius literas etiam genti Scoto- 

 rum, quos in observatione s. pascfase errare compererat, juxta quod supra docuimus." — Eccl. 

 Hist. lib. 2. c. 19. 



II " Sad et Johannes, qui successori ejusdem Honorii Severino successit, cum adhuc esset 

 electus in pontificatum, pro eodem errore corrigendo literas eis * * * * * direxit." — 

 Eccl. Hist. lib. 2. c. 19. 



