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free from AnglgSaxon control or interference. But though Mr. Whiteside did not speak out plainly to the mass, he was understood by a certain clique. Those reading the account of the Irish Church by such Protestants as Dr. Mant and King, are insulted by being told that, till the coming of the English in the twelfth century to Ireland, or the Synod of Kells, the authority of the Roman Pontiff was unheard of. Now, one of the canons at the so-called Synod of St. Patrick decrees: “That if any difficult cases arise, that cannot be decided by the Irish Church and the See of Armagh, let them be referred to the Apostolic See”.[1] Ireland, than which no nation is more tenacious of its practices or faithful to its traditions, was not likely to forget the lesson of its apostle. Hence, nothing but the authority of Rome could prevail on the Irish priests and bishops to give up the paschal computation as left them by St. Patrick. St. Columbanus, whose boldness of language is only equalled by his respect for the Holy See, addresses Pope Boniface as “the most honoured head of all the Churches in Europe, dearly beloved pope, the exalted prelate, shepherd of shepherds”. “We are”, he continues, “disciples of Saints Peter and Paul, and of the divinely inspired writers, admitting no doctrine save what comes down from the Gospel and apostles. The faith is inviolate which has been transmitted to us by you, the successors of the apostles. We are attached to the chair of Peter; and though Rome be great and renowned, we esteem it so, only because of that chair. On account of the twin apostles you are almost Heavenly, and Rome is the head of the world and of churches”.[2] There were legates appointed from time to time, as David in the sixth, and Gillebert in the be. ginning of the twelfth century.[3] Of course there was
