(1) The sixth canon of this letter enjoins, under penalty of separation from the Church, that the tonsure of clerics be _more Romano_. We know that in the seventh century the Celtic tonsure _de aure ad aurem_ prevailed in the Irish, as in the British, Church, and this was one of the chief questions in the Roman controversy. The conclusion has been generally drawn that this was the tonsure of Irish clerics in the fifth century, and that the Roman tonsure, the _corona_ (supposed to be an imitation of the _spinea Christi corona_), was not known in Ireland until the victory of the Roman party in the seventh century. This conclusion relies on the support of a text in the _Catalogus Sanctorum Hiberniae_, where it is said that in the first period of the Irish Church, including the time of Patrick, one tonsure _ab aure usque ad aurem_ was worn (H. and S., _Councils_, ii. p. 292). The particular statements, however, of this document are not decisive. If this statement were entirely true, it would follow that Patrick permitted or acquiesced in the native form of tonsure, and cannot have promulgated the canon in question. Another possibility, however, must be considered. It is equally conceivable that (as Ussher held)[264] the native tonsure might have been condemned by Patrick, Auxilius, and Iserninus—men who had been trained on the continent, under Gallic and Roman influences—and that after their time the prepossession of the Irish in favour of the native pagan tonsure prevailed, and the prohibition of the three bishops became a dead letter. It might therefore be argued that, if no other evidence is forthcoming, and if there are no other insuperable objections to the circular letter, the canon concerning the tonsure cannot be declared non-Patrician, but that, on the contrary, we are entitled to appeal to it as a proof that the foreign tonsure was introduced in the days of Patrick. There is, however, a striking and interesting piece of positive evidence which has been quite overlooked because it requires some interpretation. It occurs in the Memoir of Tírechán, who, it is to be remembered, belonged to the north of Ireland, and wrote before that part of the island adopted Roman usages (see below, p. 248). The passage occurs in _Lib. Arm._ f. 12 rᵒ a (Rolls ed. p. 317). The conversion and tonsure of the two brothers Caplait and Mael is there recounted. Caplait believed first, _et capilli eius ablati sunt_. Then Mael was converted: Et ablati sunt capilli capitis illius id norma magica in capite uidebatur airbacc ut dicitur giunnae.