The passage in Tírechán quoted above calls for a remark. There is obviously an error in _ad legendum_ xxx _annis_. The error probably arose from some combination of the genuine tradition that Sachellus accompanied Patrick to Rome with the false idea (which had arisen before Tírechán’s time through chronological confusions about Patrick’s life) that Patrick studied for thirty years abroad. 16. _Appeal to the Roman See_ The genuineness of the canon prescribing reference to the Roman see has been sufficiently indicated in the text (chap. viii. § 4); but some observations may be added here by way of illustration. It is clear that the attitude of the Irish Church to the see of Rome in the sixth century has a very distinct value as evidence from which inferences may be made in regard to its relation to Rome in the fifth century. And for the feelings of Irish ecclesiastics towards the Roman see in the sixth century, we can have no better evidence than the letters of St. Columbanus, who was born and educated in Ireland. For on the one hand Columbanus identifies his own opinions with those of the Irish, and speaks as if he were writing in Ireland; while, on the other, he admonishes the bishops of Rome with such boldness and plainness that he cannot be accused of “Romanising” tendencies. We are therefore justified in taking the spirit which he displays towards the _Cathedra Petri_ as indicative of the spirit of the Irish Church. In the three letters which are addressed to bishops of Rome (Epp. 1, 3, 5) there is the fullest recognition of the Pope’s _auctoritas_ in the Western Church, and it is just this recognition which makes Columban lay such solemn weight on his own admonitions—an error (_peruersitas_, p. 175₄) committed by the Pope being one of the most serious disasters that could befall the Church. It is clear that Ireland is in no wise excluded from the general _auctoritas_ of the “Apostolic Fathers” (cp. pp. 164₃₁, 165₂₃), for Pope Boniface is addressed as _omnium totius Europae Ecclesiarum capiti_ (Ep. 5, p. 170₁₀). In this letter Columbanus writes: _nos enim devincti sumus cathedrae sancti Petri_ (174₂₅), and _vos_ (the Popes) _prope caelestes estis et Roma orbis terrarum caput est ecclesiarum, salva loci dominicae resurrectionis singulari praerogativa_. The reservation (showing that the writer is expressing his conviction and not merely using rhetorical phrases of politeness) renders this evidence all the more telling; and the same may be said of the reservation which he makes as to the claim of the Popes as successors of the keeper of the keys of heaven (175₈₋₁₉). The attitude of Columban is briefly expressed in the wish: _Rex regum, tu Petrum, te tota sequatur ecclesia_ (177₁₅).[416]