Page:Twelve Years in a Monastery (1897).djvu/190

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184
TWELVE YEARS IN A MONASTERY

impostors. In Belgium some years ago the imposition was attempted on a large scale at one of our friaries. A bishop and his secretary presented themselves for a few days’ hospitality, and were received and treated by the friars with the courtesy and attention which befitted their rank. There was nothing unusual in the occurrence, and the friars were always glad to receive so flattering a guest. His lordship said Mass daily with correct episcopal ceremony, and had all the requisite paraphernalia. After a time, however, a suspicion was aroused, and when his lordship had casually mentioned the name of the cardinal who had consecrated him, a telegraphic communication was made with Rome, with the result that the impostors were handed over to the civil authority. At London we had visitors from all parts of the world, and it would be difficult to detect an impostor. I remember one whom we turned out of the monastery after a few weeks’ hospitality, and no one knows to this day whether he was a genuine friar or not. He was a Spaniard, an old man with our brown costume in his possession, who represented himself as a lay-brother from our province of Mexico. He hinted that a secret Government commission had brought him to London. He spoke French fluently, and was a most interesting conversationalist, representing that he had at one time been a private secretary of Don Carlos and an active figure in Spanish politics. However, Fra Carpoforo’s business in London seemed