imposing services, and the keen pleasure which I took in assisting in the sanctuary, I have a distinct recollection that up to the age of thirteen my mind was deliberately closed against the idea of entering the monastery. The friars frequently suggested the thought in playful mood, but I invariably repulsed their advances. At length a lay-brother[1] with whom I spent long hours in the sacristy exerted himself to inspire me with a desire to enter their Order. After many conversations I yielded to his influence, and conceived a desire for admission. In the meantime a violent quarrel had removed my family from the congregation, and seemed to have raised an insuperable obstacle on both sides. However, still haunting the neighbourhood, I was one day approached on the subject by the prefect of studies, confessed my willingness, and was subsequently admitted to preliminary studies.
Then, owing to the opposition of the superior of the monastery, I was cast adrift once more, and devoted myself, with little concern, to a preparation for the Civil Service. My name, however, was not forgotten at the monastery (to which the preparatory college was attached), and a new prefect of studies
- ↑ The inmates of a monastery are divided into two sharply distinct categories, clerics (priests and clerical students) and lay-brothers. The latter are usually men of little or no education, who discharge the menial offices of the community. They are called lay-brothers in contradistinction to the students or cleric-brothers, who, however, familiarly go by their Latin name ‘Fratres.’
