Irish province on the occasion of its election a few years ago. He did not disguise his intention of making a special effort to check the flow of whisky in that province, which he regarded as the source of all evil in monastic life; his own particular vanity was port. We were not a little surprised on the return of our zealous crusader to find that he had been himself converted to the seductive ‘usquebaugh,’ and only the too openly manifested delight of his numerous enemies—whom he had persistently denounced at Rome for ten years as ‘whisky-drinkers’—prevailed upon him to return safely to port.
When the visitator has completed the circuit of the province he invites the members of the higher council, or definitors, to the monastery where the election is held. The superiors, or guardians, of the various monasteries then send in their resignations, together with a declaration on oath by their priests that they have fulfilled their duty to their community (the paper is sometimes minus a few signatures) and a full account of their financial transactions. The guardians themselves arrive the following day and proceed by a secret ballot to the election of a new provincial and his council of five definitors. The guardians then disperse and the newly-elected council proceeds to appoint new guardians with their subsidiary officers. Everything is conducted with the utmost secrecy, the voting papers being burned and pulverised in presence of the
