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[Page 190]

3.

the first man Cerretti, but he seems an able man, & made a very good impression on his first appearance. His English is not as good as Cerrettis, as it is the English of a student who has not hitherto lived in any place where English was the native language, so he frequently sticks for a word, but he will be quite fluent in a short time. Cerretti had been in the United States for some years before he came here. This man comes straight from the Propaganda in Rome, where he was head for six years. Of course the bishops & priests don't like Italian ecclesiastics coming here, & living in state at Rockleigh, solely to keep their eyes on church affairs here, & keep everyone up to the mark, but some of us laymen thank Goodness that we have someone here with authority to curb the zeal of the Mannixes, & their friends, who seem to be setting the good people of Victoria by the ears with a vengeance. The latest news from Melbourne is that Mannix has accepted – as an honour! – the presidency of the Victorian Sinn Fein Association. Let us pray that Cattaneo will put a stop to those games. 

Archbish Kelly gave a lunch at St Mary's today in his honour, and I had to make one of the speeches. He didn't leave Rome till Cerretti arrived, & then they had a fortnight to compare notes, so that I suspect the gentleman knows far more about affairs in Australia already than his gentle air of innocence would lead the unwary to suspect.

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