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318 CASSIAN OF STANLEY his father's faith that eventually brought him to France. Mere Ange– lique Arnauld, the Abbess of Port-Royal, gives this account of him: « Il etoit vraiment prudent et sage, il etoit anglois et de grande maison et il avoit quitte son pays pour la religion catholique. Un de ses amis ayant ete surpris entandant la messe et pris prisonnier, cela lui fit peur de sorte qu'il s'enfuit et vint a Paris et peu de temps n'ayant encore que vingt ans, il se fit capucin » 15 • Happy to have escaped the attention of the authorities in Eng– land, William Barlow entered the Capuchin novitiate in the Rue Saint-Honore in Paris in 1587, encouraged in his resolve by his com– patriot and fellow-exile, Benet of Canfield, who had himself joined the Capuchins a short time previously 16 • From that time he was to be known as Archangel of Pembroke. His companions in the novitiate were a distinguished band. They included, besides Benet of Canfield,. three young French noblemen whose coming to the Capuchins had been the topic of the day in Paris. These three were known in the· friary as Freres Ange, Leonard and Honore, but to the world at large better recognized respectively as Henri de Joyeuse, comte de Bouchage, the former 'mignon' of Henri III and now to become the life-long friend of the young novice from Wales; Jacques Favre, marquis de Kerguiflinan, and Charles Bochard de Champigny 17 • For Archangel of Pembroke, as for these companions of his in the novi-· tiate, it was the beginning of a remarkable career. Little is known of his early days as a friar, but soon after his ordination he was in Belgium assisting there in the training of nov– ices. That was in May 1592 and he appears to have remained there until at least 1594 18 • The following year he was back again in his province when he was appointed Guardian and Novice-master at 1 5 UBALD o'ALENqoN, O.F.M.Cap., Les Freres Mineurs Capucins et les debuts de la reforme a Port-Royal des Champs (1609-1626), in Eludes Franc. 24(1910) 51-52. In another account, Mere Angelique stated that « ce jeune seigneur tres catholique ne pouvant souffrir la rigeur des persecutions qu'on exerqoit, ni le deffaut d'exercice de notre Religion resolut de venir en France... » (cf. UBALD o'ALEN~ON, art. cit., 54). rn This is the year given by Philippe de Paris, O.F.M.Cap., in his Chronologie histori– que, Bibi. Nationale, ms. Ponds fram;. 25044, p.44. and by Maurice d'Epernay, O.F.M.Cap., in Abrege des Annales des Capucins de la Province de Paris, Bibi. Nationale, Paris, ms. Fonds fran9. 5859, f.53. Godefroy de Paris (op. cit., 190) gives the date of entry to the Capu– chins as 1588. This detail has been discussed by Optat de Veghel (op. cit., 81) and by Hildebrand [van Hooglede], O.F.M.Cap., De Kapucijnen in de Nederlanden en het Prinsbisdom Luik. Deel I: De tweetalige Nederlandsche Provincie, 1585-1616, Antwerpen 1945, 131 n.3. These two iatter writers accept 1587 as the year of entrance, and the weight of evidence seems to be on their side. 17 GODEFROY DE PARIS, op. cit. II, 451; CUTHBERT [OF BRIGHTON], O.F.M.Cap., The Capu– clzi11s. A contribution to the history of the Counter-Reformation I, London 1928, 22lss. 18 Liber Professionum ab anno 1588 usque 1610, Archivum Capuccinorum Belgii, Sectio I, ms. 8747, p.7, 12, 16, 17, 19; HILDEBRAND [VAN HOOGLEDE], De Gebroeders Forbes en hun Biograaf,. in Franc.Leven. 25(1942) 100 n.4 (cf. Idem, op. cit., loco cit.).