Chapters 11 and 12 Summary

Pope Pius XII dies and Cardinal Roncalli is elected to take his place. The nuns are upset by the election of this man who is both old and fat. Meanwhile the news reaches Brede they may be receiving the first Japanese postulants. There are five ready and willing to join Brede. Mr. Konishi, the man who wishes to open the Japanese abbey claims he has been lead to Brede and that his ladies are excellent choices for nuns. There is some concern among the Brede nuns that these women have not received a calling from God but Mr. Konishi insists that they have been called. He says his wife once visited with the former abbess at Brede. His wife was killed in the war but an oblate she had gotten from the monastery was found in a box of her treasured...