An introspective only child, he became an Anglo-Catholic in Brighton whilst still a teenager, becoming interested in not only the medieval church but also the religious life, visiting the Anglican Benedictines at Painsthorpe in 1906 and being profoundly influenced by their abbot, Aelred Carlyle.
It was established at Painsthorpe in the East Riding of Yorkshire by Aelred Carlyle, a friend of Charles Chapman Grafton, Episcopal Bishop of Fond du Lac and an inspiration for Alfred Hope Patten.