As a young man, Belloc lost his faith. Then came a spiritual event, which he never discussed publicly, that returned him to Catholicism for the remainder of his life. Belloc alludes to this return to the Faith in a passage in "The Cruise of the Nona". According to his biographer A. N. Wilson ("Hilaire Belloc", Hamish Hamilton), Belloc never wholly apostatised from the Faith (ibid p. 105). The momentous event is fully described by Belloc in "The Path to Rome" (pp. 158–61). It took place in the French village of Undervelier at the time of Vespers. Belloc said of it, "not without tears", "I considered the nature of Belief" and "it is a good thing not to have to return to the Faith". (See "Hilaire Belloc" by Wilson at pp. 105–06.)