December 2019 | SMITHSONIAN.COM 75government arrested him. The state’s top offi cial wrote in a letter
that the monk had “encouraged great fantacism about himself.”
In 1861, Agostini headed to Mexico, where he again attracted a
large following and was sent to an insane asylum. Offi cials deported
him to Havana after fi ve months, citing the Mexican constitution,
which allows the government to expel “any foreigner whose remain-
ing he may deem inexpedient.”
From Cuba, Agostini took a steamship to New York and then
walked 370 miles to Montreal, where he got a chilly reception. “The
cold climate of New France seemed to have congealed the heart of
its inhabitants,” the hermit wrote in his journal. “My ragged clothes
and mean appearance did not appeal to the Canadians.” His lack of
French also made it hard for him to explain to the Quebecois why he
looked and lived the way he did. “They distrusted me and ran away
from me. It was the saddest period of my life.”
After weighing the idea of going back to Italy, Agostini decided to
explore the American West. When he joined a wagon train in Coun-
cil Grove, Kansas, in August 1863, the Kansas City Times reported
that the old monk refused to ride in the wagons and wouldn’t sleep“THEY DISTRUSTED ME AND RAN AWAY FROM ME. IT WAS THE SADDEST PERIOD OF MY LIFE.”