He became 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.

After attending Lichfield Theological College he was ordained deacon in 1913 at Holy Cross, Cromer Street, in the St Pancras area of London.

After three other curacies, including the Good Shepherd church, Carshalton, in 1921 he became vicar of Great and Little Walsingham with St Giles', Houghton.

Within months of arriving, he had a statue of Our Lady of Walsingham modelled on the medieval priory's seal and placed it in the parish's main church, St Mary's.

His bishop in Norwich, Bertram Pollock, opposed the statue and Patten agreed to move it out of the church, using this as a chance to rebuild the Holy House in 1931.