The story of Fray Servando's life in exile recounst the adventures of one of the most original ideologues of Latin American independence. On December 12, 1794, Fray Servando preached a sermon in Mexico City claiming that the Indies had been converted by St Thomas long before the Spaniards arrived. This was a subversive and controversial notion because it took away the rationale for the Spanish conquest of the New World - the conversion of the heathen. Colonial authorities arrested him and he was exiled to Spain where he was imprisoned by his own Dominican order. Servando escaped and spent ten years in exile travelling throughout Europe disguised as a French priest, issuing revolutionary manifestos and sermons. He returned to Mexico after Indpendence and served the new government before his death.