It may just have been a mere one-day wonder in the eternal game of betting. A fleeting accident.A fluke.
Or it may transpire that such a rare phenomenon provides a classic but mysterious case of punters acting on divine inspiration.
What is definite is that a sudden flurry of bets on a previously untipped Monaghan priest for elevation to a Belfast bishopric has intrigued church-watchers, who suspect the unthinkable -- that a priests' syndicate was banking on ecclesiastical insider knowledge.
On Thursday evening, bookies Paddy Power abruptly suspended betting on the next bishop of the diocese of Down and Connor.
Monsignor Noel Treanor, a Clogher priest who heads up Comece, the Catholic Church's lobby group in the European Union, was added earlier that day to the betting on foot of a customer request.
In the space of four hours, 67 bets were placed on rank outsider Monsignor Treanor to win at odds ranging from 7/1 to 5/4.
Such a procession finally forced the bookie to pull the shutters down on the holy market.
An official announcement about the successor to retired Bishop Patrick Walsh (75) is eagerly expected from Rome around Easter.
Normally, in the highly secretive process of selecting a bishop, the Papal Nuncio informs the chosen cleric of the Pope's decision, and the bishop-elect is sworn to strict confidentiality during an interim period -- pending preparations for the official public announcement.
On Wednesday, Monsignor Treanor's name did not figure on the opening bets on six episcopal hopefuls.
The line-up was:
6/4 Donal McKeown, an auxiliary bishop of Down and Connor.
2/1 John McAreavey, the Bishop of Dromore
9/2 Vincent Twomey, the former professor of Moral Theology at Maynooth.
6/1 Tony Farquhar, an auxiliary Bishop of Down and Connor.
7/1 Gerard Clifford, auxiliary Bishop of Armagh.
9/1 Eamonn Walsh, auxiliary Bishop of Dublin.
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