Camilla Rodriguez Management

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which William had an instructive conversation with the Abbot






cellarer The man was stout and vulgar-looking but jovial, gray-haired but still robust, small but fast. He took us to our cells in the house for pilgrims. Or rather, led us to the cell assigned to my teacher, promising that the next day it would free a for me because, although a novice, I was their guest, so I had to be treated with all honor. For that night I could sleep in a long and wide niche that opened in the cell wall, which did have the good fresh straw. That, he added, sometimes it was for the servants of some ladies who wanted to be watched during his sleep.
Then the monks they brought us wine, cheese, olives, good bread and raisins, and left us with refreshments. We ate and drank with great taste. My teacher did not have the austere habits of the Benedictines and did not like to eat in silence. Moreover, was always talking about things as good and wise that it was as if we were reading a monaco the lives of the saints.
That day I still refrained from the question as to whether the horse.
"But," I said, "when you read the traces on the snow and the branches, did not know yet Brunello. In a way those tracks we talked about all the horses, or at least all the horses of that species. We must not therefore say that the book of nature speaks to us only for woods, as many theologians teach? "
" Not at all dear Adso, "replied the teacher. "Of course that kind of impression I speak, if you want the horse as verbum mentis, and I would have expressed everywhere I could find. But the impression in that place at that hour of the day and told me that at least one possible all the horses had been there. So that I was halfway between the horse and learn the concepts of the knowledge of an individual horse. And However, what I knew the horse I was given by the universal track, which was unique. I could say that at that moment I was prisoner of the singularity of the track and my ignorance, which took the form of a universal idea very diaphanous. If you see something from afar, and you do not understand what it is, will be content to be defined as an extended body. When you call it then you will be approached as an animal, even if you do not yet know whether a horse or a donkey. And finally, when it will be closer, you can say it is a horse even if you do not yet know whether or Favelli Brunello. And just when you're at the right distance you will see that Brunello (or that horse and not another, however you decide to call it). And that will be filled with the knowledge, intuition of the singular. Just an hour ago I was ready to wait for all the horses, but not to the extent of my understanding, but for the paucity of my intuition. And the hunger of my intellect was satisfied only when I saw a single horse, which the monks brought to the bite. Only then did I really knew that my first reason had brought me closer to the truth. So the ideas that I used before to imagine a horse that had not yet seen, were pure signs, as signs were the idea of \u200b\u200briding the footprints in the snow and using signs and punctuation marks only when we are lacking things .
Other times I had heard with great skepticism of universal ideas and great respect for the individual things: and even then it seemed to me that this trend is from the British who came from Franciscan. But that day did not have sufficient forces to deal with theological disputes, So that I curled up in the space that I had been given to me wrapped in a blanket and fell into a deep sleep.
who had entered might have mistaken for a bundle. It certainly did so when the abbot came to visit William the third hour. So it was that I noticed I could hear their first interview. And without malice, because the occurrence of stroke would have been rude to visitors that conceal, as I did, with humility.
came
therefore Abo. He apologized for the intrusion, he renewed his welcome and said he had to speak to William, in private, something very serious.
began to congratulate him for the skill with which it was conducted in the history of the horse, and asked why he had been able to give information so sure of anything that had ever seen. William explained succinctly and with detachment that had followed the path, and the abbot is very glad for his acumen. He said he would not have expected less from a man who had been preceded by a reputation for great sagacity. She told him that he had received a letter from the Abbot of Farfa that not only spoke of the mission entrusted to the Emperor Wilhelm (which would then discussed in the following days), but also told him that in England and Italy had been my master inquisitor in some trials, where he distinguished himself by his perspicacity, not separated by great humanity.
"Mostly I liked to know," said the abbot, "that in many cases you have decided on the innocence of the accused. I believe, and never as sad in these days, the constant presence of evil in human affairs, "and looked around, almost imperceptibly, as if the enemy is between those walls," but I also believe that many times the devil operates for secondary causes . And I know that can drive its victims to do evil so that the blame falls on the right, enjoying the fact that the right to be burned in place of his succubus. Often the inquisitors, to show diligence, ripping a confession the accused at all costs, thinking that it's good inquisitor only one who concludes the process by finding a scapegoat ... "
" Even an interrogator can be driven by the devil, "William said.
"It 's possible," the abbot admitted cautiously, "because the plan of the inscrutable, but I'll throw the shadow of suspicion on men so worthy. And 'even you, as one of those, now that I need. And 'something happened in this abbey, which requires the attention and advice of someone as sharp and prudent you are. Keen to discover and prudent (if applicable) to cover. Often it is necessary to prove the guilt of men who would excel for their holiness, but in order to eliminate the cause of evil without the culprit being pointed to public contempt. If a pastor leak must be isolated from other shepherds, but woe if the sheep begin to distrust shepherds. "
" I understand, "William said. I already have noticed that when he expressed that way so attentive and polite, usually concealed, so honest, his dissent or her concerns.
"Therefore," the abbot continued, "I believe that every case involving the failure of a Pastor can not be entrusted to men who like you, who not only know good from evil, but also what is appropriate from what is not. I like to think that you have ordered only when ... "
" ... the defendants were guilty of criminal acts, of poison, corruption of innocent children and other atrocities that my lips dare not speak ... "
"... you'll pay only when," the abbot continued regardless of the interruption, "the presence of the devil was so obvious to all that they can not do otherwise without the indulgence was the most shocking crime of the same .
"When I recognized someone guilty, "says William," he had really committed crimes of this sort that I could deliver it in good conscience to the secular arm. "
The abbot had a moment of uncertainty," Why, "asked," insist on talking about criminal actions without commenting on their causes evil? "
" Why argue about the causes and effects is something very difficult, I believe that God can be the only judge we have worked hard to put a relationship between an effect as obvious as a tree burned and the lightning that has burned down, the back sometimes long chains of cause and effect seems equally foolish to try to build a tower that reaches to heaven. "
" The doctor of Aquino, "suggested the abbot," not afraid to show the force of reason alone the existence of the Most back of the case concerned not to cause caused. "
" Who am I, "William said humbly," to oppose the doctor Aquinas? Also because his evidence of the existence of God is supported by many other witnesses that his ways they are fortified. God speaks to us inside our soul, as Augustine knew, and you would Abo sang the praises of the Lord and the evidence of his presence even if Thomas had not ... "He paused, then added," I guess. "
"Oh, sure," he hastened to assure the abbot, and my teacher cut short so beautiful a discussion of school that he liked very clearly. Then he started talking.
"Back to the processes. You see, a man, say, was killed by poisoning. This is a matter of experience. And 'I can picture in front of some indisputable signs that the author of the poisoning is another man. On such simple chains of cause my mind can speak with some confidence in his power. But how can complicate the chain imagining that, because the evil deed, there is another operation, this time not human but evil? I'm not saying that it is not possible, the denounces the devil for his passage clear signs, as your horse Brunello. But why should I look for these tests? Is it not enough that I know who the culprit is the man and hand him over to the secular arm? In any case, his sentence is death, God forgive him. "
" But I know that in a trial held in Kilkenny three years ago, when some people were accused of committing vile crimes, you do not be denied ' diabolical intervention, after identifying the culprits. "
" But not the words I never said to open. I have not even denied, it is true. Who am I to make judgments on the plots of evil, especially, "he added, and seemed to want to insist this reason, "in cases where those who had started the inquisition, the bishop, the city magistrates and the people around, perhaps the same defendants, wanted to really feel the presence of the devil? Well, perhaps the only real proof of the presence of the devil is the degree to which all aspire to know at that time at work ... "
" You then, "the abbot said with a worried tone," I say that in many processes, the devil does not only guilty but perhaps especially in the courts? "
" I could maybe make such a statement? "William asked, and I realized that the question was worded so that the abbot could not say that he could, so William took advantage of his silence to pervert the course of their dialogue. "But basically it's things away. I abandoned that noble activity, and if I did so because the Lord wanted to ... "
" Without a doubt, "admitted the abbot.
"... and now," William continued, "I deal with other sensitive issues. And I would take care of what troubles you, if you were speaking I do. "
I thought that the abbot was pleased to be able to finish the conversation back to his problem. He took to tell, with great prudence in the choice of words and long periphrasis, a strange thing had happened a few days before and had left much confusion among the monks. He said that he spoke to William because, knowing him and great connoisseur of the human soul and the evil plots, he hoped he could devote part of his valuable time to shed light on a painful enigma. It was therefore given the case that Adelmo Otranto, a monaco still young but already famous as a master miniaturist, and he was decorating the manuscripts of the library of beautiful images, was found one morning by a goatherd in the bottom of the slope is dominated by the tower East Building. As had been seen by the other monks in choir during Compline but had reappeared in the morning, was probably precipitated during the darkest hours of the night. Night of great storm snow flakes fell as sharp as blades, that almost looked like hail, driven by a mighty Austro blowing. Made from soft snow that was first melted and then hardened into sheets of ice, his body was found at the foot of the cliff, torn from the rocks against which it had bounced. Poor, weak mortal thing, that God had mercy on him. Because of the many rebounds that the body had been falling, it was hard to tell exactly how far he had fallen: certainly one of the windows that opened for three floors of the four sides of the tower exposed to the abyss.
"Where have you buried the poor body?" William asked.
"In the cemetery, of course," said the abbot. "Perhaps you have noted, lies between the northern side of the church, the building and the garden."
"I see," William said, "and I see that your problem is as follows. If you were unhappy, God forbid, killed himself (because no one could think it was accidentally dropped) the next day you would have found one of those open windows, while you have found all closed, and without any equipment at the feet of track of water. "
The abbot was a man, I said, with great composure and diplomacy, but this time he had a surprise move that deprived him of every trace of that dignity that befits the serious and magnanimous person, as dictated by Aristotle: "Who told you?"
"You told me that," William said. "If the window had been opened, you would have immediately thought that he had thrown there. From what I could judge from the outside, it comes to large windows with opaque glass and windows of that type will not open normally, in buildings of this size, at eye level. So if it had been open, it is impossible that there had been facing the unfortunate and had lost his balance, do not think that would have remained a suicide. In which case you would not have left buried in consecrated ground. But since you buried a Christian, the windows had to be closed. Because if it were closed, as I had not met even in a dead unrepentant witch trials to which God or the devil have allowed to go back from the abyss to erase the traces of his crime, it is clear that the alleged suicide was quite moved, either by human hand want to be evil force. And you wonder who can get it, do not say pushed into the abyss, but unwilling hoisted up on the windowsill, and you're upset because a malevolent force, it is natural or supernatural, moves now to the abbey. "
" It 's so ... "said the abbot, and it was unclear whether it confirmed the words of William or renders himself of the reasons why William had so admirably produced. "But how do you know that there was no water at the foot of the window?"
"Because you told me that blew the Austrian and the water could not be pressed against windows that open to the east."
"I had said enough of your virtues," the abbot said. "And you are right, there was no water, and now I know why. Things went as you say. And now you know my anguish. Already would have been worse if one of my monks were stained dell'abominevole sin of suicide. But I have reasons to believe that another of them is guilty of a sin just as terrible. It was just that ... "
" First, because one of the monks? In the abbey there are many other people, grooms, herdsmen and servants ... "
" Of course, abbey is small but rich, "he admitted with self-importance the abbot. "One hundred and fifty servants for sixty monks. But it all happened in the building. There, as you may already know, even if you are on the first floor and the kitchen and the dining hall, the two upper floors are the scriptorium and the library. After dinner, the building is closed and there is a rigid rule that prohibits anyone from accessing it, "guessed the request of William and added immediately, but clearly with a heavy heart," including monks, of course, but ... "
" But ?
"but does not absolutely, absolutely understood, that a family has had the courage to enter them at night." In his eyes passed like a smile of defiance, but was quick as lightning or a falling star. "Let's say you would be afraid, you know ... sometimes the orders given to the simple needs to be reinforced with a threat, as an omen that something could happen to those who disobeys terrible, and supernatural power. A Monaco instead ... "
" I understand. "
" Not only that, but Monaco could have other reasons for venturing into a forbidden place, I mean reasons ... how to say? Reasonable, even if contrary to the rule ... "
William noticed the discomfort of the abbot and asked a question that perhaps was intended to change the subject, but produced an equally great discomfort.
"Speaking of a possible homicide you said "and it was just that." What did you mean? "
" I say that? Well, do not kill without reason, however perverse. And tremble at the thought of the perversity of the reasons that could have led a monaco to kill a brother. There. It 's so. "
" Is that all? "
" There's nothing else I can tell you. "
" Do you mean that there is no power that you have to say? "
" Please Brother William, brother William, "and emphasized the abbot monk who is his brother. William blushed deeply and said:
"Eris sacerdos in aeternum".
"Thanks," the abbot said.
O Lord God, what terrible mystery touched at that moment my imprudent higher, driven by anxiety and the other one out of curiosity. Because novice who initiated into the mysteries of the holy priesthood of God, humble boy I realized that the abbot knew something, but he had learned under the seal of confession. He must have heard from the lips of some one particular sin that could be related to the tragic death of Adelmo. Perhaps he prayed for this brother William to discover a secret which he suspected without being able to reveal to anyone, and hoped that my teacher did light up with the forces of intellect as he was enveloped in the shadow of the sublime power of the empire charity.
"Well," William said then, "I will ask questions to the monks?"
"You."
"I can roam freely about the abbey?"
"There may confer."
"I invest this mission coram monachos ?
"This evening."
"But I'll start now, before the monks know what I have charged. It also wanted a lot, not least because of my move here, visit your library, which is spoken with admiration of all the abbeys of Christendom. "
The abbot rose almost abruptly, his face very tense. "You wandering throughout the abbey, I said. Certainly not to the top floor, in the library. "
" Why? "
" I should have explained before, and I thought you knew. You know that our library is not like the others ... "
" I know he has more books than any other Christian library. I know that in the breast of your cases or those of Bobbio Pomposa, Cluny and Fleury seem that a child's room as soon as you start the abacus. I know that the six thousand Novalesa codes which boasted more than a hundred years ago are a little of your chest, and perhaps many of those are here now. I know that your monastery is the only light that can be opposed to Christianity thirty-six libraries Baghdad, ten thousand codes of the vizier Ibn al-Alkami, that equals the number of your bibles Korans which has two thousand four hundred Cairo, and that the reality of your cases is bright evidence against the proud legend of the infidels who years ago wanted to (as close are the prince of lies) the library of Tripoli rich than six million volumes and inhabited by two hundred eighty thousand commentators and scribes. "
" So it should be made to praise the sky. "
" I know that among the monks who live among you many come from other abbeys scattered all over the world: those who for a short time, to copy manuscripts found elsewhere and then bring them to their home, not without having brought in exchange for some other manuscript impossible to find that you will copy and place on your treasure, and who for a long time and remained there until his death at times, because only here can find works that illuminate his research. So you have among you Germans, Dacians, Hispanic, French and Greek. I know that the Emperor Frederick, many, many years ago, he asked you to complete a book on the prophecies of Merlin and translate it into Arabic, to send a gift to the Sultan of Egypt. So, finally, that glorious abbey as Murbach, in these sad times, no longer has a single scribe, who remained in St. Gallen, a few monks who know how to write, which is now rising in the city corporations and guilds composed of secular work for universities and that only your abbey renewed day by day, nay, leading to ever higher summits of the glories of your order ... "
" Monasterium sine libris, "quoted absorbed the abbot," est sicut civitas sine opibus, castrum sine numeris , coquina sine suppellectili, canteen Cibis sine, sine hortus herbis, Pratum sine floribus, arbor sine foliis ... And our policy, growing around the double commandment of work and prayer, was light throughout the known world reserves of knowledge, an ancient doctrine of salvation that threatened to disappear in fire, pillage and earthquakes, and increasing source of new writing ancient ... Oh, you well know, we now live in a very dark, and I blush to tell you that Not many years ago the Council of Vienne had to reiterate that any monaco has a duty to take orders ... How our abbeys, that two hundred years ago were shining center of greatness and holiness, are now a refuge for lazy. The order is still powerful, but the stench of the city surrounds dappresso our holy places, the people of God are now inclined to commerce and war faction, down in the big cities, where property can not have the spirit of holiness, not only speaks (other than to lay you could not ask) but it is already written in the vernacular, and that no one of these books can come within our walls - which inevitably becomes fomes of heresy! For the sins of men the world hangs on edge of the abyss, the abyss that penetrated the abyss calls. And tomorrow, as he wanted to Honorius, the bodies of men will be smaller than ours, as ours are smaller than those of the ancients. Mundus senescit. Now if God has a mission entrusted to our order, it is to oppose this rush towards the abyss, and retaining, repeating, and defending the treasure of wisdom that our forefathers have entrusted to us. Divine Providence has ordained that the universal government, which at the beginning of the world was in the East, as the time approaches were moving toward the west, to warn that the end of the world is approaching, because the course of events has already reached the limit of the universe. But until it finally runs out the millennium, until he triumphs, albeit briefly, the foul beast is the Antichrist, it's up to us to defend the treasure of the Christian world, and the word of God, which he dictated the prophets and apostles, the fathers who repeated it without changing the verb, which schools have tried to gloss, even if today in the schools themselves lurks the serpent of pride, envy, insanity. In this sunset we are still high above the horizon and light torches. And while these walls endure, we will be the custodians of the Word of God. "
" So be it, "William said in a tone devotee. "But what has this to do with the fact that you can not visit the library? "
" You see, Brother William, "the abbot said," to realize the immense and holy that enriches those walls, "and he pointed to the size of the building, which could be glimpsed through the windows of the cell, enthroned above the abbey church itself, "devout men have worked for centuries, following iron rules. The library was established in a pattern that remained obscure to all over the centuries and none of the monks is called upon to know. Only the librarian has received the secret from the librarian who preceded him, and communicate it, still alive, to aid the librarian, so that death does not surprise him by depriving the community of that knowledge. And both lips are sealed in secrecy. Only the librarian, in addition to knowledge, has the right to move through the maze of books, he knows where to find them and where to store them, he alone is responsible for their preservation. The other monks work in the scriptorium and may know the list of volumes that the library tighten. But a list of titles often tells very little, only the librarian knows the location of the volume, the degree of its inaccessibility, what kind of secrets, truth or lies, the volume Guard. Only he decides how, when, and if you provide it to Monaco at their request, often after consulting with me. Because not all truths are for all ears, not all lies can be recognized as such by a pious soul, and the monks, finally, are in the scriptorium work to put an end to states, which requires him to read certain books and not others, and not to follow every foolish curiosity that seizes them, either weakness of mind, want to pride, want to diabolical suggestion. "
" We are therefore also in library books that contain falsehoods ... "
" Monsters exist because they are part of God's plan and in the same features of the horrible monsters reveals the power of the Creator. So there are also books by divine design of the magicians, the Kabbala of the Jews, the fables of pagan poets, the lies of the infidels. E 'was stopped and holy conviction those who wanted this abbey, and argued over the centuries that may transpire in the book lying in the eyes of the astute reader, a pale light of divine wisdom. And therefore of them the library is the jewel box. But for this, you know, it can not be penetrated by anyone. And also, "said the abbot as if to apologize for the paucity of the latter argument," the book is fragile creature, it suffers the wear of time, fears rodents, the weather, hands incapacitated. If hundreds and hundreds of years each had been able to freely touch our codes, most of them no longer exist. The librarian then defends them not only by men but also by nature, and devotes his life this war against the forces of oblivion, the enemy of truth. "
" So no one, but two people enter the top floor ... "
The abbot smiled:" No one should. No one can. Nobody, willing it will succeed. The library is defending itself, unfathomable as the truth it houses, as the lie that keeps misleading. Spiritual maze, the labyrinth is also ground. You may not enter and exit. And that being said, I want you there adeguaste the rules of the abbey. "
" But you have not ruled out that Adelmo can be precipitated by one of the windows of the library. And how can I think about her death I do not see the place where he could have begun the story of his death? "
" Brother William, "the abbot said in a conciliatory tone," a man who described the Brunello my horse without seeing it and the death of Adelmo without knowing almost nothing, will have difficulty think about places that do not have access. "
William leaned in a bow:" You are wise when you are severe. How do you want. "
" If ever I were wise, because I know it would be severe, "said the abbot.
"One last thing," William asked. "Ubertino?"
"It 's here. Awaits you. You'll find it in church. "
" When? "
" Always, " Abbot smiled. "You know that, although very learned, is not a man to appreciate the library. Believes the lure of a century ... Is mostly in church to meditate, to pray ... "
" E 'old? "William asked hesitantly.
"Since I do not see it?"
"for many years."
"E 'tired. Very detached from the things of this world. He has sixty-eight years. But I still have the spirit of his youth. "
" I'll try now, thank you. "
The abbot asked him if he wanted to join the community for dinner, after the sixth. William said he had just eaten, and very comfortably, and that he would prefer immediately see Ubertino. The abbot said goodbye.
He was coming out of the cell is a heartrending cry arose from the court, as the injured person to death, followed by other equally atrocious lamentations. "What?" William asked, puzzled.
"Nothing," the abbot answered, smiling. "This season we are killing the pigs. A job for the swineherds. It is this blood which is to deal. "
went out and did a disservice to his reputation as a prudent man. Because the next morning ... But holding back your impatience, my tongue petulant. What a day in which I say, and before nightfall, still many things that took place will be good to report.