Father
Florian
In an ancient monastery
in a faraway place, a new monk arrived to join his brothers in copying
books and scrolls in the monastery's scriptorium. He was assigned to be a
replicator of books that had already been copied by the other monks. One
day, he asked Father Florian (the rather ancient head of the scriptorium),
"Does not the copying by hand of other copies allow for error?
How do we know we are
not copying the mistakes of someone else? Are they ever checked against
the original?"
Fr. Florian was taken
aback by the observation of this youthful monk. "A very good point,
my son. I will take one of the latest books down to the vault and compare
it against the original."
Fr. Florian went down to
the vault and began his verification. After a day had passed, the monks
began to worry and went down looking for the old priest.
They were sure something
must have happened. As they approached the vault, they heard crying. When
they opened the door, they found Fr. Florian sobbing over the new copy and
the original ancient book, both of which were opened before him on the
table. It was obvious to all that the poor man had been crying his heart
out for a long time.
"What is the
problem, Reverend Father?" asked one of the monks.
"Oh, my God, my
God," sobbed the priest. "In the ancient book of the sacred
rites of priesthood... the word is 'celebrate.'"