Franciscan Monks are Really Cool

One of the advantages of coming to Prague is that I get to be very close to some of the people that I do business with and therefore a face to face visit is both easy and relatively inexpensive. So on Wednesday while I was in Hamburg Eileen, Jordan and Isabella were left to their own.

So far we have been warned to always be on the lookout for pick pockets, beggars, drunks, the money exchange windows and restaurants that don't post prices on their menus. That's right I left them, abandoned my family, left my post and very likely exposed them the the very real threat of Serbian flesh peddlers. Although we haven't been warned of this I have seen movies about European countries and this stuff happens. If it didn't why would Hollywood make movies with these themes.

Eileen and the kids venture off without me and this is where they met their first genuine, bonifide and certified Franciscan Monk. They recognized him right away. It was the uniform, the brown sacloth that everyone has seen Friar Tuck wear in any of the Robin Hood movies. The kids said you could spot him a mile away. After a quick hello and pleasant introduction the monk, who we shall call Padre cause that's what you call a Franciscan Monk, invites them back to his monastery. Once they arrive at the monastery they realize that Monks are not poor. This place is unbelievably beautiful. It is decorated with Frescoes, granite and marble carvings and statues, ornate woodwork and paintings.

This is when Padre offers to show them his library. The library is up a flight of stairs and behind not one but two locked doors. One of the things about this was not the locked doors but where Padre kept his keys. He reached into his sleeve through a slit at the shoulder. First his left sleeve, there was much jingling of keys and an abrupt "No" from Padre and then he went right to his other sleeve where there was more jingling. Then keys. A lot of keys. Anyhow they go through two locked doors and into a library full of old books.

In my opinion these books weren't just old they were positively ancient. Many of them dated back to the early 14th century. That's right the year of our lord 1,300. Many of these books were close to 700 years old. Best of all Padre let the kids touch them. Why did Padre allow them to be touched, he did so because books are to be read and studied not kept behind a locked door where no one can get to them. This seems odd since these books were, in fact, behind a locked door where very few people could get to them. BTW, I forgot to mention that a college student tagged along. His name is David. He's in the photo with the Padre. The book in the photo is an early 14th century song book. It is written on donkey skin. For any of you who are wondering, David wanted to know if things like this happen to us all the time. Actually, they do.