"His desire to profess his final and perpetual vows - was it not akin to the motive of the cat who became an ornithologist? - so that he might glorify his own ornithophagy, esoterically devouring Penthestes atricapillus but never eating chickadees. For as the cat was called by Nature to be an ornithophage, so was Francis called by his own nature hungrily to devour such knowledge as could be taught in those days, and, because there were no schools but the monastic schools, he had donned the habit first of a postulant, later of a novice. But to suspect that God as well as Nature had beckoned him to become a professed monk of the Order?" Chapter 5, pg. 52.
"'You,' Arkos rubbed his chin and seemed lost in unhappy speculation. 'I can see it too clearly......
This is a free excerpt of 135 words. This section contains 1,110 words. This
study guide contains 29,423 words (approx. 98 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Literature Guide with our A Canticle for Leibowitz Access Pass.