"Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee."
To the Right Reverend Father in Christ, the Bishop of Lincoln,
In England, as all men well know, faith and holiness flourish more than in any other part of the world. On this account, I, Brother N., write confidently that these urgent matters to which I will elaborate on principle by the Grace of God shall be gravely and promptly attended to with the diligence they are certainly due by Your Lordship’s prudent oversight.
A man of polished education and excellent conduct by the name Alexander of Appleton was a monk here at St. Æthelred's Abbey who departed this life on the Feast of the Annunciation, at the hour of Lauds, in our infirmary.
I was there in conference with Abbot William and five others including Alexander of Langley, bearer and guardian of the seal, to hear the death-rattle; that is the doleful sound which those who are about to die are wont to emit in the depth of their throat because of constriction of the arteries; and to witness the passing and ensure that all matters of record and rite were duly observed.
In the course of the same time, the cellarer, who was not among the six, was preparing such provisions as are ordinarily set in readiness for the solemn refectory on 25 March, though its observance this year was deferred as you will recall, so it was Monday, 29 March, 1182 Anno Domini; yet while we stood in the infirmary attending the failing breath of Alexander of Appleton, there came upon us in haste a messenger from the cellars bearing word for the abbot of a grave disorder there, the specificity of which he would not say though the cellarer begged the abbot’s immediate presence to witness some scandal of which he was most insistant meritted attention moreso than our dearly departing brother.
Thus he died with only two witnesses, one of which was myself, and another of which mysteriously went missing from the abbey the following day; that is the aforementioned Alexander of Langley, the bearer who sealed the cause of death was ____.
Kyrie Eleison.
- Brother N.