Young monk has the task....

[osprey]

of copying old volumes of work that many other monks have copied before him. After a couple of weeks, he approaches an elder monk and asks, ''How do we know that what we are copying has been copied correctly?'' The elder monk is taken aback by this as no-one had thought of it before, so he asks to see the abbot who then goes into the crypt in search of the original works. He isn't seen for a couple of days, so the elder monk goes in search of him. After searching for 30 odd minutes he eventually hears the sound of weeping coming from a dark corner of the crypt. He goes over and finds the abbot sitting at a desk with his head in his hands sobbing. ''What is wrong, Father?'' he asks. After a minute or so the abbot raises his head and says sorrowfully, ''It's not celibate, it's celebrate''.