Chapter 7 Summary

Francis has endured seven years in the novitiate, scrubbing floors in the kitchen and studying antiquity, when a messenger arrives from New Rome. The Black Friar inquisitor, a kindly man, praises Arkos for prudently turning over investigation of the fallout shelter to his Dominican Order, to project objectivity. The Devil's Advocate, meanwhile, seeks to prove Emily Leibowitz is alive at the time of her husband's ordination, to cast doubt on his character. Francis' finds pinpoint the date of her death. When the visitor leaves, Arkos' attitude changes and Francis is professed an AOL monk. He is apprenticed to gentle, aged Brother Horner as a copyist. Horner allows his staff to fill time after their assignments are completed on pet projects rather than copying "perennials," those titles the clergy regularly demand. Brother Sarl's project is restoring missing words and phrases from damaged documents, using...