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Good Lord... had he ever been able to do this stuff? The translation process was much more difficult than Sam thought. As he pored over the reference, the root form of the verbs took shape, but only after he "filled in the blanks" with his own inferences about the meaning of verb forms which didn't make sense when applied literally. The verse was starting to take form, and it was actually quite beautiful. Little by little, he translated the words and wrote them down, and after a few hours, he came up with the following transcript:
Sint pura cordis intima, May the inmost recesses of the heart be pure,
Absistat et vecordia; And may folly cease;
Carnis terat superbiam May the sparing use of food and drink
Potus cibizue parcitas. Wear down the pride of the flesh.
Ut cum dies abscesserit, That when the day has departed,
Noctemque sors reduxerit, And Providence has brought back the night,
Mundi per abstinentiam Still pure by virtue of abstinence
Ipsi canamus gloriam. We may sing His glory.
Sam read the words over and over, looking for hidden meaning. Was it a warning, and if it was, from whom? Clearly, the fact that it was written in Latin was a clue. But why would a priest have the motivation to send such a message to him? It would certainly seem to be out of character for Father Flannery, given his vocation. The reference of the verse was undeniably centered amidst issues of abstinence. In the Catholic Church, the word abstinence referred to a several different issues. Of course, in lay terms, abstinence has referred to the cessation of sexual relations during certain periods, but the correlation of fasting and abstinence took on an entirely different meaning in the Church.
Abstinence, in this sense, could mean restriction of eating meat during Lent. There would be no reason for the priest to be concerned about his diet, so the issue had to be a relationship of some sort. Could he possibly be jealous because he had walked in and misconstrued the meeting between Sam and Esther? Chances are that his meaning of abstinence wouldn't be directed toward sexual abstinence. Even if he did, why would he be jealous, unless... The thought that entered Sam’s mind was vile and he chastised himself for thinking it. Besides, even if it were true, Father Flannery would have to be a pure fool to send a veiled threat to anyone in the tongue of the mother church. Sam dismissed the thought and exhaled deeply. He knew that the message had to have come from Sidney, but why had it been sent to him?
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