At breakfast Abbot Napp surrounded himself with novices and pupils, who found it easy to be in his presence, when they had to opportunity, which was not often. Abbot Napp was a busy man. On orders from Rome the Archbishop of Prague had asked the Bishop of Brno to investigate the quality of the spiritual life in all the Augustinian monasteries located in Bohemia and Moravia. Bishop Schaffgotsche welcomed the opportunity to settle old scores with Abbot Napp. He had never forgotten the "embarrassment he and his office had suffered when six rebellious monks from Napp's monastery had petitioned the Constitutional Assembly in Vienna. If it had not been for some timely information supplied by Brother Timothy... Bishop Schaffgotsche shuddered at the thought.
Now it was his turn. First, a list of pointed questions was sent to all the monasteries, especially St. Thomas's, asking them to justify their mission and explain how the Word of God was being delivered to their flock. Abbot Napp had sensed the Bishop's trap, and replied with a vigorous defense of the scientific objectives of his monastery and the role of his monks as teachers in the community. Unsatisfied with Napp's response, the Bishop had then made his visit to St Thomas's, bringing with him a determination to find fault where ever he could. This had been a visit that all the monks would remember for many years. When it was all over, the Bishop had written a scathing report in which he stated quite bluntly that Abbot Napp was over extended and held so many public offices that he was unable to devote sufficient attention to his main spiritual responsibilities and to the running of his monastery.
Napp was still fighting the fallout from this devastating attack and so had little time for his novices. This morning, however, was an exception, and Mendel watched the Abbot from the end of his table, while he ate his frugal breakfast. Napp, who enjoyed his meals no matter what the circumstances, engaged the youngest members of the monastery in hearty debate. That morning the topics ranged from politics to piety, and the conversation was lively. Brother Gregory, still recovering from yesterday's events, did not join in and retired quickly to his rooms. He did not want to get involved in politics and it looked like Abbot Napp would be too busy to devote much time to science.
The Augustinian monastery had been forced out of its splendid, central location during Emperor Josef II's attacks on the church in 1783. They had moved to a building on the outskirts of the city that had once housed Cistercian nuns. Unfortunately, the building and church were over 400 years old and in a serious state of decay. The expense of make the place habitable had left the once rich religious order quite bankrupt. Their money, however had been well spent. Each monk was allotted spacious quarters which, depending on status, were usually two well furnished rooms.