Having reached the end of my sinners life, waiting to be lost in the bottomless pit of the silent deserted divinity; in this cell of the beloved monastery of Melk, confined now with my heavy, ailing body, I prepare to leave on this parchment my testimony as to the wondrous and terrible events that I happened to observe in my youth.

 

The Lord grants me the grace of giving faithful testimony of the events that took place in an abbey which name I prefer to cover with a pious mantle of silence; It was by the end of 1327, when my father decided that I accompany William of Occam, wise Franciscan monk who was about to initiate a mission which would take us to many famous cities and ancient abbeys. This way I converted at the same time in his amanuensis and disciple; and I did not have to repent, because with him I was witness of events worth being registered to leave to those who will come. This way, while days were passing by and I was knowing my master better, we reached the mount where the abbey was built up.

 

Now it is about time that, as we did then, my statement approaches that mount too, and may my hand remain steady as I prepare to tell what happened…

 

Adso of Melk