STRANGER. Is it true that he's so old?
CONFESSOR. He's reached an unusual age. He was born at the beginning of the century that's now nearing its end.
STRANGER. Has he always been in the monastery?
CONFESSOR. No. He's not always been a monk, though always a priest. Once he was a minister, but that was seventy years ago. Twice curator of the university. Archbishop.... 'Sh! Mass is over.
STRANGER. I presume he's not the kind of unprejudiced priest who pretends to have vices when he has none?
CONFESSOR. Not at all. But he's seen life and mankind, and he's more human than priestly.
STRANGER. And the fathers?
CONFESSOR. Wise men, with strange histories, and none of them alike.
STRANGER. Who can never have known life as it's lived....
CONFESSOR. All have lived their lives, more than once; have suffered shipwreck, started again, gone to pieces and risen once more. You must wait.