Lent, Dyslexia Drove Monk to Destruction
A dyslexic British monk, driven to despair by the monastic rigors of Lent and his reading disorder, was fined $30 Thursday for stealing a 30-ton truck laden with bricks and crashing it into a traffic island.
Michael Brims, 25, a neophyte at St. Hugh’s Charterhouse Monastery, said he had been depressed by the harsh regimen of Lent, when the monks on a bare subsistence diet were roused from sleep to pray at odd hours of the night.
His lawyer said Brims’ suffering was exacerbated by dyslexia, which frustrated his efforts to read the Bible.
The court was told the fine would be picked up by the monastery, since Brims was under a vow of poverty.
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