The Name of the Rose

by

Umberto Eco

Abo is abbot of the unnamed Benedictine abbey in northern Italy. He asks William to discreetly investigate the murders before the arrival of the envoys from the pope and the Emperor, since he worries that the recent mysterious events will foster suspicion and undermine negotiations. Above all, he is obsessed with protecting the reputation of the abbey. William observes cynically that Abo would commit murder to ensure that the abbey remained respectable. Although at first Abo seems supportive of the investigation, he later becomes more secretive, and at the end of the novel, when William questions him about the unknown handwriting in the library catalogue, he asks him to stop this line of questioning, suggesting that preserving the appearance of order in they abbey may be more important to Abo than saving the lives of his monks. Abo dies when Jorge traps him inside the secret passageway to the finis Africae, where he suffocates.

Abo of Fossonova Quotes in The Name of the Rose

The The Name of the Rose quotes below are all either spoken by Abo of Fossonova or refer to Abo of Fossonova. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Interpretation of Signs Theme Icon
).
First Day Quotes

“Why,” he asked, “do you insist on speaking of criminal acts without referring to their diabolical cause?”

“Because reasoning about causes and effects is a very difficult thing, and I believe the only judge of that can be God. We are already hard put to establish a relationship between such an obvious effect as a charred tree and the lightning bolt that set fire to it, so to trace sometimes endless chains of causes and effects seems to me as foolish as trying to build a tower that will touch the sky.”

Related Characters: Abo of Fossonova (speaker), William of Baskerville
Page Number: 33
Explanation and Analysis:

[O]nly the librarian knows, from the collocation of the volume, from its degree of inaccessibility, what secrets, what truths or falsehoods, the volume contains. Only he decides how, when, and whether to give it to the monk who requests it; sometimes he first consults me. Because not all truths are for all ears, not all falsehoods can be recognized as such by a pious soul.

Related Characters: Abo of Fossonova (speaker), Malachi of Hildesheim
Related Symbols: The Finis Africae, The Forbidden Book
Page Number: 41
Explanation and Analysis:
Sixth Day Quotes

The language of gems is multiform: each expresses several truths, according to the sense of the selected interpretation, according to the context in which they appear. And who decides what is the proper context? You know, my boy, for they have taught you: it is authority, the most reliable commentator of all and the most invested with prestige, and therefore with sanctity. Otherwise how to avoid the misunderstandings into which the Devil lures us?

Related Characters: Abo of Fossonova (speaker), Jorge of Burgos
Page Number: 479
Explanation and Analysis:

“He wants me to leave tomorrow morning, does he? Very well, it’s his house; but by tomorrow morning I must know. I must.”

“You must? Who obliges you now?”

“No one ever obliges us to know, Adso. We must, that is all, even if we comprehend imperfectly.”

Related Characters: William of Baskerville (speaker), Abo of Fossonova
Related Symbols: The Forbidden Book
Page Number: 482
Explanation and Analysis:
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Abo of Fossonova Quotes in The Name of the Rose

The The Name of the Rose quotes below are all either spoken by Abo of Fossonova or refer to Abo of Fossonova. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
The Interpretation of Signs Theme Icon
).
First Day Quotes

“Why,” he asked, “do you insist on speaking of criminal acts without referring to their diabolical cause?”

“Because reasoning about causes and effects is a very difficult thing, and I believe the only judge of that can be God. We are already hard put to establish a relationship between such an obvious effect as a charred tree and the lightning bolt that set fire to it, so to trace sometimes endless chains of causes and effects seems to me as foolish as trying to build a tower that will touch the sky.”

Related Characters: Abo of Fossonova (speaker), William of Baskerville
Page Number: 33
Explanation and Analysis:

[O]nly the librarian knows, from the collocation of the volume, from its degree of inaccessibility, what secrets, what truths or falsehoods, the volume contains. Only he decides how, when, and whether to give it to the monk who requests it; sometimes he first consults me. Because not all truths are for all ears, not all falsehoods can be recognized as such by a pious soul.

Related Characters: Abo of Fossonova (speaker), Malachi of Hildesheim
Related Symbols: The Finis Africae, The Forbidden Book
Page Number: 41
Explanation and Analysis:
Sixth Day Quotes

The language of gems is multiform: each expresses several truths, according to the sense of the selected interpretation, according to the context in which they appear. And who decides what is the proper context? You know, my boy, for they have taught you: it is authority, the most reliable commentator of all and the most invested with prestige, and therefore with sanctity. Otherwise how to avoid the misunderstandings into which the Devil lures us?

Related Characters: Abo of Fossonova (speaker), Jorge of Burgos
Page Number: 479
Explanation and Analysis:

“He wants me to leave tomorrow morning, does he? Very well, it’s his house; but by tomorrow morning I must know. I must.”

“You must? Who obliges you now?”

“No one ever obliges us to know, Adso. We must, that is all, even if we comprehend imperfectly.”

Related Characters: William of Baskerville (speaker), Abo of Fossonova
Related Symbols: The Forbidden Book
Page Number: 482
Explanation and Analysis: