Recently I was looking through some notes on a group of monasteries in medieval Galicia (Spain). A dispute between one community and the local bishop led to violence. When the abbot refused to do as the bishop wanted, a band of "heavies" was sent to an outlying grange of the monastery. They entered while the monks were at prayer and began laying about them, cutting off the feet of one monk and the noses and ears of others (a hideous death in a world without modern medical care). The bishop led the raid himself and apparently wielded his sword as cruelly as any of the others. The monks who were killed were lay brothers: they probably knew very little of the abbot's decisions, had no influence, and were unarmed. The parallels with what is happening in Mumbai are obvious. To attack and kill defenceless people is not new, but there is something immensely sad about terrorism, not only for the victims but also for the perpetrators. If current speculation proves right, and those responsible for the killing in Mumbai are some kind of extremist Islamists, it is more than sad. It is blasphemous. Let us pray for everyone caught up in this horror.