Minnesota monks gather ancient texts

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - In a vault beneath the frosty expanse of central Minnesota, the Benedictine monks of St. John's Abbey have amassed the world's most comprehensive collection of medieval texts on microfilm.

The monks have set a goal - they aim to photograph and catalog every page of every text written in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa before the invention of printing.

They want, in short, to preserve - on microfilm - the cultural heritage of Western civilization.

But there's plenty still out there.

"Enough to keep us going for another 500 years or so," said Father Eric Hollas. In the past 35 years, they have photographed more than 25 million pages.