Vardö states, ‘when the magistrate arrived’ after Christmas to collect the usual tax, or, as it was called, the ‘Nordfjeldskat.’ From Bomeni they went to Petschengafjord. At the mouth of the fjord, at Warehouse Bay, or, as the Vardö letter calls it, ‘at Wickits,’ was the monks’ shipyard. Here they set fire to the houses, and burnt all the boats which they did not require. At the head of the bay was St. Mary’s Church. This they also set on fire, after having plundered the treasures which they found in it. From thence they crossed the river to the monastery itself. They reached it on the day before Christmas, 1589, during the night, and while the office of Nocturns was being recited in the church, and at the very time when Ambrose was about to take the vows. Most of the monks were assembled in the church. A great many of the work-people also were there, for everyone wanted to be present when a man who was so highly esteemed by them all was to take his final vows. Fifteen of the monks appear to have been absent from the monastery when it was attacked, and thus they escaped death. Probably the monks who were at the monastery had received intelligence of the ravages of the hostile troops, and had done what was possible by way of defending themselves, but evidently they had not anticipated an attack quite so soon. The solemn consecration had begun, and at ten o’clock at night Ambrose entered the outer church. There he took off the ordinary clothes which he had been wearing, and stood with only his hair-shirt on him, without stockings, shoes, girdle, and with his head uncovered. This was an indication that he had now completely renounced everything in the world. Then the assembled brothers approached him, each one bearing a lighted taper in his hand as a symbol of the Gospel approaching the penitent soul. He then joined in with their voices, and sang the hymn: ‘Lord, receive me in thy Fatherly embrace.’ At the entrance of the chancel the president of the monastery met him ‘as a father at the threshold of his house,’ and delivered a charge to him, in which he adjured him ‘to open his heart, and to give heed to the voice of the Lord, which now was calling on him to take His easy yoke upon him. He must not forget that while with joy and trembling he made his vows, the Saviour Himself, and the Mother of God, and all the host of heaven, would hear each word he spoke, and that those words would resound again before him, at the resurrection at the last day.’ Having entered the chancel, Ambrose knelt down, turning towards the Superior and the Brothers, who stood in a semi-circle before him. The Superior then inquired of him, ‘Wherefore art thou come hither, my brother, and art kneeling before this sanctuary, and before the sacred Brotherhood?’ He responded: ‘From the desire to lead a holy life of self-renunciation.’ ‘Dost thou desire to be reckoned worthy of being received as a monk, and a partner of the Brethren’s sacred company?’