OF a trick played upon the Prior of Modena and his monks by an ass which got into the church one night.
YOU must know that in the venerable convent of St. Domenico at Modena (Fra Agostino Moro being prior at that time, as doubtless you are aware) there happened to be an excellent preacher on the third day of Easter. All through Lent he had preached to the general satisfaction of the whole city, and was now about to take leave of his congregation with such rites and ceremonies as preachers commonly adopt. When it got about that this was the Father's farewell sermon, all folk flocked to the church, so that it seemed as if the day were one of plenary indulgence. So hot and stifling had the church become with the crowd and the breath of so many men and women, that when the sermon was over (it had lasted from dinner-time to four o'clock) the friars found it passing difficult to chant vespers and compline together.
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