An old priest had come to visit a sick parishioner who lived in a lonely farmhouse in the west of Ireland.
He arrived on a freezing cold, horribly wet day and was greeted by the farmer and his two sons.
“Come in Father”, the farmer said. “My wife is through in the parlor. There’s a roaring fire in there that’ll warm the cockles of your heart”.
The farmer then called to his sones, “Finbar, bring the father a whiskey. Michael, shake the rain off the Father’s umbrella and bring it into the house”.
Well, no matter how much Michael fiddled with the umbrella, he couldn’t get it through the front door.
“Finbar, will you help me with this contraption, it’s too wide to come through the hallway”, he called.
“Don’t worry”, said the priest., “I’ll do it”.
So, the priest went out to the hallway, took the umbrella and pressed the catch which released the spring and the umbrella collapsed down.
“Did you see that”, said Finbar with complete reverence. “They certainly do have the power!”
Image used under a Collective Commons License from https://pixnio.com/media/beard-man-portrait-priest-retirement
