A group of Franciscan monks are furious over two recent thefts of rare and expensive bibles from the lectern of their 15th century church in Florence, Italy. So they took action, pinning up a note for their congregation in which they expressed hope that the thief would see the error in his ways and return the bibles. Should he not, however, they added:

"We pray to God that the thief is struck by a strong bout of the shits."

Approached for comment by a local paper, one of the monks explained:

"It is not exactly clean language, but we couldn't put up with it any longer. The Lord and the faithful will understand."

Veni Sancte Excreta. [Guardian, image via Shutterstock]