_ 146 _ One Saturday which was 23rd October(A), three or four months after summer(B), with the weather very calm and tranquil and with the sun declining, after mid-day suddenly the most extraordinary thunderstorm I have ever seen in my life hit the city. I must confess that there was a moment when I was really convinced that I had offended God. The storm, with lightening and heavy downpours of rain, brought terror and fright and made the College shake. A lightning bolt fell at the doorway of Sao Francisco and three or four in different parts of the city. We began praying with all the children singing litanies, begging Our Lord not to rebuke us in His wrath or punish us in His anger, it being certain that no-one living is righteous in His sight.(C) All these were preparations and preambles for the ordeal we were to experience the following Sunday, 24th of the said month(D) when, with the Mass of the day over, Lopes Lobato have described the victory of the Mohammedan Piri Re'is and the defeat of the Portuguese (Cf Schurhammer, Q 4898-4900). (A) The 22nd of October 1552 was a Saturday. (B) Cf notwithstanding Doc 85 note 58. (C) Psalms 142, 2. (D) 23rd October.
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