Play

El Clérigo Ignorante (The Ignorant Clergyman) is the ninth of the Milagros de Nuestra Señora (Miracles of Our Lady), a collection of poems written in the 13th century by Gonzalo de Berceo, the leading representative of the Mester de Clerecía.

Plot

A clergyman sang the same mass every day: the one dedicated to the Glorious Virgin.

The reason was that he knew no other, so the people accused him of ignorance before their bishop. The bishop rebuked him and forbade him to say Mass, leaving the clergyman full of sorrow and without means of subsistence.

He asks the Virgin for advice and help, and she takes his side by appearing before the bishop, whom she discredits and threatens. The terrified bishop reinstates the clergyman to his chaplaincy, where he will sing Mass to the Glorious Virgin until the end of his life.