Lewis

But thirdly we have the view which St. Francis expressed by calling his body, ‘Brother Ass.’… Ass is exquisitely right because no one in his senses can either revere or hate a donkey. It is a useful, sturdy, lazy, obstinate, patient, lovable, and infuriating beast; deserving now the stick and now a carrot; both pathetically and absurdly beautiful. So the body.—Business of Heaven, p. 249.