Did an angel speak?

Did someone just fart? (rhetorical)

This is a humorous way of alluding to a fart that cannot be overheard when in company. It appears in James Joyce's "Portrait of the Artist of a Young Man" when a group of students are discussing various philosophical issues. One of them farts and another of the group asks him: "Did an angel speak?". It is also defined on FartNames.com as "any loud fart in church". Joyce obviously used it humorously, aware of its religious connotations.