poor as a church mouse

Etymology
Alteration of earlier, from the fact that Catholic and Orthodox priests are called to scrupulously prevent any crumb of the sacrament of Eucharist (the bread which is understood to be Christ's body) from falling on the altar or to the ground, meaning that church mice had no crumbs to feed on.

Which seems to be a corruption of the even earlier expression “as quiet as a church mouse” from the 1300s.

Phrase

 * 1)  Very poor, to the point of starving or begging; utterly destitute.
 * 2) * 1844, a Mouse (sic), Le Peuple Souriquois: An Historical Sketch, in The New Monthly Magazine and Humorist, vol. 71, pt. 2, page 428
 * But to return to our public functions; that we have had a decided turn for the church appears from the fact that the church-mouse is a recognised order amongst us, and it is our just pride that we alone have preserved the genuine character of the institution as founded by the Apostles, inasmuch as our poverty has passed into a proverb— "as poor as a church-mouse."
 * But to return to our public functions; that we have had a decided turn for the church appears from the fact that the church-mouse is a recognised order amongst us, and it is our just pride that we alone have preserved the genuine character of the institution as founded by the Apostles, inasmuch as our poverty has passed into a proverb— "as poor as a church-mouse."

Translations

 * Arabic:
 * Breton: paour evel ur razh-iliz
 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin:
 * Czech: chudý jako kostelní myš
 * Danish: fattig som en kirkerotte
 * Dutch: geen nagel hebben om zijn gat mee af te krabben, zo arm als Job, zo arm als een kerkrat
 * Finnish: ,
 * French: ,
 * German: arm wie eine Kirchenmaus
 * Greek:, ζάφτωχος, δεν έχει μία
 * Hungarian:
 * Italian: povero in canna
 * Japanese: 教会のネズミのように貧しい, 非常に貧しい
 * Norwegian:
 * Bokmål:
 * Polish: ,
 * Portuguese:
 * Russian: бе́дный как церко́вная мышь
 * Saterland Frisian: äärm as n Säärkenmúus
 * Spanish: más pobre que una rata
 * Swedish:, fattig som en råtta, fattig som en lus
 * Vietnamese:
 * Walloon: