Chapter XI. Of his austerity in food and clothing doublet, how old they were, to which he replied: "This thicker garment which I wear outside, is more than nine years old, but this thinner one, which I wear beneath it, I have had for two years only." "And how long," said his questioner, "hast thou worn thy doublet?" To which Gerard replied, "One of them is twelve years old, the other only three." Thus he could say with holy David in his faithful prayers to God, "See my abjection and my labour, and forgive me all my sins."
(7) The humble Master following after poverty, remembered what manner of man he had been while in the world when he had loved luxury; wherefore it behoved him in justice to make amends for his former courses by the opposite manner of living; of old he used to go forth clad in fair attire and with a silvern girdle: and while among the canons, he had worn a sumptuous surplice and a fair almuce: likewise he had indulged his body with delicate food and with costly wines; but afterward being changed into another man, he did not suffer his former indulgences to go unpunished. He prostrated himself beneath the feet not only 30 of his elders and men in high esteem, but also beneath those of the youngest lay folk, sometimes eating in their presence upon the bare earth, for he said, "I am not worthy to sit at meat with you, for I am a sinner beyond all men and have offended God." He who had been wont to anoint his head, and delicately to tire his hair, would afterward in his own despite wear an old moth-eaten biretta which was pierced with near to an hundred holes.
Thus he did great violence upon himself, subdued the flesh, despised the world and bruised the head of the old Serpent, not permitting his passions to rule over him. He ever walked upon the path of humility under the leadership of Christ, and conformed his life by rule to the pattern of the Saints of old.