Chapter XV. Of the devout communities and monasteries which arose through… CHAPTER XV Of the devout communities and monasteries which arose through him
(1) HE everlasting wisdom of the Father, and His mercy from on High provided that there should be sent so great and good a man as Gerard as an ambassador from Heaven to aT world which was now growing old and ever turning to yet more evil courses: one who had put on the breastplate of faith and was sustained by righteousness of life, so that, through him, Holy Religion might be made to flourish again, and the devotion of Christian people, being oft instructed by his discourses, might again grow warm, continue in the worship of God and the observance of His commandments, and show works of mercy toward the poor.
To resist the malice of so many enemies, and to call souls that were perishing out of the deep darkness of sin into the light of Truth should seem to be a work for no unskilled man; but Gerard was deeply learned, one, moreover, who had made trial of many things, and to him the Grace of God gave the power of the word: for he was most fully instructed in heavenly doctrine and excelled other men in the virtue of his life: thus he was able to persuade his hearers to despise the world not only by words of human wisdom but even more by the example of his godly conversation.
Such was the inclination amongst the people to hear the Word of God, that the Church could scarcely contain the crowd that came together. Many left their food, and being drawn by an hunger after righteousness postponed their urgent business and ran together to hear his discourses: he often delivered two sermons in one day, and sometimes continued preaching for three hours or more when fervency of spirit took hold upon him. He preached 44 in the chief cities of the diocese of Utrecht, Deventer and Zwolle; in Kempen often, and in Utrecht itself before the assembled clergy; in the country of Holland at Leyden, Delft and Ghent; in Amsterdam (where he delivered his first sermon in the vulgar tongue) and in various other towns and well-known villages where he hoped to gather fruit and to bring forth new children for God. Blessed be God, Who sending His Holy Spirit from Above kindled the hearts of His faithful people, and mightily increased them, so that from the seed of a few converts there grew many companies of devout brethren and sisters who served
God in chastity; and to them several monasteries of monks and holy nuns owed the origin of their Godly life.
(2) It is the great glory of Master Gerard that by his preaching so great a tree was planted and watered, a tree which after his death, though but newly set in the ground, ceased not to flourish in the field of the Lord. Although this religious order and these communities of devout per sons were first planted in the nearer parts of Holland, Gelders and Brabant, they afterwards spread rapidly to the more remote regions of Flanders, Frisia, Westphalia and