A great number of these had sprung up in the eleventh and twelfth centuries; their reputation for sanctity soon stimulated the liberality of the faithful, and thus fatally brought about their own decadence.

Few communities had shown the discretion of the first monks of the Order of Grammont in the diocese of Limoges.

When Stephen de Muret, its founder, began to manifest his sanctity by giving sight to a blind man, his disciples took alarm at the thought of the wealth and notoriety which was likely to come to them from this cause.

Pierre of Limoges, who had succeeded Stephen as prior, went at once to his tomb, praying: "O servant of God, thou hast shown us the way of poverty, and behold, thou wouldst make us leave the strait and difficult path of salvation, and wouldst set us in the broad road of eternal death.

Thou hast preached to us (the virtues of) solitude, and thou art about to change this place into a fair and a market-place.