Of this institution Gerard became guardian or provost at a date not later than 110o; and here he organized that religious order of St John which received papal recognition from Paschal II.
The regular clergy were if possible worse than the secular, with the exception of the Paulicians, the sole religious order which steadily resisted the general corruption, of whose abbot, the saintly Gregory, was the personal friend of Matthias.
He was christened Filippo, and took the name Giordano only on entering a religious order.
In the 12th century this discipline became universal among them; and sa arose the order of Augustinian canons as a religious order in the strict sense of the word.
The portrait prefixed to the Leipzig edition of her works is a striking one, representing a handsome, intellectual-looking woman, dressed in the garb of some religious order.
