Chapter XCIV. Of a confession of his, making against hypocrisy

131. Once at the hermitage of Poggio,¹ about Christmas, when a large number of people had been called together to hear him preach, he prefaced his discourse with these words: "You believe me a holy man, and that is why you have come devoutly hither. But I confess to you that during all this fast I have been eating food seasoned with lard." In this way he often ascribed to pleasure what had rather been a concession to infirmity.