Chapter XVII. How he was Ashamed to See Any One Poorer Than Himself

Once when he had come on a certain poor man, considering his poverty, he said to his fellow, "The poverty of that man brings great shame upon us, and much rebukes ours. For very great shame it is to me when I find any one poorer than I am: since I have chosen holy poverty for my Lady, and for my spiritual and bodily riches: and this saying has gone out into the whole world, that I have professed poverty before God and man."