He seems to have desired to form a rule of hermits, but met with much opposition.
In the Woldeba district hermits dress in ochre-yellow cloths, while the priests of some sects wear hides dyed red.
But the darkest period was succeeded by the dawn of a reformation; travelling logicians were willing to maintain these against all the world; whilst here and there ascetics strove to raise themselves above the gods, and hermits earnestly sought for some satisfactory solution of the mysteries of life.
The Greek and Latin name was first used of the hermits, but was early widened to embrace the coenobites.
The Reformation and later revolutions have destroyed most of the houses of Augustinian Hermits, so that now only about a hundred exist in various parts of Europe and America; in Ireland they are relatively numerous, having survived the penal times.
