In this vision he received a paper on which there was a representation of the Blessed Virgin seated on a throne with a figure of the child Jesus in her hands, and bearing the inscription, "Lamb of God who takest away the sins of the world give us peace".
An association was to be formed whose members should bind themselves to keep and procure peace and, as distinctive signs, wear a white hood and a medal bearing a reproduction of the picture and inscription.
The Capuciati, in addition to pledging themselves not to swear falsely, not to blaspheme, not to play dice, enter taverns, or wear costly garments, also promised to do all in their power to restore and maintain peace.
Their endeavours in this line were not ineffectual, an overwhelming defeat which the "Routiers", or undisciplined bands of soldiery of the period, sustained in 1183 must be largely ascribed to the co-operation of the Capuciati with the French royal army.
Medievalist Richard Landes notes that a later and hostile ecclesiastical chronicler expressed a harsh "augustinian" attitude towards the behavior of the peasants because they challenged seigneurial dominance in their short lived attempt at reform.