John of Matha, a young nobleman, a native of Provence, and doctor of divinity, who was later ordained priest, having heard of the holy hermit of Cerfroid, sought him out, and put himself under his direction.

Felix and John set out for Rome in the depth of winter and arrived there in January 1198, the beginning of the pontificate of Innocent III.

Innocent appointed John of Matha superior-general and commissioned the Bishop of Paris and the Abbot of Saint Victor to draw up for the institute a rule, which he subsequently confirmed.

[5] Margaret of Blois donated 20 acres (81,000 m2) of the wood where Felix had built his first hermitage, and on almost the same spot he erected the famous Monastery of Brumetz, the motherhouse of the Order.

John was obliged to go to Rome to found a house of the Order, the church of which, Santa Maria in Navicella, still stands on the Caelian Hill.

He founded a house in Paris attached to the Church of Saint Maturinus, which afterwards became famous under Robert Guguin, master general of the order.