William considered this misfortune a sign of God's will to stay in South Italy and spread the message of Christ.

The Catholic Encyclopedia states that Roger built a monastery opposite his palace at Salerno in order to have William always near him.

[1] The inflow of the faithful was for the priests the opportunity to exercise their ministry, and the hermit life that William sought was compromised.

His remains were buried in Goleto, where they stayed until they were transferred to Montevergine on September 2, 1807, as ordered by the king of Naples Gioacchino Murat.

[1] The most reliable source concerning William of Vercelli's life is the Legenda de vita et obitu sancti Guilielmi Confessoris et heremitae, written in the first half of the 13th century, thus shortly thereafter.

Hagiographer Tommaso Costo (1591) wrote that king Roger II of Sicily had heard about William of Montevergine, and thus he wanted to meet him.

[11][10] Hagiographer Tommaso Costo, as early as in the 16th century, dismissed the second part of the story, there being no mention of it in the main and most reliable source, the Legenda de vita et obitu sancti Guilielmi Confessoris et heremitae.