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I came prepared to speak to you I really don’t know where I should begin I’ll start by taking off my glasses if you think this beard is false it isn’t I haven’t cut it for 22 years for the same reason that I don’t cut my nails to fulfill a sacred vow going further than necessary since the pledge was only set for twenty I haven’t cut my beard or my nails except for my toenails in honor of my sainted mother just because of that I’ve had to suffer indignities scorn and humiliation although I wasn’t bothering anyone only keeping a sacred promise made the day my mother died not to cut my beard or my nails for a period of twenty years paying homage to that sacred memory and to renounce the wearing of common clothing replacing it with this humble sackcloth Now I can tell you my secret the penance finally over and done with soon you’ll be able to see me in plain clothes again. en: Sermons and homilies of the Christ of Elqui . English translation by Sandra Reyes ; with a foreword by Miller Williams. Columbia, University of Missouri Press, 1984. 105 p
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