In one of his sermons in Mexico City, while exhorting his listeners to repent their sins, Serra took out his chain, bared his shoulders and started whipping himself. Many parishioners, roused by the spectacle, began sobbing. Finally, a man climbed to the pulpit, took the chain from Serra's hand and began whipping "him"self, declaring: "I am the sinner who is ungrateful to God who ought to do penance for my many sins, and not the padre , who is a saint." The man kept whipping himself until he collapsed. After receiving the last sacraments, he later died from the ordeal.