Is there a modern day Eremitical way of life?

[Snerticus]

In the past, I had thought seriously of vocations. I am female and had thought about a strict habit-wearing order that was secluded in a cloister. But then I found out about the eremitical life, and was wondering if there was any modern day examples, and if it would be possible to enter this type of life in todays society. The thought of it is just so appealling to me.

I would expect there to be a lot of training and self discipline in such a way of life, something that would be hard for me as I’m past 40. But ever since learning about it, I just can’t stop thinking about it. Even after I stopped pursuing a vocation years ago.

Can anyone point me in a general (or specific) direction of where to start looking for info? I heard there was some sort of community in the Northeast USA that claimed to be eremitical.

Thanks so much for anyone’s (name removed by moderator)ut.
Snert

 

[CarmeliteGirl25]

In the past, I had thought seriously of vocations. I am female and had thought about a strict habit-wearing order that was secluded in a cloister. But then I found out about the eremitical life, and was wondering if there was any modern day examples, and if it would be possible to enter this type of life in todays society. The thought of it is just so appealling to me.

I would expect there to be a lot of training and self discipline in such a way of life, something that would be hard for me as I’m past 40. But ever since learning about it, I just can’t stop thinking about it. Even after I stopped pursuing a vocation years ago.

Can anyone point me in a general (or specific) direction of where to start looking for info? I heard there was some sort of community in the Northeast USA that claimed to be eremitical.

Thanks so much for anyone’s (name removed by moderator)ut.
Snert

Yes, there are modern day hermits. You would have to go about asking the Bishop of your diocese if he would admit you to the hermits. It’s very difficult to get started because, since you are not living in a community, they want to make sure that you are not medically or mentally unfit. You would have to be approved by the diocesan Bishop to live under Canon 603. I don’t know of the process, but here are a few websites with stories about modern day hermits:

culturalcatholic.com/hermitnun.htm

thecompletehermit.blogspot.com/2008/01/catholic-hermits-public-or-private.html

sentinel.org/node/6332

nytimes.com/2007/09/09/realestate/keymagazine/909HSHERMIT-t.html

This is a website by a nun who became a hermit. She lives in an apartment owned by the diocese:

notesfromstillsong.blogspot.com/2009/02/questions-regarding-what-is-catholic.html

And here is a question forum that may help you out:

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=177937

I hope this helps you. God bless you!

 

[Snerticus]

Thank you so much CarmeliteGirl25!

Your info should be enough to get me started. I may not end up there, but that way of life is just so interesting to me.

God Bless,
Snert

 

[Shin]

To be alone with God for near all of the rest of your life.
Isn’t it attractive?

Some orders begin a person in community life, and then after the person is of proven holiness, virtue and stability that person joins the eremetical part of the community that lives for the most part separate.

 

[CarmeliteGirl25]

Thank you so much CarmeliteGirl25!

Your info should be enough to get me started. I may not end up there, but that way of life is just so interesting to me.

God Bless,
Snert

You’re welcome!

 

[Cluny]

Generally speaking, training to be a hermit is EXACTLY what live in a cenobium (community) is supposed to be.

 

[catholicscot]

The Carthusian order is based on the concept of hermits living in community. That is most of the order most of the time are in solitude with God but come together for liturgy and, in some instances, work.

See more at chartreux.org/en/frame.html
and chartreux.org/en/NUN.HTM

Also you should see the film “Into Great Silence” focusing on the founding community of the order
youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=into+great+silence&aq=0&oq=%22into+gr

 

[CarmeliteGirl25]

The Carthusian order is based on the concept of hermits living in community. That is most of the order most of the time are in solitude with God but come together for liturgy and, in some instances, work.

See more at chartreux.org/en/frame.html
and chartreux.org/en/NUN.HTM

Also you should see the film “Into Great Silence” focusing on the founding community of the order
youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=into+great+silence&aq=0&oq=%22into+gr

The Camaldolese Benedictine nuns are another thing to consider. If you read the “Notes from the Stillsong Hermitage” website that I posted earlier, the nun there is affiliated with that order. Here is a website:

monastics.org/english/engl001.htm

 

[Cloisters]

In the past, I had thought seriously of vocations. I am female and had thought about a strict habit-wearing order that was secluded in a cloister. But then I found out about the eremitical life, and was wondering if there was any modern day examples, and if it would be possible to enter this type of life in todays society. The thought of it is just so appealling to me.

I would expect there to be a lot of training and self discipline in such a way of life, something that would be hard for me as I’m past 40. But ever since learning about it, I just can’t stop thinking about it. Even after I stopped pursuing a vocation years ago.

Can anyone point me in a general (or specific) direction of where to start looking for info? I heard there was some sort of community in the Northeast USA that claimed to be eremitical.

Thanks so much for anyone’s (name removed by moderator)ut.
Snert

Where do I begin?

The CCC states that there is such a thing as the eremitical way of life. The Code of Canon Law focuses more precisely on this with c. 603.

To become a c. 603 (“diocesan”) hermit is a long process. One must have a spiritual director. You will also have to discuss this with your bishop, to whom you will be making vows, and who will be your superior. A psychological test is also required. With the assistance of the spiritual director, the hermit-aspirant writes their own plan of life. This is a charism in and of itself.

You are permitted to wear a habit after consecration. During training, habit-wearing is one day a week for a year, inside only. There is no answering the door, no being seen through a window. Email and phone calls are ok, as is Daily Duty. E911 cases are to be decided according to circumstances. During this year the final version of your habit and plan of life–essentially, what works best for you–is decided.

The eremitical community you’re probably thinking of is Bethlehem Hermitage in PA. Many, many souls go there for discernment purposes, and the hermitages’ Plan of Life is available to the general public. There is also the Monastic Family of Bethlehem and the Assumption of the Virgin and St. Bruno in Livingston Manor, NY. The Hermit Sisters of Mary are in ID.

To correct the others, the “nun” mentioned at Stillsong Hermitage is Sr. Laurel, and she is a diocesan hermit for the Diocese of Oakland, CA. Properly speaking, “nuns” are in monastery and make solemn vows.

HTH.

Blessings,
Cloisters
Foundress
Cloisterite Hermits
cloisters.tripod.com/cloisterites/

 

[SRLAUREL]

In the past, I had thought seriously of vocations. I am female and had thought about a strict habit-wearing order that was secluded in a cloister. But then I found out about the eremitical life, and was wondering if there was any modern day examples, and if it would be possible to enter this type of life in todays society. The thought of it is just so appealling to me.

I would expect there to be a lot of training and self discipline in such a way of life, something that would be hard for me as I’m past 40. But ever since learning about it, I just can’t stop thinking about it. Even after I stopped pursuing a vocation years ago.

Can anyone point me in a general (or specific) direction of where to start looking for info? I heard there was some sort of community in the Northeast USA that claimed to be eremitical.

Thanks so much for anyone’s (name removed by moderator)ut.
Snert

Eremitical life is alive and well today. Not only are there congregations which have eremtical expressions (the Camaldolese is but one example), but lay hermits abound, and Canon 603 offers the possibility of diocesan eremitism (a form of solitary eremitsm which allows for Lauras) to those with a vocation to the consecrated state. There are plenty of resources out there. My own blog is one example (address given below). A canonist (Therese Ivers) who writes online has a blog addressing the differences between lay and consecrated (diocesan) eremitical life. If you wish to, you can always email me for more specific information.

 

[barb_finnegan]

I had a friend who was a Franciscan hermit. We met in 1980, when I was in the Third Order Franciscans. In his younger days, he had been a seminarian with the OFMs. Then he married, raised a family, and became a teacher. Whenever I saw him, he always wore his habit as a Third Order Franciscan-he must have had permission to wear it, because I always saw him with it on. He went to the Franciscans of the Atonement at Graymoor, NY many times on eremetical weekends.

In the late 1980s, his wife died. His children were already grown and gone out of the house. So he ‘stepped out in faith’ and started a long journey to find a place to live the eremetical life. He already had a spiritual director, a Franciscan priest. He found a log house on state-owned land outside the Hudson Valley town of Marlboro, NY.

I visited him several times in the 1990s in his hermitage. In the early years, he changed his habit from the long flowing one I always saw him wearing, to a modified short tunic and long pants [he called it his ‘Peter Pan’ outfit]. He resume wearing his long habit before he made his Profession. I attended his Profession of Vows in the spring of 1995, in the parish church of Marlboro. He attended Mass there, because he had no chapel in his hermitage. I had never attended such a Profession before-it was very moving. And I never saw him so happy!

A longtime heavy smoker, his later years were clouded by ill health. He had macular degeneration in his eyes, so he gave
up his hermitage-he couldn’t drive anymore. So he went to a Capuchin Franciscan monastery in Beacon, NY. I last saw him in 1998, when I was on vacation in the Hudson Valley. I visited him in his room in the infirmary of the monastery, then we went out to lunch, and we drove up to the retreat house in Wappingers Falls, NY, where we met in 1980.

He died in May, 2002 after a long battle with emphysema. I couldn’t attend his funeral, but in 2003 I made another trip to the Hudson Valley and found his grave in the Marlboro parish cemetery. He was buried next to his wife, and a daughter who died in a drowning accident-his daughter had the same first name as me. He was in his late 70s or early 80s.

He was a very dear friend-I always sent him cards at Christmas. He enclosed in his 2001 card a little St. Francis ornament. Once in a great while I would call him when he still lived in his hermitage.

I loved him like a brother-he was very outspoken in his opinions, especially on Church matters. You always knew where he stood! And he was funny, too!

 

[SRLAUREL]

By the way, the OP referred to lots of training, etc. In fact, I have found that generally the Church counts on people having the formation needed to live the life before she takes them seriously as candidates for Canon 603 eremitism. Individual dioceses may allow for or demand additional formation in houses in the diocese, or over time as the candidates work with a spiritual director, etc. If you have a background in religious life, you will generally fare better than someone with none. If you have access to monastic life, discipline, and practices, all the better. Still, even without these in your background initially it is possible to embrace an eremitical life. Under Canon 603 it will simply take more time (several years at least) before a diocese agrees to admit one to temporary profession, much less to perpetual vows. It remains true that the Church takes more care and time with eremitical vocations than with any other she needs to discern with the exception of priesthood, perhaps.

It may be that for folks without such a background entrance in a community is a better route than Canon 603, but it is a sine qua non of the life that one has a solid prayer life, is drawn to and capable of living a healthy solitude, understands the correlative relationship between contemplative and active lives, and embraces all these because one loves God, oneself, and all those others God cherishes in Christ. Dioceses will ensure all these are true before accepting a person as a serious candidate. On the other hand, it is also a truism that eremitical life is ordinarily a vocation of the second half of life so people who are older than 40 have a good chance of making the adjustment.

 

[SRLAUREL]

This is a website by a nun who became a hermit. She lives in an apartment owned by the diocese:

notesfromstillsong.blogspot.com/2009/02/questions-regarding-what-is-catholic.html

And here is a question forum that may help you out:

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=177937

I hope this helps you. God bless you!

Correction, the Diocese does not own my apartment, nor are diocesan hermits in ANY WAY subsidized by the Church. All contemporary Canon 603 hermits must be self-supporting in some manner and at perpetual profession it is not unusual to be asked to sign a waiver of liability which releases the diocese from any financial obligations in regard to the hermit or her activities.

 

[Shin]

Correction, the Diocese does not own my apartment, nor are diocesan hermits in ANY WAY subsidized by the Church. All contemporary Canon 603 hermits must be self-supporting in some manner and at perpetual profession it is not unusual to be asked to sign a waiver of liability which releases the diocese from any financial obligations in regard to the hermit or her activities.

Can you get a religious organization exemption from taxes, such as property taxes for example?

 

[SRLAUREL]

Can you get a religious organization exemption from taxes, such as property taxes for example?

A perpetually professed diocesan (canonical) hermit can get non-profit status, but I don’t know the details of that, nor the benefits of doing so. Some dioceses recommend this and may even assist with it to some extent. I think these are rare. Mine did not, so members of the newly formed Network of Diocesan Hermits may help one another with such matters if they have experience and expertise.

 

[CarmeliteGirl25]

Correction, the Diocese does not own my apartment, nor are diocesan hermits in ANY WAY subsidized by the Church. All contemporary Canon 603 hermits must be self-supporting in some manner and at perpetual profession it is not unusual to be asked to sign a waiver of liability which releases the diocese from any financial obligations in regard to the hermit or her activities.

Why did I think that was you? Sorry! There was another hermit I read about that was in the situation I described, but I can’t remember which.

 

[CarmeliteGirl25]

Correction, the Diocese does not own my apartment, nor are diocesan hermits in ANY WAY subsidized by the Church. All contemporary Canon 603 hermits must be self-supporting in some manner and at perpetual profession it is not unusual to be asked to sign a waiver of liability which releases the diocese from any financial obligations in regard to the hermit or her activities.

Are there any other hermits that are professed that are not under Canon 603? I believe I read about a hermit that was living in an apartment that was owned by the diocese, unless I read something about a priest… I need to go back and check.

 

[Snerticus]

The Carthusian order is based on the concept of hermits living in community. That is most of the order most of the time are in solitude with God but come together for liturgy and, in some instances, work.

See more at chartreux.org/en/frame.html
and chartreux.org/en/NUN.HTM

Also you should see the film “Into Great Silence” focusing on the founding community of the order
youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=into+great+silence&aq=0&oq=%22into+gr

LOL, I have seen that movie from Netflix. I liked it so much, I bought the DVD! I also realize it was on EWTN, but I had already seen it at that time. If I was a male, I’d consider something like that, as well as becoming a hermit.

There is a Cistercian community in Tucson, and someone had recommended that to me. Is that another type of order that lives in solitude? They do give retreats, so I’m thinking not.

It’s just that I’m over the age that most communities will accept and also I have some financial obstacles and an anullment to overcome, so I’m not sure if or when I would be ready to take any type of religious vows. Is there an age limit to become a hermit?

When I was younger and still living in my parent’s house, my next door neighbor would hardly ever see me. When she did on occasion, she would call me “the hermit”. I never took that as a bad thing. For some reason I kind of liked that nickname. But at that time, I didn’t equate hermit with a religious person. I don’t think my neighbor did either.

 

[Snerticus]

By the way, the OP referred to lots of training, etc. In fact, I have found that generally the Church counts on people having the formation needed to live the life before she takes them seriously as candidates for Canon 603 eremitism. Individual dioceses may allow for or demand additional formation in houses in the diocese, or over time as the candidates work with a spiritual director, etc. If you have a background in religious life, you will generally fare better than someone with none. If you have access to monastic life, discipline, and practices, all the better. Still, even without these in your background initially it is possible to embrace an eremitical life. Under Canon 603 it will simply take more time (several years at least) before a diocese agrees to admit one to temporary profession, much less to perpetual vows. It remains true that the Church takes more care and time with eremitical vocations than with any other she needs to discern with the exception of priesthood, perhaps.

It may be that for folks without such a background entrance in a community is a better route than Canon 603, but it is a sine qua non of the life that one has a solid prayer life, is drawn to and capable of living a healthy solitude, understands the correlative relationship between contemplative and active lives, and embraces all these because one loves God, oneself, and all those others God cherishes in Christ. Dioceses will ensure all these are true before accepting a person as a serious candidate. On the other hand, it is also a truism that eremitical life is ordinarily a vocation of the second half of life so people who are older than 40 have a good chance of making the adjustment.

Your posts are very informative! Thank you so much!

I am the type of person who has become more of a contemplative as I have gotten older. I can sit for hours in contemplation and the time will hardly seem to go by. Hours will go by and it will have seemed like I just sat down to pray.

On the other aspect, one of solitary life, I already live that type of life, one could say. I long for a life in solitude, but I understand as a lay person that it is looked upon as unhealthy, so I “have to keep up appearances” so to speak. I’d rather not, but I don’t want to seem anti-social. I go out as little as possible, though. I love to pray and to be totally absorbed in the Lord, but because of recent financial problems, and the stress of being a union steward at work, worry creeps in and causes all sorts of havoc in my prayer life. I try, I really do. And I try to talk to God all day even if it’s for a few seconds here and there at work or on the way to and from there. At home, it’s a bit better, but I still carry that worry with me. Before I became union steward, life at work was perfect with regards to being as stress-free as possible. I was much more prayerful, even though I still had my financial problems. I have considered leaving the steward position to someone else to get back on track in my prayer life, but unfortunately it is a large place where I work and there is only one other steward who, unfortunately, is quite ill at the moment and needs to go in for surgery any day now. I would be the only steward and if I left, no one would have ready availablity to a steward if a problem arose.

As far as training goes, I meant in my OP that one would have to go through rigorous testing and training, psychological especially, to see if one was indeed cut out for the eremitical life. I have longed for that type of life for a long while now, even though I didn’t realize what exactly it was called way back when I was in my 20’s. However, all that said, I understand that just becuase I think I would like it or need it, doesn’t mean that it is cut out for me. I would have to research it more fully and speak to many in my diocese. And of course, those obstacles I mentioned in my other post would have to be taken care of even before serious consideration. However, research into it while I resolve those issues seems to be the remedy for my longing at this point.

Thanks all for your responses. They have helped me immensely.

God Bless,
Snert

 

[SRLAUREL]

Are there any other hermits that are professed that are not under Canon 603? I believe I read about a hermit that was living in an apartment that was owned by the diocese, unless I read something about a priest… I need to go back and check.

If they are publicly professed canonical hermits and are solitary as opposed to living as part of a congregation (not the same as a Laura), then they are Canon 603. There is no other provision in Canon law than these. Lay hermits are a different matter, and may or may not have private vows. However, they remain part of the lay rather than the consecrated states, and do not have either the same legitimate rights or responsibilities as a diocesan (C 603) hermit despite the similarity in the way they live. On the other hand, their vocations may speak to other lay persons in the way a diocesan hermit’s cannot do quite as well.

If the hermit you are speaking of is using a diocese-owned apartment, that would be unusual (especially if the diocese is subsidizing her in any way), but again, under Canon 603 she is really responsible for her own support if she is a diocesan hermit. Exceptions may be made from time to time (and they may muddy the waters considerably!), but the general rule remains the same. All my best.