How to be a hermit
How to be a hermit.
This is one of the most commented on pages of my previous website, so I have copied it directly with a few updates. I hope you still find it useful.
I occasionally receive enquiries from folk asking for advice or support in pursuing their own vocation to the hermitage, so I put this page together. The information here is purely of a practical nature, and I write only from my own experience in the UK; it is not exhaustive, and things may be different in your locale and circumstances. I may add to it from time to time. Please let me know if you have further (practical) information which might be included.
The call to hermitage is often a gradual realisation, a growing affinity with solitude, a desire to know God in the ordinariness of simply being alive. It is a call which is falling on increasingly receptive ears. By nature, it is a very individual call, and each individual will realise it in a different way depending upon personal inspiration and circumstance.
I hope you will not be put off by the apparent lack of a support structure around the vocation. It is one of the great joys and freedoms that each one of us interprets the call to hermitage in such a different ways– it is essentially, perhaps, a call to “solitary living in the conscious presence of God”, though I know of hermits who live in small communities as well, so even the solitude is not a given!
You will find that much of the information on this page boils down to, “you have to work it out for yourself”. Please don’t be put off by that. It might take time – longer than you expect – and the solutions might appear to be at odds with any romantic ideals you might have been nursing at the outset, but with determination, a good dose of pragmatism, and a sense of adventure, all things are possible.
By way of encouragement, I discovered (after I had been here 10 years!) that the journey of getting to my hermitage (which took me 15 years) has become a part of the sort of hermit that I am. So don’t feel that the eremitical life only begins once you step over the threshold of your hermitage. This long search and struggle for stability is the beginning of it. God is with you.
I hope this page is helpful.
Canon 603
§1 Besides institutes of consecrated life the Church recognizes the eremitic or anchoritic life by which the Christian faithful devote their life to the praise of God and salvation of the world through a stricter separation from the world, the silence of solitude and assiduous prayer and penance.
§2 A hermit is recognized in the law as one dedicated to God in a consecrated life if he or she publicly professes the three evangelical counsels [i.e. chastity, poverty and obedience], confirmed by a vow or other sacred bond, in the hands of the diocesan bishop and observes his or her own plan of life under his direction.”
State of Life
There are very many different ways of living as a hermit within the Roman Catholic Church. A hermit can live anonymously, without being “recognised in the law” (of the church), or they can choose to make some sort of commitment, either privately or publicly. If public, this would usually be into the hands of the local ordinary (bishop). Again, the type of commitment can vary by arrangement with the ordinary.
A bishop will usually expect you to have devised a “rule of life” for yourself before accepting your vows. (more on that later).
If you are considering the possibility of becoming a “canonical” hermit by profession of the Evangelical Counsels you will need to refer to Canon 640ff (“canonical profession” simply means, “profession with reference to the Canons”) which describes the process and requirements (basically a minimum of one year’s discernment, one year’s postulancy, 2 years novitiate, 5 years simple profession – Cor Orans 2018). Or you might be able to come to some other arrangement with your bishop and still be professed, but not canonically…
There is no “hierarchy” of hermitage – no single type of commitment is more valid or worthy than another. Neither a canonical hermit nor a professed hermit , nor a privately vowed hermit is a “better” hermit than one who has taken no vows at all. Most hermits (from the little information which is available) are living simple, anonymous, solitary lives without advertisement.
Rule of Life
This is a guide for daily living. It should be useful rather than beautiful (though it can be both!). Some hermits prefer to adapt monastic rules, or a rule from a religious order to which they feel an affinity. Rules can be of varying length and detail– I have found the primary usefulness of mine to be a reference point for decision making; others might look for something which will more definitively structure their day. From experience I would caution against anything too rigid – it is likely you will be chief cook and bottle washer .. and porter .. and gardener. You will need to have the flexibility to respond easily to circumstance. I would suggest that drawing up a rule might be one of the occupations towards the end of your “novitiate” – when you have more of a feel for how you will live in hermitage. It can take quite a long time – years even – and it may well need reviewing a few times before you are quite comfortable that it fully reflects your way of living a hermitage life. We each do it so very differently!
Hermitage and living expenses
Whichever route you take, vowed or un-vowed, you will usually be expected to be self-supporting. There is no centralised source of practical nor financial support for hermits, nor any register of empty-hermitages-seeking-occupants, not in the UK anyway. You will need to find your own living place and some sort of income to pay the bills etc. Many hermits have a working life behind them & so are able to provide their own accommodation. Others are “donated” accommodation in return for caretaker or similar duties, or persuade a convent or monastery or other religious community to loan them an outhouse in return for labour. You have to be pretty pragmatic, determined, and prepared to explore lots of avenues! It isn’t easy.
In terms of work, and support from the state: in civil law you are expected to support yourself in the same way as everyone else. You can look for, and express a preference for work which enables you to work alone, but there is no special exemption which entitles you to benefits or financial support if you refuse to work at all, just because the work offered isn’t hermitage-friendly.
You may have the skills to earn a living from your hermitage – eg. book-keeping, accountancy, copy-writing, web design etc. all of which which might be financially viable ways of earning a living from your front room. Realistically, some of the more menial jobs like cleaning work and ground maintenance are usually plentiful and reasonably suitable as most cleaners/gardeners seem to work in solitude even if they are part of a team. (I worked as a solitary care assistant to a profoundly disabled woman for 5 years in her own home, which worked out very well). You may find previous skills can be adjusted to become more hermit-friendly eg. my teaching experience still provides a firm basis for occasional private tutoring.
From experience, the pursuit of the artisanal work traditionally associated with hermits and monastics, does not provide a reliable, nor sufficient source of income – not to an unknown hermit – unless you are at the top of your artisanal game and already earning a living this way. Many of these types of activities which help support established monastic communities are reliant on the regular footfall of associates and affiliates to the communities, and the publicity which is inherent in their longstanding, their USP, and the loyalty of their local churches. If it works for you – then great! But if you are just setting out and hoping to make your living from weaving baskets all day, then I would advise you to have a plan B to fall back on. Sometimes God’s providence makes itself best known in the guise of a bit of realistic and prudent forethought.
Spiritual support
If you are seriously exploring a vocation to hermitage then it would be wise to enlist the support of a spiritual director. The life of the solitary can throw any number of oddities and curve balls at you, and it is as well to have some one you can freely consult and who will be able to advise you. Try and find someone with a mature and committed prayer life of their own, who will take you, and hermitage, seriously, who is not in awe of the solitary life, and who will not pander to your whims and fancies!
And finally!
This may not have been the sort of information you were hoping for. Launching into hermitage is not the same as entering an established religious order – there is none of the security and stability which might be found in other forms of consecrated life. It is an adventure with God which will require of you every last wit and ingenuity. I pray and hope for God’s blessing on you.
In prayer, in God.
Rachel (Hermit of the Diocese of Nottingham)
God’s blessings, Rachel:
I’ve been wondering how you are, if you are holding up by the power of God to the physical challenges you were having at one time or perhaps yet are, causing you to move to another location a couple or more years ago to be nearer medical facilities, and I believe, your mother’s home. I’m a Catholic hermit, consecrated but of the traditional, historic mode, privately professed as had been customary for centuries, as also some of the prophets lived–John the Baptist, as well. I’ve always appreciated and been refreshed by your writing about how to become a hermit (religious type). You write reasonably and openly, with wisdom and intelligence. I’ve found the trend to instead by going toward more structural, temporalized hermit vocation in the Catholic church vis a vis the CL603 diocese hermit platform. Just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate your modest and just expression of the vocation, thoughtful and set forth with reason and respect for all those who share the Catholic faith and also have been called by God to the hermit vocation. I have been since vows professed nearly 23 years ago in private ceremony, and remain anonymous including hidden as far as blending in dependent upon environment in which I live or go out for errands. No prefix nor suffix to my name by choice of the same hiddenness and never felt need to stand out or be distinguished as other than the low income I am, and disabled with pain, facing increasing suffering so less manual labor. I may be facing losing the financial base I was utilizing–that of a modest inheritance invested in a house to renovate and eventually, hopefully selling for a profit to help pay for the likely end of life health care needed. I may not be able to complete the renovation, but will see what God has in Mind this coming year–if I recover enough from the latest major surgery to force the body to some manual labor. I’ve never quite fathomed why bishops and/or those who wanted to be known as hermits, or given diocese hermit, bishop approval–why was the canon law developed, and by what concern to do so, or did some hermits approach, even one or two, desiring the Church to create such a church law, because they wanted a place within the other designations of religious orders and clergy, and virgins and widows? Or were bishops concerned that the few hermits that ever exist, relative to Catholic members, were going to somehow have unmitigated and unapproved power, or were promoting themselves for monetary or theological gain somehow? I thought perhaps you may know why they finalized another canon law in 1983 to create a “diocese hermit” of which the bishop approves, and the vows are made publicly, of which now it seems the precedents are being created to include a public Mass, reception, publication announcement in diocese and other media genre, and utiliization in parish life and employment there and as hospital chaplains, as paid spiritual directors or counselors, parish administrators, when typically hermits are seekers of God and the spiritual life, existing to praise and pray and do penance, to live in silence of solitude and be hidden from the mainstream of the world, not a known nor interacting in parishes nor belonging to any particular diocese, approved and consecrated by and in God. You seem a rather rare glimpse of a diocese hermit who has not succumbed or perhaps not gone along with the precedents being set by some hermits, particularly in the US, who are forming the vocation in this other manner, as it seems bishops are assuming the precedents being simply made up by more visible ones who have established as authorities, and the bishops not questioning nor realizing these protocols are simply being made up, whether or not they follow along with what is stated in The Catechism regarding solitude, per say, or hidden from the eyes of men, or stricter separation from the world–of which stricter has loose definition and as if no “waistline.” Also, I have noticed that there is a precedent that has become as if “law”, that the Catholic hermits who are of the ancient or traditional, historic mode, in other words as has been the way of hermit profession and avowal, of being formed by God and those whom God has placed for a time period to guide the hermit, mentor the hermit–that these hermits are somehow not to be referred to as “Catholic hermits”. This is a relatively new development, not that a Catholic hermit needs to be known as belonging to his or her Church despite Catholicism being the basis of a hermit’s worship and theologic faith and tradition. So these are questions that I thougth perhaps you could personally offer some insights as to the what and why and how the diocese hermit and canon law 603 developed in recent times. Also, do you anticipate the traditional, historic, perhaps what has been the only form or type of hermit existence prior to 1983 (and I believe there was a movement in France in early 20th c. of something of the sort but my memory rusty on what I’ve read of this as has now been some years past). Regardless, the creation of yet another canon law, and this for hermits of all vocations, seems to create what could become a new beast of sorts, and already I am aware of aberrations from what is set forth and gleaned from more ancient hermit lives and writings, the requisites that earmark a hermit’s life from perpetuity and history, and the ways and means of that lifestyle. Thanks if you can illuminate and share your thoughts or knowledge on these questions and concerns I have for the rather divisive situation created in some circumstances, already. Personally, none of what they do regarding precedents and honoring in the actual life styles or precedents being set, what has been written in The Catechism which was taken from more historic hermit writings and lifestyles–affects my own vocation which is anonymous and formed and corrected by for most part the Holy Spirit as enactor, and my angel as messenger, of God. But I do sense and have cited instances noticed of the division that is being created, plus some detraction and even though you wrote that it should not be demeaned, the traditional historic way of hermit life in effect negated or presented/treated as illegal by virtue of having “legalized” by a canon law and procedural structure created by humankind, albeit clerics, but perhaps some who wanted this structure and stature developed, lobbied for and assisted in the creation of the canon law. Thanks if you can shed light at least on the reason why it was found necessary to begin with, or who promoted the diocese hermit or “by law” type of public professed into the hands of a bishop over private profession in and consecration by God? It’s always been fairly obvious when someone has a mental illness or is a demoniac, even back in the Old Testament times or during life of Christ, compared to a quiet, unassuming person who if takes seriously being “hidden” from the eyes of humankind, lives in solitude, blends in, is in stricter separation from the world–with stricter being an on-going progression, and with the spiritual life and prayer, praise and penance being the way of life along with living the Gospel–a mentally or emotionally unhealthy hermit is quickly discerned, and hopefully guidance and care would be given, but no one would take seriously as a hermit. In fact, how would they even be known as a hermit if truly living in accord with the standards or requisites of hermit life and vocation from back to the Essenes and even further in history? Also, do you think there will be a time when the historic, traditional form of hermit is no longer attempted due to the current promoting by the Church bishops and a created canon law also promoted, with the tradional, historic, and not long ago only path, not encouraged nor espoused by the clergy and Church as a vocation?
Hello Joan – sorry for the delay in responding – I only just worked out how to answer messages. Yes, I had a good summer thank you.
Lots of good questions there, and it would take a while to try to answer them all. A better way would probably be to refer you to this website which I mentioned in an earlier post. https://notesfromstillsong.blogspot.com/ Sr Laurel is also a diocesan hermit (C603) and writes easily and clearly on the subject. She has answered lots of questions on her blog – some of yours and some you haven’t even thought of yet! You can find the topics down the right side of the webpage.
It sounds as if you have a lot of experience in your hermit life, and it suits your expression of faith. It sounds as if God blesses you in it. oremus pro invicem.
God with us.
Rachel +
ps. I cannot respond to your comment without approving (and publishing) it. I hope you are okay with that. Let me know if not and I can take the your comment and my response down again.
God bless you. I admire what you are doing.
Thank you Mary. God is with us.
I would like to know more about being a ‘privately professed’ hermit.
I’m afraid I haven’t explored this extensively. Sr Laurel did a lovely piece on it a couple of weeks ago.
Last month there was a Parish Synod where one could raise their ‘relevant questions’ etc. The themes of the Synod are: 1. Nurturing Faith for Tomorrow. 2. To explore what it means to be a Parish Community and how we can live out Gospel values and share the Good News beyond the Pews’.
I missed that ‘Synod’ last month and I thought that was it, ie finished, over and done with.
But this came suddenly out of the blue.
It was only today at Sunday Mass we were told that this same Synod will be extended over Advent in order to hear out our questions and points of views.
So I think I’ll take the opportunity to raise some questions regarding c603 and so I’ve decided to attend the Synod in order to mention and discuss not only the Confraternity of the Brown Scapular, but also c603 etc.
I want to do so because I truly believe that c603 is important. Just when some believed that ‘the Faith’ was dwindling in East Lancs, all of a sudden there is a steady increase of the Faith. Not only that, I’ve even noticed an increasing presence of young monastics in the town.
Prior to that, the only monastics I came across are either retired Nuns I’ve inadvertently escorted to Adli or those Nuns I’ve x-rayed (BTW I’m also a Diagnostic Radiographer). We also do have a strong presence from Nazareth House and a cloister of retired Franciscan Nuns in the town.
So therefore, I believe it would make sense to bring up c603.
To my knowledge, only one Priest in my Parish – (Salford Parish: Blackburn; East Lancashire UK) is even aware of the Confraternity of The Brown Scapular, and apparently, neither of them are fully aware of c603.
Either way, pray for me, et al, and wish me luck. Let’s see what this brings, if not for me, at least it might build a foundation for those in the future who wish to pursue c603.
In Christ Bless!
I am glad your synodal meetings are ongoing – that was always the intention, a new way of communicating and sharing ideas and projects. Anything which gives people an opportunity to touch hermitage spirituality would be a great offering to a local church community. Keep up the good work!
Dear Rachel,
I’m starting to believe I’m hogging the comments feed so please forgive me:
1. Please could you post: (your) Rule of Life found on St Cuthbert’s House website on your new blog for me/all before it disappears for good. I’ve noticed that it doesn’t appear on Er Dio. Please re-publish it in its entirety. I’d be so grateful for it.
I’m looking again and again at your ‘three part’ rule, and I must say its a masterpiece. Its simply worthy of being plagiarised and I confess it has made me most envious because of its simplicity as well at its beauty.
2. Call me simple but, please bullet point and define for me/us: Quote: ‘Neither a canonical hermit nor a professed hermit , nor a privately vowed hermit is a “better” hermit than one who has taken no vows at all.’
a) Canonical Hermit – I understand this, however –
b) Professed Hermit – please define
c) Privately Vowed Hermit – please define
Finally, have you ever heard of The Poustinia and the Poustinik? I find I’m more likened to that style of eremitism.
In Christ Bless!
I am sure your questions are helping others learn more about hermitage.
Yes, I have taken my Rule of Life off the website, though I do still quote bits of it. The reason for that is – well exactly what you have described. The process/experience of drawing up and moulding a Rule of Life is very personal. My Rule is not private – I have shared it with the diocese and I believe it is sent to Rome for filing along with the vows document. But in putting it online, there is a danger that it might be used as a template for someone feeling their way into it. This would be a big mistake. Learning how to live in hermitage, learning to craft your own rules … these all take a lot of time, and self-understanding, and are all essential elements in formation. I would not want to take that away from anyone.