Hermit Sisters of Mary and Marymount Hermitage

[[Dear Sister, do you know the hermit Sisters at Marymount Hermitage in Mesa, ID? I was wondering if they were "the real deal"? If they are, are they c 603 hermits? You see, I have been thinking about eremitical life but I think I would like to live in a laura of hermits. Since I live a couple of hundred miles from them and since my grown children live in Boise, I thought maybe they would suit me. Can you recommend them? Will they accept a divorced woman?]]

I do know the Sisters of Marymount Hermitage, yes, but not well. I first wrote them around 1984 or 1985 after canon 603 was first published. At the time there were two Sisters there, Sisters Rebecca and Beverly; they were very responsive and helpful to me in those early years of canon 603's new life. Occasionally, I check their website to see how they are doing (they have good newsletters there) but, until I checked the website this morning, it had been a while since I had done that. Yes, they are (or were originally) c 603 hermits but I believe they were considering establishing themselves canonically as an institute of consecrated life. I'm not sure I have that exactly right, where they stand with that now, or how far they ever got with the process. I believe one of them (Sister Rebecca) is now living in a convent in OR where she can receive skilled nursing care. I don't know if they ever grew beyond just Sisters Rebecca and Beverly. I  do believe there might have been a third Sister as well. I do know that personally, I resonate with their spirituality; it is 1) Benedictine, 2) rooted in the Desert Ammas and Abbas, and 3) an authentic expression of the high desert in which the Hermitage is located. (Personally I love the high desert; it may be one of my favorite settings in the entire world.)

Still, I'm sorry. I can't say I know enough about them currently to recommend them or not. Yes, they are definitely "the real deal". They have been living this life since around the first anniversary of canon 603 and maybe a year or so before I first contacted them. That means they have lived as hermits for about 37 years or so and, like many of us, came at it from religious life. My sense is they have a good relationship with their new bishop (Bp Peter Christiansen, Bishop of Boise) who has been their local ordinary for about 5 years. They also clearly receive support of parishes in the area. (That is, members of parishes come to help with maintenance and have done so with building needs in the past, etc. 

However, I also have reservations. One thing in particular gives me pause when I consider whether to recommend them or not because you specifically said you were drawn to a lavra; however, as far as I know, only Sister Beverly now lives at Marymount. Because I don't know either her age or the state of her health (or yours for that matter!) I ask you bear in mind that you are considering associating yourself with a lavra which apparently consists of only one Sister; that is both a difficult and a precarious situation at best, especially if (as your remark about grown children suggests) you don't have a background in religious life or much experience with significant silence and solitude. For the rest of this post, I am assuming the hermitage is still accepting new vocations --- something you should understand is not at all assured.

Your mention of adult children raises several issues on your side of the equation as well. The first issue is that of canonical freedom. Like anyone desiring to be professed and consecrated under c 603, you will need to be canonically free to be admitted to the community and, after suitable discernment and formation, profession and consecration. This would mean a.) if your spouse is deceased the marriage bond no longer exists and you are canonically free; b.) if your spouse is still living you will need to get a declaration of nullity to establish the fact of your own canonical freedom. The second issue is age. While eremitical life is ordinarily a second half of life vocation, communities still tend to have limits re how old one can be and still enter. This is something you will need to research with the Sisters and/or the diocese.  

A third issue is that of health and physical stamina. Marymount is very secluded and the weather is typically rugged for the high desert in a state that gets snow anyway. The physical plant is relatively large and requires good health to negotiate. I suggest you bear all this in mind and maybe arrange to make a retreat with them at the very least. The fourth issue is whether they have experience with forming solitary hermits or whether it is preferred they have already-professed c 603 hermits join them post-profession along with some experience living the vocation in other than a group setting. (This is especially important when a lavra appears to be coming to the end of its natural life as core members die, move to care facilities or convents, or are too remote to allow for regular caregivers to do what the other hermits either can't or are not really called to do.)

My best advice is that if you are really serious about testing a vocation with the Hermit Sisters of Mary or even just want to discuss an eremitical vocation seriously no matter where or how ever you live it, I would advise you to contact them and have several conversations with Sister Beverly and/or personnel of the Diocese of Boise.