Questions on Canon 603 and a Breaking-in Period, Illegal Hermits, and Becoming a c 603 Hermit?

[[Dear Sister, did C 603 have a kind of breaking-in period where it was not official? I listened to a video arguing that it was not accepted as the way to be a Catholic Hermit when it was first published (Widely Approved Way of Being a Hermit), and that that took some time (like from @2007 to @ 2024). Did [some] hermits become illegal when this canon was published? Did they cease being Catholic if they continue being a hermit? Is c 603 the only way to be a hermit in the Catholic Church? Also, if I have lived as a hermit for a long time, but not under c 603, can I ask my diocese to approve me? Are there any other steps I need to take to become a c 603 hermit? Thanks.]]

Thanks for your questions. The video you are linking me to is a little more than a year old, and I have responded to most of these questions and similar ones many times over the past 18 years, including in posts I made around the time this video was first posted. While I don't think it is helpful for me to address them in detail once again, I am more than happy to point you to the places where I have addressed them here in this blog. If that raises more questions for you, please do get back to me, and I will give them a new attempt. 

The basic answer, however, which I will summarize here, is that the Church does not call or make anyone illegal via c 603. There are both canonical (2 forms) and non-canonical hermit vocations. All are considered valid and valuable, but only two of these represent ecclesial vocations, vocations lived in the name of the Church, and can be specifically called Catholic. The third one is lay or non-canonical and though, of course, the person living as a hermit in this way remains a Catholic AND a Hermit, they are not Catholic Hermits. (Check the labels to the right of this article under Canonical and non-canonical, living in the name of the Church, ecclesial vocations, (and similar labels), c 603 profession and consecration, etc. You can also look at the posts put up here during the months of September and October, 2024 (around the time of the post you referred me to here) for several related posts.**

One question that is new here is the one about a breaking-in period. The answer to that question is no. Once c 603 was promulgated in October of 1983, it became the official position of the Roman Catholic Church on living solitary eremitical life in the Church's name, that is, as consecrated solitary hermits resting in and representing the Sacred heart of the Church. This doesn't mean dioceses were prepared either prudently or effectively to implement the canon. Many, even most, were not prepared to do this, including my own. That required a significant period of time, and some dioceses have not prepared themselves even yet. A learning curve was involved and in many ways, that education regarding the nature of the solitary consecrated eremitical vocation continues today, especially in light of the relative rarity of the vocation and some of the significant missteps dioceses have made with regard to c 603. 

In the writing I have done over the past almost 20 years, I have both explored and (more and more) concerned myself with educating both dioceses and candidates about the nature of the c 603 vocation. I have wanted to correct those contributing to ideas like the ones you have cited that can lead lay or non-canonical hermits to believe their vocations are not valued (or perhaps even allowed!) in the Catholic Church. I have also wanted to prevent the misuse of c 603 by dioceses trying to create hermit communities instead of properly esteeming solitary eremitical vocations who may but need not come together in lauras so long as these do not rise to the level of juridical communities. (We already have established ways to found religious communities. C 603 was neither intended nor is it appropriate for this. That is why I routinely refer to "solitary consecrated hermits" and explain that it is not redundant!) 

As one incredibly significant piece of this, I have wanted to explore and articulate what it means to have a solitary eremitical vocation that is an explicitly ecclesial vocation, one lived in the Name of the Church. I think understanding this is one place even good candidates for consecration under c 603 fall short, and something dioceses should help foster in those they admit to profession and consecration. You see, while there was no breaking-in period where c 603 was still "unofficial" or even experimental,  a time given over to assisting dioceses to understand and adequately esteem the richness and sufficiency of c 603 has absolutely been necessary. In some ways, as dioceses come to know this vocation firsthand, especially as suitable candidates come to them seeking to be professed and consecrated, this learning curve continues to be important. Stereotypes of the hermit vocation continue to be reflected in some significant ways, and candidates also need both time and diocesan assistance in coming to understand and fully live dimensions of their vocation.

Finally, if your last question anticipates a diocese "merely" signing a piece of paper "approving" you as a consecrated c 603 hermit because you have lived as a lay hermit for a long time, the answer is no, they cannot do this. C 603 is not merely about having one's hermit life "approved" by one's bishop! What your diocese can and will do is determine if they believe you are called to be professed and (eventually) consecrated (initiated into the consecrated state of life) under c 603. Because you are proposing a change in your state of life (from lay to consecrated) in an explicitly ecclesial vocation, such a step requires a mutual discernment process where the diocese explores the elements of c 603 with you, discerns your understanding and capability of living out of these elements faithfully, and determines whether you are called by God to live as a consecrated solitary hermit living c 603 in the name of the Church. If so, and when they feel you are ready for these steps, they will schedule a temporary profession and eventually, (likely after some time living this ecclesial commitment), a perpetual profession and consecration. In this way, you are given a new standing in the Church and called to faithfully incarnate a new way of serving both the Church and the World. If, on the other hand, the diocese does not believe you are called to this, they will very likely encourage you to continue living as a lay or non-canonical hermit and reassure you of the value of that particular vocation and eremitical pathway. What you are currently living is a valued way of being a hermit in the Church. Any bishop or Formation Director/Vicar will tell you this and encourage you to persevere.

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** One of the most helpful examples I think I ever put up regarding what it means to live a vocation in the name of the Church was that of a police officer hired by and acting for the city of San Mateo while living in San Francisco. She is a police officer (and a citizen of San Francisco), whether in San Mateo, where she works, or San Francisco, where she lives. Even so, she only has the authority to act as a police officer because San Mateo has authorized her to do so. That is, she is called by the City of San Mateo to make an oath and act in the name of the city and the police force of San Mateo. She is properly authorized to live as a police officer, with appropriate superiors, supervisors, training, rights, expectations, and obligations by San Mateo. This means she is not a San Francisco City police officer and cannot claim to be one. Neither can she claim that "God made her" a police officer independently of a given city and/or police force (though indeed, God may truly want this for her)! Similarly, some Catholics who are hermits live their vocations in the name of the Church, and others do not.