What is the Diocese's Role in the Formation of a Diocesan Hermit?

 [[Sister, are you saying that dioceses are not responsible for forming c 603 hermits? I find that really surprising. What then is the role of the diocese? You speak of them discerning with a candidate, but aren't they also involved in the hermit's formation? Thank you.]]

Thanks for your questions! Yes, I am absolutely saying a diocese is not responsible for the formation of a solitary hermit under c 603. What a diocese is responsible for is discerning with the candidate whether or not they have a specifically ecclesial vocation and are called to live solitary eremitical life in the name of the Church. One may live as a hermit within the Catholic Church in different states of life including as a Catholic lay person, as a religious (if their congregation's particular or proper law says they may), or as a cleric (again, with one's bishop's permission). Beyond this, one can join an eremitical institute like the Carthusians or Camaldolese. However, if one wants to live as a solitary hermit in the consecrated state, c 603 is the route to this.

This, however, leaves the question of the diocese's responsibility open. Canon 603 does not speak to the diocese's responsibility for formation. The canon presumes significant formation, yes, but it does not make a diocese responsibile for this. Instead, canon 603's history and nature leave that responsibility in the hands of the candidate and the Holy Spirit. An eremitical vocation only emerges over significant time and with notable life experience. A diocese cannot be responsible for this; what they can do, and are responsible for doing is discerning with the candidate whether or not the eremitical call a person has discerned is also a specifically ecclesial one. For instance, is the person called to live this life in the name of the Church? Does her eremitism represent a sufficiently mature expression of eremitical life in the Church that it can be considered normative of the journey hermits are called to make? Does it witness to the Gospel, and to union with God in Christ in a way that underscores the truth of the Church's own proclamation or kerygma? Does it witness to the hidden heart of every Christian vocation, and the heart of the Church as well, and has the candidate consciously embraced (or clearly begun to embrace) all of this in the Rule she writes?

It will take a diocese time to discern these things as well as the more mundane characteristics and necessary underpinnings of an authentic eremitical life. It will take the candidate time to discover and explore these things sufficiently to write a liveable Rule. Together, the diocese can walk with the candidate as she writes such a Rule, and discern the quality of the vocation she is seeing. In this synodal walk, formation will occur, most especially in the area of ecclesiality. It is important that a candidate works with someone with a strong sense of the ecclesial nature of such vocations, but it is the journeying together that helps inculcate ecclesial sensibilities, just as it also educates diocesan personnel on the nature of solitary eremitical life. Still, formation of the person as a hermit should occur long before they seek to be professed and consecrated under c 603!

When a diocese professes a c 603 hermit, they extend canonical rights and obligations to that person. They (in the person of the bishop and those whom he assigns) also assume a role in the supervision of the hermit beyond profession and eventual consecration. Further, because they have established a hermit in law in a specifically ecclesial vocation, it could be argued that a diocese must find ways to assist with ongoing formation and the deepening of the hermit's ecclesial sensibilities. Most dioceses fall far short of this latter role, though some allow for it by accepting a hermit's need for a delegate with a strong sense of an eremitical vocation's ecclesiality. (This is one reason delegates often tend to be religious men and women.) The point is, of course, that in an ecclesial vocation, the person's relationship with the Church must be a strong and intimate one. It seems to me this is one place the bishop's supervision can be most helpful, yet, at the same time, the diocesan office of Vicar for Religious (or Vocations, etc.) can assist, and will themselves benefit as they come to know the ways diocesan hermits grow, struggle, meet challenges, and mature in their journey to union with God.

In all of this, the bottom line remains: the formation of a solitary hermit occurs mainly in solitude between the hermit and the Holy Spirit. A good spiritual director is essential in this process, as is a delegate for the diocese and candidate whom the candidate may choose. An active liturgical and Sacramental life is also absolutely essential (and usually occurs in a parish setting). The diocese, however, will be mainly responsible for discerning the quality of a vocation once the candidate is ready to explore the ecclesial nature of their vocation, and will decide whether or not (and when) a candidate is ready to assume the canonical rights and obligations of such a vocation. 

One final word of caution: what a diocese and diocesan bishop does is not merely a matter of "canonically approving" a person, as though a bishop could do this with the stroke of a pen. This is a serious misunderstanding. Instead, they are responsible for admitting a person to profession (which is always public) and consecration so they may live their public-though-hidden lives in the consecrated state of life with all of the canonical rights and obligations that apply, and do so for the sake of God's will to be Emmanuel, the sake of the Church who proclaims this God, and the sake of the hermit's own humanity.

Getting the Formation Required for c 603 Profession

[[Hi Sister, my diocese said that I don't have the formation to become a c 603 hermit. I have not lived as a hermit before but I watched a video that said if I wanted to be a hermit in the Catholic Church, I had to do it under c 603. The canon doesn't say anything about formation. My question is how do I get the formation I need if I want to be a hermit by c 603? It seems like a catch-twenty-two. I don't have the formation my diocese expects, but I can't live as a hermit except by that canon unless I want to be illegal and a fraud or leave the Church. What do I do? For sure I don't want to leave the Catholic Church to live as a hermit. How do I get the formation my diocese asks for?]]

Thanks for writing. Your questions and story indicate some misunderstandings. I have written about these several times in the past couple of years. Please check out posts with tags like "non-canonical vs illegal" or various references to non-canonical. If that is not helpful to you, then please come back to me, and I will write about it again with your questions in mind. Let me just say you can remain a Catholic and live as a hermit apart from c 603. What you cannot do is claim to be a Catholic Hermit, that is, a hermit living this life in the name of the Church. You will be a Catholic AND a hermit, but not a Catholic hermit.

Regarding formation: c 603 shows the need for significant formation prior to beginning a mutual discernment process with your diocese. This is true of the history of the canon, of the situation out of which Bp Remi de Roo came to intervene at Vatican II, and it is true when one reads the canon itself. I say this, not because it speaks of formation, but because it does not. Instead, it assumes this and, moreover, it assumes that one understands the constitutive elements of the canon "from the inside out".  This means it assumes one understands these because one has lived them as well as having studied them. The canon also assumes one can write a liveable Rule, something that takes sufficient lived experience of the eremitical life and of life leading to it. Finally, c 603 requires that one petition to be professed and consecrated, a petition that really indicates a life-choice where one affirms that God calls one to become a whole and holy human being who abides in God and allows God to abide in her, and that God calls one to wholeness in this way and no other.

Canon 603, which is normative for solitary hermit life, is not for beginners. Neither is it for young persons. Instead, it assumes a great deal of the individual petitioning a diocese for this specific standing in the Church. If you have read the post I put up on the three-stranded braid, you will have noticed I spoke of this as an ecclesial vocation, one that required a strong sense of this dimension of the vocation. I will tell you that it takes a significant time and some study to be able to develop. Again, this vocation is not an "entry-level" vocation. It presumes age, experience (including strong relationships with others), theological expertise, ecclesial commitment and sensibilities, and some really positive reasons as to why one feels called to this vocation and no other, especially given how difficult it is to achieve human wholeness in eremitical solitude; most people only come to wholeness through significant experience of community of all sorts.

Since you have not lived as a hermit before this, I would say the first thing you need to do is get yourself a good spiritual director. Work with them regularly for at least a couple of years and see how that goes. See if you really still feel called to solitude. See also if you feel called to contemplative prayer or living as a contemplative. If, over several years, these things come together for you, begin planning on a way to support yourself in solitude and then embrace solitude experimentally. Find ways to study eremitical life, the elements of the canon (including the evangelical counsels), and strengthen your relationship with the Church. Throughout all of this, pay attention to the ways God is present and at work in your life. With your director, find ways to attend to those with greater and greater fidelity; develop your prayer life so that this is primary for who you are. If you do all of this and conclude in five to seven (or more) years that you are coming to greater wholeness and holiness in eremitical solitude, you can check in with your diocese and explain what you have done while seeking their feedback on petitioning for admission to profession (and eventual consecration) under c 603. (Given your account of your conversation with your diocese, I am assuming that your diocese is actually open to professing a suitable candidate for eventual c 603 consecration, but you might ask them this specific question since not all dioceses are open to implementing the canon.)

As a Catholic lay person in the Church, you are completely free to live almost any way you want in the lay state. That includes living as a hermit, though it would be as a Catholic non-canonical (non-normative) hermit. This is a good way of beginning to discern whether you are called to live hermit life "in law". For admission to the consecrated state, only the Church can receive you in this way. That requires a process of mutual discernment where both you and the diocese discern God's will in this regard. After all, you would not then simply be discerning your own personal vocation, but something that directly affects and represents the Church and eremitical life therein.

Questions on Formation of the Hermit

[[Apart from having a good spiritual director, study and of course prayer; how else can one learn the eremitic way? Do you suggest that someone discerning such a vocation put themselves under the tutelage of a professed hermit (this seemed to be the norm in the early Church and  Middle Ages. There are many stories of young anchorites being guided by holy women in their vocation) or perhaps spend time with a solid hermit community, like the Monastic Family of Bethlehem or the Carmelite Hermits in Texas, to learn this vocation?

As you've noted, Vatican 2 and the new Code of Canon Law revived this  vocation. While the hermit life is ancient, those reviving it are also pioneers in that they are at the forefront of reviving this call. My concern is that without being properly formed one could run into m[an]y (sic?) mental and spiritual difficulties. How do I learn to live this life? I'm trying to discern this and apart from reading, study and most of all prayer, frequenting the sacraments and solitude I have no idea if I'm doing any of this right. Are there support groups or something for those in discernment? What do you advise?]]

Hi there and thanks for writing again. First, the idea of being guided in this vocation by a perpetually professed hermit (largely today's equivalent of the elders and mentors of old) is a good one. It is traditionally the way most folks came to eremitical life and is ideal. However, opportunities for going to live with an eremitical community apart from seriously discerning a vocation with such a group do not really exist today. What I mean is that today a person cannot generally determine they are called to life under canon 603 (life as a solitary hermit) and also go off to live with a community like those you have mentioned. One can ordinarily do one or the other but not both (though one might, with one's diocese's help, arrange to stay occasionally for a number of weeks at a monastery or hermitage to experience certain values and realities which are a daily reality there -- not least the rhythm and balance of the life and the pervasive silence and attitudes of attentiveness that accompany everything one does; this differs from what you have described I think).


To ease this difficulty a little at least, members of the Network of Diocesan Hermits** (perpetually professed diocesan hermits) will consider working with an individual if their diocese requests it. (While we may work informally with others, the fact is there are relatively few of us and none of us has the time to mentor every person who writes or contacts us about becoming a hermit; some initial discerning needs to be done by dioceses!) Ordinarily this means that someone who has lived solitude for a time, who is considered by a diocese to be, potentially at least, a candidate for canon 603 profession, and who is working with a spiritual director and meeting with diocesan personnel regularly, can also talk regularly with someone from the Network to be sure they understand what it means to be living an eremitical life (as opposed to an individualistic life of physical isolation), are able to discern whether or not they are well suited to it, and are growing in this without getting stuck on relative trivialities or superficialities, etc. The Network also has a group/website set up for aspirants which gives them a chance to share with one another -- though at the present time no one is part of that group.

Remain in your Cell and Your Cell Will teach you Everything:

Even so,  these possible pieces of assistance aside, it is important to remember that the main teacher of any hermit is going to be God in and through the silence of solitude itself. The desert Fathers' and Mothers' wisdom about dwelling or remaining in your cell and your cell teaching you everything remains essentially as true today as it was in the 4-6th centuries. Add to this the main elements of canon 603, which define a life of assiduous prayer and penance, stricter separation from the world, the silence of solitude, the evangelical counsels all lived for the praise of God and the salvation of the world, and you will find set before you a way of living a profoundly Christian life in solitude which you and God together will live out in your own way. As you move more and more deeply into this life with the help of your director (who, it seems to me, functions as the desert mentors of old once did), you will find either it truly resonates with you or does not; you will also find that it is a means to abundant and mature life in Christ for you or is not. If this way of living leads you to abundant life in Christ, if in fact it makes you more loving, patient, longsuffering, compassionate, honest (humble), etc, then it itself is right for you and your response to God is, at least generally, also as it should be.

The question about "doing it right" for the hermit is at its heart, always really a question about what God is calling us to in solitude and how integral and generous our response to this call has been or is coming more and more to be. For instance, as part of praying my life I pray in several different ways each day; these forms of prayer allow me to respond to God with all parts of myself (heart, mind, body, etc). Over the years I have dropped certain ways of praying or adopted others, always in response to God's own call to be fully alive and fully myself in and as a response to God's summons and love. No one says I must pray in this way or that. Assiduous prayer and penance is the goal and means to living this life but no one spells out what this means in detail. Over a period of several years you will try all the forms of prayer which are central to a life of prayer and determine which of these are best for you at this time. Over a period of more years you will discern which ones are important for you during times of illness, which ones are especially helpful in getting you through periods of stress or tedium, which ones almost invariably speak to your heart or kindle the fires of your mind, or are most difficult for you or console you in loss and grief. Even more importantly you will come to know the ways God calls you to wholeness and in responding you will become God's own prayer in the world.


The same is true of penance and the other central elements of the canon. There are certain building blocks for a life of assiduous prayer and penance. One explores these and, in response to God's call to, life, truth, beauty, integrity, wholeness, holiness, justice, love, compassion, etc, discerns which of these building blocks lead one more and more to become an expression of these dimensions of God's own life. Of course, it is not merely a matter of learning to be a hermit but rather of discerning whether or not one is CALLED to be one. If one is, then the central elements of canon 603 will lead to greater and greater personal wholeness and holiness with all these entail. If not, then no amount of teaching can help a person embrace this life or move from external silence and physical solitude to the silence of solitude which is a matter of the heart. As I have written before while citing Thomas Merton, Solitude herself must open the door to the hermit. If she does not, then no degree of teaching, tutoring, direction, or supervision, etc, will help.

On the other hand, if one is truly called to this life (whether as a lay hermit or a consecrated hermit), then provided one has a good spiritual director with whom one meets regularly and is assiduous in keeping her vows and other commitments (including to the personal work which stems from direction), the chance of making serious mistakes is truly minimal. There WILL be difficulties to negotiate; that is part and parcel of any vocation leading to true growth in authenticity. Formation is an ongoing reality and for the hermit, unless she enters a community of hermits, even "initial" formation takes a period of many years (and certainly more than canon law calls for for those in formation with a community). The point is, however, the heart of this vocation is a solitary relationship with God in which one responds to God's love and mercy in all that one is and does. There is no cookie cutter pattern of what this looks like nor of what formation entails but to the extent it is authentic it all goes by the name "the silence of solitude" and one knows it when one sees it. (What I mean here is that the fruits of such growth in authenticity will be plain for all to see.) Neither does one reach a point at which one can say "I'm done with formation!" Instead the fundamental Rule, again, is to remain in one's cell and one's cell will teach one everything. (By the way, among other things, this can mean for one called to solitude that the cell will become a place in which new life is fostered and incredible growth nurtured; for one not called to solitude, life in cell will torment the unfortunate aspirant and leave them in misery, personal disintegration, and pain. God is not absent in such circumstances but he calls the aspirant to fullness of life elsewhere.)

Committing to a Spirituality of Discernment:

Because this is true all one can really do is commit to a spirituality of discernment which requires spiritual direction and regular frank discussion with others who accompany one in one way and another. (One's pastor, confessor, Vicar or Bishop --- if one is working with a diocese --- good friends who are honest with us, etc.) At every point one attends to the way life in solitude affects one and acts accordingly. Is one growing? Is one profoundly happy in Christ? Is suffering --- to whatever degree it is real, a subtext of one's life, not the main theme? Is one able to use the gifts God gives them and does one love better and more deeply in real concrete situations with real persons? Is the call of solitude herself something one experiences or does it seem that one has embraced an ascetical discipline which is merely external to oneself? I should note here, one's goal must not be to become a diocesan hermit but rather to be a hermit (a desert dweller) living the silence of solitude day in and day out. I cannot stress this enough. Over time one MAY find that one is called to be a diocesan hermit professed and consecrated under canon 603, but even if one does not find this to be the case, one has lived each day well as God called one to do. That is and always will be the measure of "success" for any hermit, whether lay or consecrated; for that matter, it is similarly the measure of success of any Christian and any human being. In approaching questions of success and failure, or fears regarding serious mistakes, this is far and away the most important thing.

It occurs to me that perhaps you have questions about specific mistakes which I might address more particularly. If that is the case, please let me know what kinds of things you are thinking of; that would be helpful to me as well. In the meantime, all good wishes.

**The NDH is not currently active (2024). Instead, we have an informal network of c 603 hermits who may come together in small groups. For assistance with discernment and formation of c 603 hermits, please contact Sister Laurel O'Neal, Er Dio, at SRLAUREL@aol.com and we can discuss diocesan and candidate needs. Depending on your location, there may be a c 603 hermit I can refer you to, or I may be able to help you myself. Please indicate "c 603 Discernment and Formation" in the subject line. Thanks!