Questions on c 603 and Reclusion, and the Sufficiency of the Solitude Possible under the Canon

 [[Hi Sister, if I wanted to be a recluse under c 603, could I do that? How would that work? Do you ever worry that you will not have enough real solitude or silence as a c 603 hermit? I was thinking about not being part of a congregation that allows for recluses. With c 603 you have to support yourself and belong to a parish, so doesn't that detract from what you need to dwell solely with God?]]

Many thanks for your questions. Reclusion is possible with c 603 but only if that is understood as a profoundly communal or ecclesial calling supported by your parish and/or diocese, or others who wish to do so. You will need to be supported (psychologically, spiritually, socially, and to some degree, physically) by a faith community who makes sure you have all that you need to live your life; you also will still need to take care of yourself financially. One of the often-unconsidered truths about recluses is that they are truly and profoundly embedded within a faith community. The other piece of things is that your diocese will need to approve this and test this vocation which will take some years of living eremitical life itself under supervision. No one I have ever heard of is admitted to reclusion without a strong sense of being called first, to contemplative life, then, to eremitical life, and finally to reclusion. Even then, it is ordinarily only granted on a temporary basis for some time. This is much easier within a religious congregation, but even then, in the Roman Catholic Church only two congregations are allowed to accept reclusion by members, namely, the Carthusians, and the Camaldolese.

My own sense in this is that you would need to take some years establishing yourself in a parish context and allow them to come to know you and your vocation to eremitical life first of all.  You would need to be a living and significant part of the parish community's faith life, however it is that you establish this for them. Only after such a relationship is established could you even think about depending upon this community for the daily needs you have. (Of course, since the pandemic, it is possible to get many things delivered!) However, you will still need a spiritual director, diocesan delegate, confessor, etc., who will keep you connected to both the wider Church and the local faith community. You also need some form of ministry, which can include prayer, and which allows your life to serve others --- even in reclusion. Reclusion is definitely not a vocation for those who simply want to go it alone; within the Church it has always been deeply communal.

When you ask about my own silence and solitude, I have to say that no, there is no detraction. Canon 603 provides each hermit with as much as they need because they write their own Rule based on how God works in their lives, and how this shapes their prayer, work, study, limited ministry, etc. My own schedule allows for several hours of prayer in the mornings, several in the evening, and often two in the middle of the night. Each of these includes a period of quiet prayer and some writing or journaling. That's a significant dedicated time spent with God and I am alone most of the rest of the time as well. God is with me in all of this and I can turn to him at all times including when I work with clients. I also work with my Director weekly, most times, and that involves a profound and intensely prayerful attention to my own inner life which I prepare for each week, so, no, I don't think I am missing sufficient solitude or the silence of solitude.

Recently, and for a number of years, one lay hermit has been writing about my blog and speaking about how c 603 eremitical life is too taken up with the temporal Church and not enough with the spiritual. My own take on this appraisal is that it is theological nonsense. That is true because we are temporal beings modeling the Incarnation in our lives while the Church is primordial sacrament, and so, both spatio-temporal and suffused with the Spirit's presence. Yes, the Holy Spirit empowers this, just as she did for Jesus, and that means that we can be both spatio-temporal persons bound to space, time, and matter, and profoundly spiritual persons whose lives are given over to God in deeply committed ways at the same time.  I know that the following theology is not yet commonly held, but it is profoundly Scriptural. Because heaven is not our ultimate goal and we are not made to be disembodied, but rather embodied, and embodied as part of a new creation constituting a new heaven and a new earth that interpenetrate one another and make a single reality, I am really skeptical of any approach to spirituality that tends to divorce it from the spatio-temporal world (the world of space, time, and matter). 

I was taught as an undergraduate that Christians are materialists, though in a unique way made fully real (realized in fullness) in the Incarnation; this view emphasizes the depth and sufficiency of Jesus' prayer life and Communion/Union with the One he called Abba, Pater! This is the God who comes to us as Emmanuel, God-With-Us in this world so that this world might be wholly redeemed and made new by God's presence. Human beings are not angels. We are embodied spirit. Our spirituality is profoundly influenced by our bodiliness and the Spirit qualifies our bodiliness in return. Similarly, we are not isolated beings, but part of a community of faith love, and hope grounded in God! Our humanity is a task achieved in Communion with God and others. C 603 and those who implement this canon recognize these things. That is true when discerning vocations to reclusion, or even "just" the balance of a normal eremitical life.

What "Kind of Hermit" Does Canon 603 Envision?

[[Hello Sister, This might be a tricky question. When canon 603 says that people can be professed as hermits it doesn't say what type of hermit. What I mean is that in the Church's Tradition there seems to be many different expressions of eremitical life. For example you have the strict solitude of the Desert Fathers and Mothers and medieval anchorites, the seclusion in the midst of community like the Carthusians or the Franciscan model of long periods in hermitages interspaced by periods of intense public preaching and ministry. My question then is what type of eremitical life does canon 603 envision? Is it up to the hermit and his or her bishop to decide what an individual's eremitical witness will look like?]]

Thanks for your questions. I don't think this is a tricky matter. I say that because in the main Canon 603 is, as I have written many times here, very flexible. First of all it is up to the individual (and her diocese) to discern 1) whether she has an eremitical vocation of any expression, and 2) what her eremitical life will look like --- though how she will live out the elements of canon 603 is an indispensable and central part of these questions. The key to canon 603 vocations consists in the fact that these will always be calls to be a solitary hermit life embodying the following elements: assiduous prayer and penance, stricter separation from the world, the silence of solitude, and the evangelical counsels under a Rule the hermit herself writes based on lived experience. While lauras of similarly professed individuals with their own Rules, etc. are allowed, these may not rise to the level of actual communities. (Jean Beyer, Commentary on Canon 603)

Since Lauras fail more than they succeed, the hermit must have her own Rule, income, job/profession, savings, delegate, etc. She must be able to live as a solitary hermit no matter what --- meaning no matter who else stays or leaves a laura -- or whether or not one ever even exists! (Most canon 603 hermits are the only ones in their dioceses and never even meet other hermits face to face.) Similarly, the elements of the canon have priority over the variations which might be linked to a particular spirituality. For instance, while St Francis wrote a Rule for hermits, some aspects of it might not be deemed compatible with the foundational elements of canon 603. For instance, while mendicancy is esteemed in Franciscanism, it is unlikely to be acceptable by a diocese looking at a potential c 603 vocation. I suspect the same would be true of extended periods of preaching and ministry; my own sense is canon 603 does not allow for this where Franciscan proper law does. In such a case one might be discerning a call to be a Secular Franciscan, for instance where one builds in significant degrees of solitude rather than a canon 603 vocation.

Still, so long as the central elements of the canon are embraced as the defining elements and charism of the life (the silence of solitude functions, I believe, as the charism of c 603 life) and lives these in a foundational way, canon 603 can accommodate a variety of emphases and variations or "spiritualities". When a person works out what expression of eremitical life is their very own then yes, the Bishop and the individual will mutually discern the appropriateness of canon 603 profession and consecration in this specific diocese. (N.B., while the discernment is mutual this does not necessarily mean the Bishop and/or Vicars for Religious will agree with the candidate petitioning for admission to profession.) In general, one does not simply ask what c 603 allows and then try to fit oneself under that in some cut and paste way. Instead one discerns the shape of one's own call under canon 603, explores the various spiritualities one feels drawn to embrace to support one in that, and, in time, thus discovers whether (and how) this spirituality can legitimately be embodied as an expression of canon 603 eremitical life. Thus, for instance, I am first of all a diocesan hermit and only secondarily Camaldolese Benedictine. While I think the Camaldolese charism best supports the diocesan eremitical vocation, I could fruitfully live my vocation according to several spiritualities including Cistercian, Camaldolese, and possibly Franciscan.

While it is not necessary to embrace a specific spiritual tradition or family, canon 603 has solitary hermits in the Benedictine, Carmelite, Cistercian, Camaldolese, Camaldolese Benedictine, Carthusian (St Bruno), Franciscan, Redemptoristine, Augustinian, and other traditions or spiritualities. (I say there are others because the ones I named specifically are the ones I personally know of; I am certain I don't know all there are.) Some diocesan hermits live as anchorites with a greater degree of stability of place and may not belong to any specific tradition beyond the medieval model of anchoritism.

In other words there is a significant degree of diversity in the way diocesan hermits live the non-negotiable elements of canon 603. So, thoroughly explore your own sense of call and, so long as you discover a call to solitary eremitical life as defined according to the canon, don't worry about whether you are the "kind of hermit" that will fit under canon 603. Once you have done that your Bishop and you will determine if you are called to public profession and consecration of the non-negotiable elements of canon 603 (for this is really another question). If the decision is that you are called to at least temporary profession there is reasonable assurance that your own embodiment of the eremitical vocation fits just fine (or essentially so!) and in any case you will be able to 'tweak' that as needed; discernment continues beyond this point.