On Eremitical Support Systems

[[Dear Sister Laurel, I can see from what you have written about different forms of eremitical life that they would suit different people differently. Is that what you believe? I have been reading about the Carthusians and because of what you wrote about community as a context for living eremitical life I am beginning to understand why they require a community, and also why they have lay brothers. Some people talk about the Carthusians as the "real deal", but what is pretty clear to me is that the choir monks (hermits) require a huge support system to live the solitude they do. Are you able to live the same kind of solitude as a canon 603 hermit as the Carthusian choir hermits? If so, what is your support system like? Do you think that c 603 life is flexible enough to allow for several different expressions of eremitical life? I am not thinking [so] much of the distinctions you wrote about recently: community, semi-eremitical, and solitary hermits, but more the eremitical expressions of one individual hermit as opposed to or when compared with another individual hermit. Thanks for your blog, by the way, it is always helpful to me. I wish I had written sooner.]]

Wow, now this is a really great set of questions and your observations on the nature of Carthusian life are spot on! Thanks! First of all, while I think I understand the Carthusian life and degree of solitude in an intellectual way, I am not sure I know it in an experiential way --- not because I don't live a significant physical and inner solitude, but because I do not have the same constraints on my time, movement, and choices with regard to prayer, study, recreation, housework, faith community, etc. For that reason it would be hard for me to compare my own physical solitude (physical time in cell) with that of the Carthusians. But yes, as you say, Carthusian solitude (both inner and outer) requires a significant support system to protect and nurture it. That, however, is true of the Franciscan model of eremitical life as well, though to a much lesser degree. And, it is necessary to some degree for canon 603 hermits as well.  Eremitical life is not lived in a vacuum; every religious hermit requires a significant support system and communal context, including the parish faith community. Thus, while I personally consider the Carthusians the "real deal", I don't consider them the only "real deal" as far as eremitical life goes, and in some ways, I think they are a very limited expression of eremitical life today.

My Own Support System:

You asked about my own support system so let me talk about that a bit. First of all, I am thinking of the importance of my computer and internet linkages here. I have participated in listserves where some "wannabe hermits" decried the presence of a computer in the hermitage. They declare they would never use such a thing or even have it on the premises. (Please note they are on a computer listserve for hermits talking with consecrated hermits who also use computers in this way! Notice the irony?) They hold the same position regarding cell phones and other forms of technology. Good for them if they can do this, but one of the things the pandemic has made clear and that is the importance of internet access. It may seem paradoxical, but in fact, if I did not have access to the internet I would not be able to live the degree of solitude I do. In fact, that degree of solitude has become greater during these months of lockdown because providing for people who are living other forms of solitude has become more important to different companies and services.

I use the internet to shop and schedule deliveries for almost everything I need. I can now do doctor's appointments online, see clients this way (not optimal but it works), meet with my own Director without her having to drive here, teach Scripture this way, join with others for lectio despite not being able to get there due to distance otherwise, make retreats I would not have been able to attend without ZOOM, do this blog, keep in touch with hermits from several countries, and be accessible to others who would not be able to travel here to the hermitage (including a journalist along with a writer doing  articles on eremitical life, one from Canada, and the other from New York. I count one of these a new friend (not a word I use lightly) -- though I definitely owe her an email!) For many of these things I no longer have to travel distances by walking, taking trains and connecting with busses (and reversing that to get home). I can simply stand up from prayer, make a cup of tea, and turn on ZOOM. So, in thinking about support systems, I have to name my computer and internet connection as a critical part of that.

One of the things I am aware of is the number of people the things I just mentioned involves. Doctors, Director, Sisters I would not see or even have come to know without this connection, others who share their lives in lectio and enrich my own solitude with their faith and love and courage, delivery people and all those connected with grocery orders, pharmacy needs, and other routine needs here at the hermitage, clients, et al. Some of these people I never even see, but they are part of my support system and I am grateful to God for them and what they make possible. Others I see infrequently, but I know they are there and accessible, and that is important in living solitude rather than isolation. Some I see regularly --- even frequently (my Director, for instance), and a number are email contacts only (with an occasional ZOOM meeting thrown in here and there). One thing that just now strikes me as very "Carthusian like" is the way delivery persons set groceries right in front of the inner (front) door of my hermitage at an expected time. I often don't even see them --- much like choir monks never seeing the donate brothers who leave meals in the choir monk's' hatch.

Another hugely significant part of my support system is my parish faith community. For most of the pandemic I depended on members of this community to bring me groceries, prescriptions, etc. Others would check in regularly to see how things were. Regular liturgies were available via ZOOM, my pastor is always accessible. When the pandemic lockdown began I was disoriented because my contacts with those in my parish shifted so radically and I could not use the old pictures I held in my heart of members doing x or y --- because I no longer knew what they were doing, etc. It also shifted because I was trying to teach Scripture via ZOOM and that too was disorienting. Over time all of that changed, thankfully, and my solitude once again was rooted in a living faith community which supports my time alone in my hermitage. Not least, we continue to pray for one another during what is a difficult time for most. So, generally speaking, this is a brief sketch of my support system. It is substantial and actually allows me to live this vocation with integrity.

A final and integral part of my support system I should have mentioned above, and one I would like to see become more consciously developed, is the assistance I get from and give to other diocesan hermits. There are several of us who communicate regularly (or as regularly as we can!), and who are beginning to meet and reach out to one another in shared friendship and Sisterhood/Fraternity. These relationships grow organically but I can envision this conceivably becoming a contemporary version of a laura. Though we are divided by many miles and belong to different dioceses, we share our eremitical commitments to live our lives at the heart of the church and we do so as Sisters/Brothers and friends. We are linked by the computer pathways that allow us to email and even ZOOM with one another. This could grow to encompass periods of shared lectio once a week and perhaps some time for sharing and prayer otherwise. What I already know is the support of these Sisters and Brothers, but I can envision our commitment to Christ and one another -- in the spirit of c 603 and our individual Rules -- growing in a conscious way which could allow our becoming a small, but real laura of solitary hermits.

Canon 603 as a Flexible but Firm and Supportive Framework:

Yes, I do believe in c 603 as a flexible framework for varied expressions of consecrated eremitical life. One of the things I have written about frequently here is the way Canon 603 combines the essential defining constituents of any eremitical life with a(n essential) Rule of life the hermit writes herself on the basis of her lived experience and the way God is at work in her own life; together these create and protect a coherent and balanced solitary eremitical life. 

There are certain givens: this is a life of stricter separation from the world --- not only the busy world around one, but especially the world which is composed of all that is antithetical to Christ or rejecting of love and truth. Apparently canonists agree (cf Handbook on Canons 573-746, general norms, p.33). Above all this refers to the hermit's own heart!! Secondarily it means dimensions of the world around us -- though these two together constitute a single reality which must both be addressed by the hermit. To think that canon 603's reference to "stricter separation from the world" means merely shutting the hermitage door on all of God's good creation is theologically and spiritually naïve. To conceive of everything outside the hermitage as "the world" in the negative Johannine sense, is similarly naïve. 

Canon 603 life is a life of "the silence of solitude" which means not only that (physical or external) silence and solitude are the vocation's context, but also that the (inner and deeply personal) silence of solitude is its charism and goal. It is a life of assiduous prayer and penance --- a life of communion with God and of all those things which help one participate fully in such a life.  It is a life of the Evangelical Counsels vowed to God --- a life of complete dependence on God with its simplicity and frugality -- of chastity in celibacy (or consecrated celibacy), that is, a life committed to loving and growing in one's capacity for genuine and inclusive love --- and it is a life of obedience, a life of attentive listening and responsiveness to God in all the ways God comes to one symbolized especially in obedience to a superior who exercises the ministry of authority in one's regard. 

The vocation must be these things, truly and recognizably; together they constitute the necessary and firmly supportive framework established by the canon itself, but the way they are lived out in each hermit's life, that is the pattern of human commitment and fulfillment (holiness and wholeness) produced by this constellation of elements in one diocesan hermit to the next will differ. The Holy Spirit works with each of us and our differing backgrounds, resources,  capacities, and potential and the weaving that comes from this mutual and cooperative work of the Holy Spirit and the obedient hermit will differ one to the next. We will differ in how we dress, when we rise or retire, when and how we pray,  eat, read, study, minister outside or from the hermitage, rest, recreate, meet with our directors and delegates, relate to our parishes and dioceses, and much more as well. 

What our vocations will share is the beauty, seriousness, and celebratory spirit of desert life where the silence of solitude is lived and gained more fully in both quiet and peaceful existence and in and through the solitary struggles one will face daily with and within oneself; the desert existence has always been so because it is committed to growth in Christ which entails the process of daily, even continual dying and rising until we rest at home with and in God. No one hermit (or person) can or does live this pattern of dying and rising in the same way another one can or does, and yet, from hermitage to hermitage and heart to heart, there will be significant commonalities because of canon 603 and the nature of Christian life itself.

The Diocesan Hermit: Some Considerations by Therese Ivers, JCL

 I said I would speak to a canonist or two and see if they would be willing to weigh in on the issue of c 603, lauras vs communities, etc. Well, I was able to have a long conversation with a canonist this last weekend and she wrote a piece for her own blog which (as she and I talked about) I am also posting here. The author is Therese Ivers, JCL and her blog is: Do I Have a Vocation? As readers can see, I think the author and I are in general agreement on the basic characteristics of a laura as opposed to a community. 

The one dimension Ivers brings out which I had not spelled out explicitly myself is the temporary nature of a laura. (I realize much of what I have written necessarily implies this but Therese is definitely a step (or three!) ahead of me here. Regarding the diocese's responsibility in formation, both initial and ongoing, Ivers and I are also in essential agreement; I believe, however, we may differ on the way this responsibility is exercised. Meanwhile, I very much appreciate the various comments she has made on candidates for profession, discernment, formation, the desert fathers and Mothers, and so forth. Please note, I do add one element to the lists of distinguishing qualities Ivers supplied below, namely, spirituality; the approach to diverse spiritualities differs significantly from laura to community. The one thread that runs throughout Iver's analysis is the significance and uniqueness of the c 603 vocation. Emphasis on formation, discernment, the continuing role of the bishop, and the individual nature of the vocation are dimensions of this extraordinary significance. My sincerest thanks to Therese for sharing her work and time in this!

“Go, sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything!”

In the early centuries of the Church, men and women fled to the desert as the Church’s first hermits. Christianity had become the official religion of the empire, and as a result of external prosperity and growth, Christian praxis became lax in the cities. Virgins, hermits, and ascetics grew in numbers to fill the vacuum of those intent on a life devoted to the sole focus on the service of Christ in a life of perfect chastity lived in the manner of their respective calling.

It should be noted that these were hard-core practicing Catholics who were familiar with their faith and extremely familiar with those things “in the world” that could distract them from their focus. In today’s language, we would say that these men and women were “well catechized” or “well formed”.

Hermits were no exception to the general quality of being “well catechized”. Nevertheless, not all were prepared for life in the desert or to the specific challenges of their calling. As a result, “mentors” naturally arose when hermits of great fame for holiness began to accept followers in their lifestyle. Likewise, hermits began to gather together at times for communal exercises albeit infrequently. How else would we know the doings of various hermits through the sayings of the Hermit fathers and mothers?

Some clusters of hermits (many lived at great geographical distance from each other but could be considered a “cluster” or “group”) eventually self organized and consolidated into proper monasteries. Others retained their proper eremitical character which consisted of individual hermits who lived their own very distinctive lifestyles who occasionally met up with one or more hermits. Clusters of such individuals came to be known as “lauras”. [The word lauras or lavras, in case I have not said this recently, comes from the Latin word for pathways; it was the pathways that linked these hermits and their individual hermitages to one another that defined such "clusters". SrL.]

Today, we have two forms of individual consecrated life in the Latin Church. One is that of hermits (canon 603) and the other, the portion of the order of virgins (canon 604) who are not also members of a religious institute. There are many myths about both forms of life, which have arisen for many reasons, particularly because of a profound misunderstanding of the nature of the vocation to be a hermit or to be a spouse of Christ respectively. The purpose of this article is to discuss some aspects of the eremitic vocation that is not always clear to those who are not cognizant of this vocation.

Individual Life Lived “In the Silence of Solitude” is the Primary Reality or Framework Designated by Canon. 603

As some people are aware, my original proposal for my doctoral dissertation in canon law was centered on the “Silence of Solitude” aspect of canon 603. It encapsulates the solitary lifestyle which is permeated with the mental and physical silence required for the “desert” substitution which provides the backdrop of the intense grappling of the soul with itself and heavenly -and not so heavenly- things.

Solitude, or a “stricter withdrawal from the world” is not a mere metaphor. It requires a similitude to the desert in which an individual is not rubbing shoulders with people on a daily basis [with the exception, perhaps of attendance at daily Mass if this is called for in the hermit’s rule]. Encounters with people should be infrequent, even in the running of a guest house, which should have periods of unoccupancy to facilitate the solitude of the hermit manager.

This is not a “religious of one” paradigm in which a hermit is free to do apostolic activity willy-nilly. On the contrary, the lay hermit (or diocesan hermit) is expected to be extremely withdrawn from the everyday hustle and bustle of the world. This includes apostolic works.

Some individuals imagine that they can live as a “caretaker” for someone else and live authentically as a hermit. Again, this is simply not the case. Caring for another person on a daily or frequent basis goes against the solitary nature of this vocation. But it is compatible for reasons of age or illness for the lay or diocesan hermit to be cared for, as there is a profound difference between caring for another in their daily necessities and being cared for in daily necessities when one is unable to do so.

The implication for a “laura” is also clear. That it is not the responsibility of individual hermits living in a laura (inside their individual hermitages) to administrate long-term care for an elderly or chronically ill fellow-hermit, and that provisions must have already been made and executed for the long term care of such hermits in appropriate facilities or with relatives [ideally Catholic].

A Word on Lauras:

Although it is possible for diocesan hermits to gather together in a geographic place, a laura is intended to be strictly distinct from a religious eremitic or semi-eremitic institute. Here are some of the key differences: (Apologies to Therese Ivers, because here she has a great chart laid out side by side; I couldn't use that here (space limitations) so I have set these two sets of characteristics out sequentially.)

Religious Institute:

• Common Superior to whom obedience is vowed who is not the bishop
• Common purse; the institute is jointly responsible for the wellbeing of the religious from the day of entrance until their deaths.
• Common rule of life
• Meals in common. Meals are eaten together in a refectory or at the same time in the hermitage.
• Communal Office or synchronized hours designated at common times [e.g. the horarium is the same for every individual even if the office is said alone in the hermitage such as in a Carthusian charterhouse]
• [In addition I would add here the single spirituality which characterizes an Institute and in which members are formed. An Institute of Consecrated Life will serve as a paradigm of a particular spirituality and its founder/foundress; it stands within the living tradition of this particular current of spirituality and consciously reflects and extends it. Thus a community will be Franciscan or Carmelite, or Camaldolese, and so forth. (SLO'N)]

Lauras:

• Obedience directly to the bishop as superior is professed
• Each individual hermit has their own bank account, retirement funds, health care and other insurances, and is expected to manage their finances individually. The individual hermit is expected to be independent regardless of whether they stay in a laura all their life, leave of their own accord, or are asked to leave.
• Individual rule of life that has been lived outside of the laura and which will be observed before, during [and even after] life in a laura.
• Generally meals should be taken alone and within the cell even if cooked for the whole laura. What is eaten, how it is eaten, and when it is eaten will be autonomously decided by the individual hermit.
• The individual hermit recites the liturgical hours or other prayers [non-cleric hermits are not obligated to say the liturgy of the hours and may in fact choose other forms of prayer to occupy their time] within the hermitage. This prayer-cycle is individualized for the growth of the hermit and therefore is highly unlikely to be synchronized with other hermits.
• [In addition to Therese Iver's list I would add here that there is no single spirituality beyond the general desert spirituality of the solitary hermit. A laura does not inculcate, much less form persons in a single spirituality like Franciscan, Camaldolese, Carmelite, etc. Instead it welcomes a diversity of spiritualities which will exist in harmony within a desert framework marked by the charity (in both rigor and flexibility) of the Desert Ammas and Abbas. Since a laura as such does not engage in the initial formation of hermits, and since it is a second half of life vocation, there is no concern with forming novices in a particular spirituality. (SLO'N)]

A laura, is in short, a temporary living arrangement of independent diocesan [or] lay hermits who maintain their own rule of life, finances, hermitage, etc. on a piece of property. It is not the “ideal” way of living to which a canon 603 hermit “aspires” but is merely an arrangement that can be permitted for the good of hermits on an ad hoc and temporary basis [even if such an arrangement de facto lasts decades]. Practically speaking, the numbers of hermits on the property in a laura should be limited as it would become too unwieldy to have over a handful unless the property is vast and perhaps owned in trust by some entity that rents out hermitages.

Canon 603 is not intended to encourage the formation of lauras, but is primarily focused on the actual solitary vocation for which membership in a laura may be a help or a hindrance. In any and all events, membership in a laura cannot be a condition for profession as a hermit and it must always be the result of a voluntary and seriously discerned path on the part of the experienced and [ideally] already professed hermit who believes it may be of benefit.

Unfortunately, due to greater familiarity with religious institutes, dioceses may have an incorrect understanding of the difference between a laura and a budding religious institute. This may cause abuses of canon 603 when a “hermit” is really an aspiring founder/ess of an eremitical or semi-eremitical religious institute. If the “hermit” really intends to be a religious founder, then the steps for the founding of a religious institute are to be utilized and the “vocation” tested.

As a canonist, I have heard all too often the opinion that the “ideal” hermit is one who has membership in a laura. To the contrary, I would say that membership in a laura by its very nature would merely be a temporary living situation for a diocesan hermit. The diocesan hermit cannot escape the hard work of crafting a personal rule of life over the course of several years – I consider the minimum for this to be at least 7-9 years as a prudential measure not unlike the requirement for final profession of contemplatives to have had no less than 9 years of formation reasonable. [Emphasis added to original]

This rule of life cannot be a mere appropriation or light tinkering of existing rule(s) of religious institutes or even that of other hermits. It must result from experimentation and the self-knowledge of what is helpful for this particular person in his/her struggles in “the desert”. This hermit must know what a balanced lifestyle for himself looks like and that will not be identical to that of anyone else.

The relationship between the hermit and his/her bishop is a direct one, as the bishop is the lawful superior of the diocesan hermit. This remains true even in a laura, as the position of hermits in a laura is that of equals among equals. Any “leadership” position would be only to assist with certain communal exigencies of living on the same property; real authority is not canonically granted. The diocese continues to have the obligation of furnishing continuing formation and supervision to the individual hermits, whether they belong to lauras or not.

If a diocese thinks it can “escape” its responsibilities to hermits by abdicating its duties to a fictitious “superior” of a laura, then it is gravely mistaken. The hermit has the right to direct access to his/her lawful superior who is the bishop, any “delegate” notwithstanding and the bishop has the obligation of knowing the individual hermits in his diocese.

Initial and Continuing Formation of Hermits

The problem faced by hermits today, whether they be in the pre-formation/candidacy stage, initial formation stage, or post-profession stage, is that of formation. This is a complex reality as “living in the cell” is a large part of the formation process. But it is not the only part of the process. For diocesan candidates or hermits, the diocese has an intrinsic and serious responsibility to provide initial and ongoing formation to its hermits. This must be tailored and adapted to the reality that there will be no “companions” or live-in superiors to ensure continued growth of virtue and of wholeness in humanity of the hermit.

The individual hermits themselves have a grave obligation of growing in the practice of virtue, growing in prayer, widening their understanding of sacred scripture, theology, etc. They also need to be well aware of their own holy patrimony in the Church, and steeped in the mindset of the desert fathers/mothers.

Given the complexity of all that has been said above, the bishop, whose duty it is to carefully discern with those who believe that they may have a vocation to the eremitical life, should consult with true experts on the eremitic vocation. It is not enough for the people tasked with assisting the bishop in the discernment of eremitic vocations and/or formation to be ordained or possess a diploma in theology [unless their role is to give formation in say liturgy or theology]. Bishops should collaborate with those who actually know the canonical and practical framework of the vocation for viable candidates and those in need of continuing formation.

Likewise, the eremitical vocation is not a mere matter of the internal forum. It is a public vocation even if it is lived in solitude and therefore it has a visible framework. Thus, it is highly inappropriate and a grave abuse to relegate all work with the individual aspiring hermit to the “spiritual director”. The division between the internal forum and external must be maintained and those entrusted with roles in either must be suitably competent in their area.

While this may sound intimidating, it is the Church’s intent that both parties do their due diligence and not shirk their individual responsibilities. The bishop has the obligation of authenticating and promoting true vocations to the hermit life and the hermit aspirant has the obligation of discerning and following their vocation even if the diocese refuses to profess hermits for valid or invalid reasons. Someone called to the silence of solitude will do it regardless of whether the diocese is willing to profess hermits.

Questions re: Various Forms of Eremitical Life

[[Dear Sister Laurel, You have written that those living eremitical lives in community are living different eremitical lives than those live as solitary hermits. I get that one is "semi-eremitical" or only half-time hermit life and one is full-time eremitical life. I think that semi-eremitical must also mean only partly eremitical or not truly eremitical while solitary eremitical life is the real deal. I wondered then why you don't distinguish in terms of one being better than the other, or one being truer than the other. Wouldn't lauras represent a mitigation for those who can't live full-time eremitical life?]]

Thanks for your questions. If you check you will find an article from several years ago: Full-time Work and Eremitical Life (not the exact title). Look at the last portion of that article you will find a bit of information on the meaning of the term semi-eremitical, and more importantly what it does not mean -- at least not any longer. Because I don't agree with you that semi-eremitical life is not truly eremitical, neither can I accept that one form of eremitical life is better than another. Absolutely, one will be better for one hermit than for another but solitary hermits, semi-eremitical hermits, and hermits living in canonical communities are all living eremitical life accentuating in one way and another the silence of solitude; thus, I don't agree that one is better than another. They do accentuate different qualities, demonstrate in different ways the relationship of eremitical life  to the larger faith community, and so forth, but they remain forms of eremitical life and each is authentic in its own way. (Clearly, I am not referring in any of this to fraudulent or inauthentic ways of living -- or failing to live -- eremitical life.)

Semi-eremitical life refers to eremitical life lived within the framework or context of a community. It does not mean it is merely half-eremitical (though one might structure the community in this way, somewhat akin to choir monks and donate brothers in the Carthusian tradition) but rather that hermits living in this way are supported in their solitude with some elements of communal prayer, meals, and perhaps, recreation (long walks, a shared movie, poetry reading, a board game on some evening, a trip to get groceries, etc.). The solitude lived is eremitical and it is not half-time. Again, with semi-eremitical life, the context for living one's solitary life is a community, or, in the case of lauras, it is lived within a colony of similarly committed solitary hermits. Solitary eremitical life is lived without the communal context --- though it may involve a laura. Solitary hermits who are consecrated in the Church under c 603 live eremitical life within a parish context and also within a diocesan one. These are ecclesial vocations so there is always a significant ecclesial dimension. This does not make them any less the "real deal" than any other form of eremitical life. Instead it helps assure that the authentic solitude of eremitical life is not supplanted by individualism and isolation.

You ask if life in a laura doesn't constitute a mitigation of full-time eremitical life. I am assuming you mean why doesn't it represent a mitigation of full-time solitary eremitical life, yes? Assuming as well, that each hermit lives her own Rule under the direction of her own delegate and spiritual director, that she maintains care for her own finances, insurance, ministry, education, ongoing formation, retreats, and self-care, a laura will be supportive, yes, but the hermit remains a solitary hermit. The use of the word mitigation here is a bit problematical for me because it seems to indicate a weakened discipline, lessened time alone, etc. The point of eremitical life is not that it be difficult (though it will have difficulties as any other vocation will) but rather that it be healthy and defined in terms of one's communion with God in the silence of solitude. If a laura helps ensure all of the elements mentioned above in this paragraph, then it may actually assist the hermit to go deeper into her own living out of her Rule and vows within a more immediately supportive context.

Maybe an analogy will help here. Some might think that a vow of obedience mitigates the freedom associated with eremitical life. But actually, the vow ensures that the hermit will move more deeply into her life of attentive listening and the freedom of a deepening love relationship with God and God's creation. While it is true the vow will constrain freedom if this is defined in terms of one's power to do whatever one wants whenever one wants to do it, it actually provides limits within which one achieves a greater Freedom to be the one God has called one to be. This latter definition is a Christian conception of authentic Freedom. In a similar way, a properly constituted laura where hermits live their own Rules and maintain a context of the silence of solitude for and with one another, far from mitigating the hermits' solitude, will find they are supported in a deeper and more consistent life of the silence of solitude shot through with the love of God.

But yes, if a laura is a colony in name only and fails to ensure, support, and nourish the constitutive elements of c 603 (one's own rule, delegate, spiritual director, finances, ministry, life with/in the parish, focus on the vows, needs for ongoing formation, and so forth), then this could absolutely represent a mitigation, and in fact a distortion of c 603 (solitary consecrated) eremitical life. I may not have adequately answered your questions so please get back to me as you wish!

Why Doesn't the Church Support Hermits if it Supports other Religious?

[[Hi Sister Laurel, I wondered why it is the church doesn't support hermits. They support other religious so why not hermits? Does the church want hermits to form lauras? (They support lauras, don't they? Do you agree with the church not supporting hermits?]]

Thanks for writing! Before I answer your questions though, I should correct one misunderstanding, namely, generally speaking, the church as such does NOT support religious. Religious live within their congregation's sphere of care and support. While individual religious work to earn money, that money goes to the congregation's treasury in order to sustain the congregation and its apostolate and ministries. One of the reasons religious communities today are strapped for money is the increasing median age and the declining number of Sisters and Brothers able to work. While religious tend not to retire in precisely the same way non-religious do, their earning capacity declines with increasing age. That means more elderly Sisters and Brothers are supported by fewer salaries and increased social security (which religious had to buy into because until the mid 70's, they did not pay into social security, and often were not able to do so because they earned so little). Again, I am speaking generally here only. Some (perhaps all) congregations depend on benefactors to a greater or lesser degree, so it is important to understand the church does not finance religious institutes; institutes themselves, generally speaking, are self-supporting.

Hermits (and here I mean solitary consecrated hermits living eremitical life in the name of the church under canon 603) do not belong to religious congregations so they are responsible for their own upkeep. This can include disability and social security payments, but the point is the hermit herself is responsible for her own upkeep -- the church does not generally assume financial or material responsibility for hermits. This also means that the hermit must secure her own living situation (hermitage); dioceses do not generally provide land or space for hermits consecrated under c 603. (Sometimes dioceses have provided these things, here or there, but the situation becomes fraught for the hermit in several different ways --- mainly in terms of insecurity should the diocese decide it needs to use the property in some other way or for some other purpose, but also because different bishops feel differently about eremitical life as such and may choose not to continue the arrangement.) The larger, but still related, problem in such a situation is the precedent it sets both within the diocese and for other dioceses who cannot provide in this way for a canon 603 hermit (or for multiple c 603 hermits within a single diocese). When other dioceses cannot act similarly they may simply decide they cannot profess diocesan hermits at all. It also sets precedents for other hermits or would-be hermits who don't realize that canon 603 assumes the hermit is and will remain self-sufficient and will live the eremitical life in the context in which she herself can best provide. (N.B., a new bishop may thus know canon 603 and ask a hermit to leave a diocese-supplied property precisely because he does know and understand canon 603.)

I think there is some pressure to form solitary hermits into lauras. In part this can come from the situation just outlined, where a diocese gives/provides land or retreat house space to a single c 603 hermit, and is not able to care for others in the same way unless they all come together in a laura. (Unfortunately, a laura is often misunderstood as though the colony is allowed to become a juridical community or institute. This is not the case under c 603.) I have already spoken of one group I know that began as a laura of canon 603 hermits and morphed into a community while still using c 603 as the basis of professions. In that diocese, it turns out that those desiring to become c 603 hermits were required to do so within this specific context and not as solitary hermits who are formed and may choose to live outside such a group. I know of three or four other groups that have called themselves lauras through the years -- though I am unsure they are all still viable. Neither do I know if there are other diocesan hermits living in these same dioceses and apart from such groups, though in the case mentioned above the laura is the only way to become a c 603 hermit in the diocese. For this reason alone I would have to say, yes, there is some misguided tendency to desire hermits to come together in lauras and then to funnel candidates for c603 in this direction. 

My sense from conversations I have had with bishops is a concern for adequate formation of those seeking profession under c 603. This concern seems to drive some of the pressure to form hermits into lauras. While it's an important issue for c 603 professions, and while I believe such groups can be a significant resource for diocesan hermits, I truly believe that adequate formation can and, in most ways, must be secured by the hermit outside such a group. This might not be done easily, perhaps, but it is possible and, in fact, I think it may be necessary for the solitary hermit learning to make discerning choices re: the use of resources. (Here I am thinking of the need to spend/use resources for the sake of priorities like ongoing education, spiritual growth, participation -- no matter how limited -- in the larger world, etc).

 As I have written before, I am torn on the issue of the church providing support for c 603 hermits. I agree completely that support should not be given initially, nor for some years after perpetual profession -- unless there is some significant emergency a diocese may decide to assist in. C 603 truly is meant for solitary hermits who are responsible for their own upkeep. Canon 603 cannot, and must not be used for folks seeking a sinecure, so unproven vocations might well slip into such a situation. One canonist opined that this ability to support oneself was a litmus test for c 603 hermits. While I didn't agree with that characterization when it was first made and still do not agree that this characteristic is the litmus test for this vocation, I do agree that it is an essential element in initially discerning such a vocation, and for living it as the authors of the canon envisioned. In my mind the requirement that one truly be a solitary hermit, and thus self-supporting, is part of the unique desert the diocesan hermit embraces. I can say more about this if it seems helpful.

Where I am torn, and here it is a matter of justice as well as protecting a vocation that is proven, is in two areas: 1) the need for ongoing formation, which I believe dioceses can and perhaps should assist with (here I am thinking of supplementing the hermit's resources to help pay for retreats, workshops, and maybe even to assist with funding for spiritual direction) in cases of demonstrated need, and 2) in the case of older hermits who have lived their perpetual profession for 15 to 20 years or more who may need access to a religious house where they can be physically secure and still live a significant degree of solitude in a supportive context.  In such a case I believe a diocese should, at the very least, help the hermit secure such a place. (Here bishops, vicars of religious, et al, might be able to intervene helpfully in the situation or simply have broader contacts than the hermit herself.) It is unclear to me at this point whether needs for additional care would be supported entirely by the hermit's own social security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc., or whether additional and financial resources would be required from the diocese. There is precedent for ongoing limited support for solitary hermit/anchorites whose vows/commitment was in the hands of the local bishop dating from the Middle Ages though what the authors of canon 603 had in mind is another question.

What I am completely clear about is that a hermit should be able to live on her own or, in well-established vocations, in a facility or religious house that allows her to truly remain the hermit she is until and unless she can do so no longer. That church (diocesan) sponsorship would likely be necessary in such a situation (I think the hermit should pay her own way) and I believe additional diocesan support could certainly help both the hermit and the house which is generous enough to allow (or consider allowing) her to live there. In such cases, it may be important for a hermit's diocese to be open to providing assistance, sometimes even financial in nature, to preserve and continue to nurture a long and well-lived vocation in a non-secular institution (where it is apt to be impossible to live). 

When I was first perpetually professed I received some correspondence from c 603 hermits who believed that church support indicated the church truly valued the eremitical vocation --- or, conversely, that failing to support the hermit indicated a failure to value the vocation. I thought the points were well-taken and I have not forgotten their cogency. At the same time, I recognize that, again, eremitical life is not meant to be a sinecure and that true eremitical vocations are rare. Likewise, I continue to believe hermits do not need to be supported by the church to believe that the same church values our vocations. What does have to be true however, is that there must be ongoing and meaningful communication and personal support from the chancery to the hermit, between the chancery and the hermit's delegate, and between the delegate and the hermit.

Detachment as the Matrix for Christian (and Eremitical!) Love (Reprised from 2008)

We have all heard the Christian term, "detachment," or at least, that is, we know the word and its common meaning. What does it actually mean in the context of monastic or eremitical life? What relation does it have to other values, to other demands of this or any Xtn life? Does it limit our ability to love others, for instance, or does it serve as the means to love more generously, more purely, more whole-heartedly? Does it demand an end to treasured relationships, or does it clarify and transform the way we participate in these? Does it somehow cause a lack of desire to participate in or nurture these relationships, or does it sharpen the delight we take in them and serve to allow the deepening of our commitment to the other? Is it marked by apathy (which is not the same as monastic apatheia!!) and a lack of feeling or energy for life, or does it help cultivate and condition a deeper sense of being alive and in love with life? And finally, does detachment entail a loss of self so complete that one can be said to be "nothing" or have no self (a la Bernadette Roberts, for instance), or is it a new way of possessing a self, a truer and fuller self which is more abundantly alive, and more profoundly related to reality? 

As is probably obvious from the way I have phrased the questions, I believe genuine detachment does the latter in each case. It is possible to believe, using the common definition of the term, that detachment means an end to involvement, an end to relationships and to love, and even the loss of selfhood. It is possible, using this sense of the word, to set it in opposition to love and the involvement with others love demands, but in reality --- at least as I understand the term, and as the tradition of the desert Fathers and Mothers and other monastics and hermits I know understand it --- detachment is the means by which we are freed for authentic love; it is the matrix of Christian --- and so, eremitical --- love, not their antithesis. It is a mark and (partially) the means by which we claim TRUE selfhood, not the end or renunciation of it. 

At the center of our understanding of the nature of detachment are a couple of truths: 1) we are called above all to love --- to love God and to love ourselves and others in, through and with God; this is the very nature of authentic selfhood, whether Divine or human selfhood, and 2) we cannot love God or others unless we have a self which is capable of this. Detachment, if it is a real value we pursue and cultivate must, like any other Christian value, contribute to these goals or it is worthless. More than worthless, it is destructive and even demonic --- that is, capable of distorting the persons we are and blocking the process of becoming God summons forth and grounds in us. But of course genuine detachment in the eremitical life, and in the Christian life more generally, is actually the basis for the freedom to be the selves we are called to be. 

Detachment is the liberation experienced by one who truly loves and is truly human. It is, like so many other things in Christian life and spirituality, a paradoxical reality. If it is not marked by a rich and full loving, an abundant life of love and liberated selfhood, then it is not Christian detachment. And yet, how easily it is to fail to understand this! How common the misunderstanding of the term, even in those who are focused on spirituality in some way! 

Detachment and the Creation of the Self capable of Love: 

I wrote recently that real love requires distance as well as closeness, and that enmeshment was destructive of authentic human love. It is that insight that is at the root of understanding the nature of Christian detachment. There is a second and related insight which is also at the root of things here, namely, that real love requires freedom from counterfeits and a liberation from the concerns of an ego self which measures selfhood in terms of what we do, what we have, or what others think of us. This latter liberation is important not only to see and accept (i.e., love!) ourselves for who we really are, but to see and accept or affirm others (i.e., love them!) similarly. The choice before us is really to see and accept ourselves as God sees us, or to see and accept ourselves as the world (and our ego-self) sees us. There is no other option really. Detachment describes the state (and process) of moving from the latter to the former. It is a matter of freeing ourselves (or rather, allowing ourselves to be freed) from the claims and enmeshments (i.e., attachments) of the false self and embracing the true self and all that constitutes that. 

But this goal is not an end in itself. Detachment is not something to be pursued for its own sake. Detachment is at the service of something greater in the Christian life. It is at the service of the true self, yes, but above all that means it is at the service of the call to that self to love as Christ loves. Our own truest selves are hampered from becoming or being embodied in many ways, but one of the most destructive is by the attachments we make and have to all those values, structures, and realities which support the "ego-self, " that is, the self which is constantly judging and composing a portrait of "Me" which, again, is defined in terms of what I do, what I have, and what others think of me. Not only is the ego-self noisy and constantly rehearsing this portrait of self in order to maintain it so that it blocks our ability to hear the call of our own hearts, but, because it is constituted by attachments to these things, it detracts and distracts from the complete dependence upon God and God's summons (vocation) which is the necessary response to it and the One who grounds and authors it. 

Detachment is therefore the loosening and breaking of these bonds of attachment which are neither from nor of God, these definitions and images of self and others that hold us in their grip along with all that sustains and empowers them. It is a process and goal which again is at the service of a larger one, namely the making of authentic, obedient selves capable of loving others IN CHRIST. Communion is the fruit of detachment, and any supposedly "spiritual" process which does not lead to genuine communion should not be mistaken for detachment. The paradox involved here should be underscored: when we are truly detached we are capable of loving concrete human beings AS THEY ARE in our day-to-day dealings with them. Detachment does not issue in a merely abstract and superficial love of "the poor," "the homeless," "the unloved," or the like (Bondi, To Pray and to Love). It results instead in the capacity to see others --- real flesh-and-blood people with warts, body odor, lousy dispositions, contrary opinions, and the like --- and love them for who they REALLY are, namely, the images of God (as imperfectly as they -- or we -- realize this foundational identity!) who confront us with his presence everyday and who need to love and be loved in all the ways that we ourselves do and are called to do. 

On Detachment and Apathy: 

And this has implications for those who see detachment as a kind of apathy. As I noted in the beginning of this post, apathy is not the same thing the desert Fathers and Mothers called apatheia. Apatheia was understood to mean a kind of imperturbability or holy stillness which resulted when one was rooted in and lived from and for the love and mercy of God and was no longer enmeshed in the world. It was not only not incompatible with profound love for others, it called and prepared for it. Neither then is true detachment marked by apathy. Detachment and apatheia were intimately linked because both involved the freeing of the self from passions, that is from those distorting lenses formed by woundedness, neediness, insecurity, ambition, greed, etc, which caused one to relate to reality in ways which were less than authentically human. But detachment and apathy on the other hand are actually antithetical to one another because apathy is a form of self-centeredness and bondage resulting in psychological death, whereas detachment is a form of freedom from self which opens to life and love. 

[By the way, please note well: the passions, in the sense this term is used by the desert Fathers and Mothers and those who have followed them, are not simply strong feelings; they may involve strong feelings but they are really distorting lenses through which we come to relate inappropriately or inadequately to God, ourselves, and others. For a very good treatment of the reality of the passions as understood by the early Church fathers and Mothers see Roberta Bondi's, To Pray and to Love. There she defines them as, "habits of seeing, feeling, thinking, and acting that characteristically blind us to who we ourselves, our neighbors, and God really are so that we are not able to respond appropriately, rationally, and lovingly." A longer treatment is found in her book, To Love as God Loves, also highly recommended.] Given this view of things what sometimes passes for detachment and is rightly described as apathy is actually what the desert Fathers and Mothers called a passion. 

All of this leads back to the questions with which I opened the post. Detachment is a freeing process and state which allows us to love others more honestly and generously. It does not close us off from others --- even if we are hermits --- but instead allows us to see and cherish them with the eyes and heart of God. It allows us to delight in reality in a way which our ego-selves would censure and shut down, because the detached self, the true self, is unconcerned with what this reality can do for us, how it can be owned or possessed by us, or how it affirms us. Detachment makes us capable of delight in the thing itself simply because it is what it is. And, it allows us to hear and respond to the vocational call which sounds instant by instant deep in the core of our being. In other words, it serves authentic humanity; it serves the growth of the true self which loves God and claims as its own to cherish all that is cherished by Him. Further, while the eremitical life poses unique challenges in embodying this love, the FACT of it is no less real for the hermit than it is for any other Christian. For every Christian, including the hermit, detachment is the matrix out of which authentic love is birthed.

Feast of St Joseph the Worker, Iconic Seeker of Justice (reprise)

Today's feast is the Feast of St Joseph the Worker. One of the lessons we take from Joseph's story is the importance of faithfulness to our daily work, to our commitments no matter how small or apparently insignificant because such faithfulness can allow momentous things to happen and it is through such faithfulness in small, everyday things, that the will of the eternal God to set all things to rights (that is, the will to do justice) is ultimately done. We don't know lots of stories about Joseph but we do know that he struggled to discern and do the will of God, that he committed himself to what God was doing through Mary, and that he supported and expressed this by his daily faithfulness and work, both as an artisan and as husband and Father.

Especially poignant is the Matthean story of Joseph as the icon of one who struggles to allow God's own justice to be brought to birth as fully as possible. It is, in its own way, a companion story to Luke's account of Mary's annunciation and fiat. Both Mary (we are told explicitly) and Joseph (we are told implicitly) ponder things in their hearts, both are mystified and shaken by the great mystery which has taken hold of them and in which they have become pivotal characters. Both allow God's own power and presence to overshadow them so that God might do something absolutely new in their world. But  it is Joseph's more extended, profound, and profoundly faithful struggle to truly do justice in mercy, and to be a righteous man who reveals God's own justice in love, God's salvation, that is at the heart of those few stories we have about Joseph. In light of this I want to reprise what we hear about Joseph during Advent.

The Struggle to Do Justice, the Situation:

I am a little ashamed to say I have never spent much time considering Joseph's predicament or the context of that predicament until this week. Instead I have always thought of him as a good man who chose the merciful legal solution rather than opting for the stricter one. I never saw him making any other choice nor did I understand the various ways he was pushed and pulled by his own faith and love. But Joseph's situation was far more demanding and frustrating than I had ever appreciated! Consider the background which weighed heavy on Joseph's heart. First, he is identified as a just or righteous man, a man faithful to God, to the Covenant, a keeper of the Law or Torah, an observant Jew who was well aware of Isaiah's promise and the sometimes bitter history of his own Davidic line. All of this and more is implied here by the term "righteous man". In any case, this represents his most foundational and essential identity. Secondly, he was betrothed to Mary, wed (not just engaged!) to her though he had not yet taken her to his family home and would not for about a year. That marriage was a symbol of the covenant between God and his People Israel. Together he and Mary symbolized the Covenant; to betray or dishonor this relationship was to betray and profane the Covenant itself. This too was uppermost in Joseph's mind precisely because he was a righteous man.

Thirdly, he loved Mary and was entirely mystified by her pregnancy. Nothing in his tradition prepared him for a virgin birth. Mary could only have gotten pregnant through intercourse with another man so far as Joseph could have known --- and this despite Mary's protestations of innocence. (The OT passage referring to a virgin is more originally translated as "young woman". Only later as "almah" was translated into the Greek "parthenos" and even later was seen by Christians in light of Mary and Jesus' nativity did "young woman" firmly become "a virgin".) The history of Israel was fraught with all-too-human failures which betrayed the covenant and profaned Israel's high calling. While Joseph was open to God doing something new in history it is more than a little likely that he was torn between which of these possibilities was actually occurring here, just as he was torn between believing Mary and continuing the marriage and divorcing her and casting her and the child aside.

What Were Joseph's Options?

Under the Law Joseph had two options. The first involved a very public divorce. Joseph would bring the situation to the attention of the authorities, involve witnesses, repudiate the marriage and patrimony for the child and cast Mary aside. This would establish Joseph as a wronged man and allow him to continue to be seen as righteous or just. But Mary could have been stoned and the baby would also have died as a result. The second option was more private but also meant bringing his case to the authorities. In this solution Joseph would again have repudiated the marriage and patrimony but the whole matter would not have become public and Mary's life or that of the child would not have been put in immediate jeopardy. Still, in either instance Mary's shame and apparent transgressions would have become known and in either case the result would have been ostracization and eventual death. Under the law Joseph would have been called a righteous man but how would he have felt about himself in his heart of hearts? Would he have wondered if he was just under the Law but at the same time had refused to hear the message of an angel of God, refused to allow God to do something new and even greater than the Law?

Of course, Joseph might have simply done nothing at all and continued with the plans for the marriage's future. But in such a case many problems would have arisen. According to the Law he would have been falsely claiming paternity of the child --- a transgression of the Law and thus, the covenant. Had the real father shown up in the future and claimed paternity Joseph would then have been guilty of "conniving with Mary's own sin" (as Harold Buetow describes the matter). Again Law and covenant would have been transgressed and profaned. In his heart of hearts he might have believed this was the just thing to do but in terms of his People and their Covenant and Law he would have acted unjustly and offended the all-just God. Had he brought Mary to his family home he would have rendered them and their abode unclean as well. If Mary was guilty of adultery she would have been unclean --- hence the need for ostracizing her or even killing her!

Entering the Liminal Place Where God May Speak to Us:

All of this and so much more was roiling around in Joseph's heart and mind! In one of the most difficult situations we might imagine, Joseph struggled to discern what was just and what it would mean for him to do justice in our world! Every option was torturous; each was inadequate for a genuinely righteous man. Eventually he came to a conclusion which may have seemed the least problematical even if it was not wholly satisfactory, namely to put Mary away "quietly", to divorce her in a more private way and walk away from her. And at this moment, when Joseph's struggle to discern and do justice has reached it's most neuralgic point, at a place of terrible liminality symbolized in so much Scriptural literature by dreaming, God reveals to Joseph the same truth Mary has herself accepted: God is doing something unimaginably new here. He is giving the greatest gift yet. The Holy Spirit has overshadowed Mary and resulted in the conception of One who will be the very embodiment of God's justice in our world. Not only has a young woman come to be pregnant but a virgin will bear a child! The Law will be fulfilled in Him and true justice will have a human face as God comes to be Emmanuel in this new and definitive way.

Joseph's faith response to God's revelation has several parts or dimensions. He decides to consummate the marriage with Mary by bringing her to his family home but not as an act of doing nothing at all and certainly not as some kind of sentimental or cowardly evasion of real justice. Instead it is a way of embracing the whole truth and truly doing justice. He affirms the marriage and adopts the child as his own. He establishes him in the line of David even as he proclaims the child's true paternity. He does this by announcing this new Son's name to be Jesus, God saves.  Thus Joseph proclaims to the world that God has acted in this Son's birth in a new and way which transcends and relativizes the Law even as it completely respects it. He honors the Covenant with a faithfulness that leads to that covenant's perfection in the Christ Event. In all of this Joseph continues to show himself to be a just or righteous  man, a man whose humanity and honor we ourselves should regard profoundly.

Justice is the way to Genuine Future:

Besides being moved by Joseph's genuine righteousness, I am struck by a couple of things in light of all of this. First, discerning and doing justice is not easy. There are all kinds of solutions which are partial and somewhat satisfactory, but real justice takes work and, in the end, must be inspired by the love and wisdom of God. Secondly, Law per se can never really mediate justice. Instead, the doing of justice takes a human being who honors the Law, feels compassion, knows mercy, struggles in fear and trepidation with discerning what is right, and ultimately is open to allowing God to do something new and creative in the situation. Justice is never a system of laws, though it will include these. It is always a personal act of courage and even of worship, the act of one who struggles to mediate God's own plan and will for all those and that involved. Finally, I am struck by the fact that justice opens reality to a true future. Injustice closes off the future. In all of the partial and unsatisfactory solutions Joseph entertained and wrestled with, each brought some justice and some injustice. Future of some sort was assured for some and foreclosed to others; often both came together in what was merely a sad and tragic approximation of a "real future". Only God's own will and plan assures a genuine future for the whole of his creation. That too is something yesterday's Gospel witnessed to.

Another Look at Joseph:

Joseph is a real star in Matt's account of protecting Jesus' nativity; he points to God and the justice only God can do. It is important, I think, to see all that he represents as Mary's counterpart in the nativity of Jesus (Son of David) who is Emmanuel (Son of the One who, especially in Jesus, is God With Us). Mary's fiat seems easy, graceful in more than one sense of that term. Joseph's fiat is hard-won but also graced or graceful. For Joseph, as for Mary, there is real labor involved as the categories of divinity and justice, law and covenant are burst asunder to bring the life and future of heaven to birth in our world. But Joseph with Mary also both lived essentially hidden lives which were faith in all the little and big moments of being spouses and parents --- the vocations which allowed God's will to justice too be accomplished in their Son, Jesus.

May we each be committed to the work of mediating God's own justice and bringing God's future into being especially in this Easter season. This is the time when we especially look ahead to the coming of the Kingdom of God and to the time when God will be all in all. May we never take refuge in partial and inadequate solutions to our world's problems and need for justice, especially out of shortsightedness, sentimentality, cowardice, evasion, or fear for our own reputations. And may we allow Joseph to be the model of discernment, humility, faithfulness, and courage in mediating the powerful presence and future of God we recognize as justice and which we so yearn for in this 21st Century.

Isn't it hard being a Solitary Hermit under C 603?

[[Dear Sister, I appreciate what you have written about lauras vs communities, but surely it must be hard to be a solitary hermit. Don't you miss community, or the security of being part of a group with hermits that are as or more experienced than you? I would think that because you deal with chronic illness it would be prudent and consoling to have others who could look in on you occasionally or help with a meal here or there! Wouldn't it be important to have others with whom you can pray -- especially liturgical prayer like the LOH, but also contemplative prayer. 

Also, don't communities have more resources, financial, material, and so forth and the security which would allow you to pray in silence and solitude without concern? I would think there would be more c 603 hermits if these things were provided by the diocese, for example, or if the diocese supplied the land and hermitages for a laura. I guess I don't have a single question here. I can understand why some hermits have chosen lauras that really are communities. It just seems to me that a solitary hermit's vocation is less secure and harder to sustain than a hermit living in a community.]]

Wow! Have you been reading my journals or talking to my director? In fact, I miss many of the things you have mentioned and would like some of the others! I also struggle with some of the insecurities of this vocation, of course, and am open to finding better and better ways to deal with these on an ongoing basis. But, if you had really been reading my journal or talking to my director, what you would also know is that deeper than these things I miss or desire is the sense that canon 603 eremitical life is an incredible gift to the Church and even further, that is is almost miraculous that it exists today. In a Church which, on some levels anyway, distrusts individuality (again, not the same thing as individualism!!), seeks to structure and legislate institutions, and tends to be uncomfortable with the prophetic nature of vocations to the consecrated state of life generally and with hermits more particularly, we have a canon which not only nurtures and governs the solitary consecrated eremitical vocation, but which specifically requires the hermit write and live her own Rule of life and then approves this Rule with a bishop's decree affirming his hope that it will be fruitful for the hermit and the church.

I completely understand why there are so few canon 603 hermits --- and so few bishops who are open to solitary consecrated hermits. We are not supported by the church, we live Rules we must write ourselves after significant (and often long) experiences of lives of prayer and commitment in solitude, and we do not have other hermits around us to support us in our commitment to God under c 603. We provide for ourselves in whatever ways we can do that, take steps to secure our own medical care and futures when old age and illness make living alone dangerous or impossible, and at the same time, represent a profoundly ecclesial vocation committed to ongoing formation (personal growth in holiness), countercultural witness, and the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We live our contemplative lives for the sake of others and recognize that there are many today who live alone in much the same way we do --- but without the overarching commitment or the sense of meaningfulness, focus, and foundation the c 603 hermit's' lives have. And we do all of this with the relatively casual supervision of our bishops (usually exercised through the oversight and support of delegates who serve as "quasi-superiors"), and the blessing of the Church,  but also without her material support. The potential for missteps and distortion (often in the name of structure, order, and security, but also in the name of individualism) is really huge.

And yet, I continue to believe that c 603 is a great gift, both to solitary hermits and to the Church as a whole. In fact, as I reflect on the tendency to  make c 603 over into something it was never meant to be (namely, a short cut to profess members of eremitical communities), I become more and more convinced that the way it assures a costly but fragile and vital freedom is a grace of God that looks ever more miraculous to me as the years go by. To be able to live it as I do is a privilege. Yes, there are things I miss and am working to accommodate in some way within this vocation. For instance, my own need for community is real, and that is especially true with regard to other religious who live the same values I do, though they do so as cenobites. My life in a parish does speak to this need for community in significant ways, but not sufficiently, and that means I am working to find ways to associate with other Sisters and Brothers but in a way which enhances or at least certainly does not infringe on my vocation to solitary eremitical life.

Needs associated with chronic illness shift over time and I am finding ways to deal with these so that I am supported in my solitude. But, generally speaking, dealing with seizures and chronic pain alone for the most part, is and will likely remain a part of my own unique solitary vocation. These sharpen the loneliness I sometimes feel, and they absolutely call me to greater rootedness in prayer but also represent an intrinsically penitential dimension of my life. Fortunately, again, I have friends in my parish community and two Sisters who act as both spiritual director and co-delegates for me; in the latter case, even during the COVID lockdown, we have never been out of touch for long and have been able either to correspond or meet regularly via ZOOM. It is a major help and has allowed for an intense focus on ongoing personal formation. Meanwhile, my material needs are taken care of pretty well because I am disabled. In fact, as I said to one of the Sisters I mentioned above just a week and a half ago or so, I have a better library than most Sisters I know (unless they have access to a convent or university library), and other physical needs are also met pretty well. Still, I grant you, my life is not as secure as it might be were I part of a community. 

Even so, and most importantly, I have plenty of time for prayer and I live in and towards the silence of solitude. This is truly not a problem for me. While I found the initial months of the lockdown due to COVID a bit disorienting, as a whole the last year has been a very rich one in terms of prayer, lectio, writing, scripture study, personal formation, and limited contacts with others. I would personally like to be able to live alone in the woods, for instance, with its deeper silence and natural sounds, but I couldn't do that anyway due to disability  --- not least because I cannot drive myself places. But even so, no, my life does not suffer from a lack of silence, solitude or adequate time and place for prayer and productive work. I do understand and appreciate your concern however. Thanks for that.

Additional Questions on Canon 603 and Lauras vs Communities

[[Dear Sister, is it necessary to limit a laura to just three or four people under c 603? Are there benefits to this besides not tending to morph into a community? We had a community of hermits in our region but I think they have mostly left or died. I always wonder what happens to them when there is only one or two left. Do they look for more vocations? And what if the remaining hermits don't want to be involved in the formation of new members? Do they move to a different (smaller) place? I hadn't thought much about this but if the vocation is as rare as you say it is, having three solitary hermits might be the most any diocese could do.]]

Thanks for your questions. This topic has actually sparked a lot of interest and I am hoping that perhaps I can get a canonist or two (since I am not one) to weigh in here on the idea of lauras of canon 603 hermits especially as regards the origin of the canon and commentaries written on it. Your own first question is about the benefits of not having more than three hermits. When I wrote about that number I was thinking of a limit placed on groups of hermits by the Bishops in Spain (if my memory is correct in this). At that point I wrote about not allowing a colony of canon 603 hermits to morph into a community because that is a different vocation and contrary to the notion built into canon 603 by its authors. 

But you can think about the problems that can occur with groups that get larger than three. With three people arrangements for chores or charges, hours of activity and silence, finances, the way visitors are handled, assuring silence and solitude for others and maintaining a prayerful atmosphere, times for communal liturgy (if there are any), shared lectio divina (if chosen), and meals, all of this and more can be handled with a simple meeting of the hermits. It is an optimal number for dealing with differences and coming together in a way which does not infringe on authentic freedom. Not so with larger groups.

Remember that all canon 603 hermits write her/his own Rule and this is approved with a bishop's decree of approval on the day of profession. While I don't recommend a hermit itemizing every do and don't when she writes a Rule, I do recommend a hermit writes her Rule in light of the vision she has of canon 603 life in the Church. Each hermit knows how God works in her life and what she needs for this; she will know the central elements of canon 603 and what they require of her in her daily living, and she will know all of this on the basis of lived experience before she writes her Rule and is professed.  In each Rule written by each hermit there will be a wisdom the others won't necessarily accent. All of this experience and wisdom glorifies God and a laura has to be flexible enough to accommodate differences in emphasis and praxis which stem from the unique ways God works with each soul. This just naturally becomes harder as a group gets larger and the differences in one embodiment of c 603 begin to look like departures from what some others call "eremitical life." 

For instance, I define stricter separation from the world in a particular (and theologically sound) way which embraces silence and solitude and continual personal formation in Christ (growth in holiness towards what canon 603 calls "the silence of solitude"), but also allows me to use a computer, access the internet, and be active in a parish community (though in a limited way). Others without my specific experience and sensibilities (not to mention a wise and experienced director) could be unduly tempted by these things, fail to use them prudently, or, because they don't have the experience of handling these wisely, actually harm their vocations (and those of others in a laura) with them. As the laura grows in numbers it becomes harder to allow the very freedom eremitical life is meant to nurture and protect --- the very freedom which is a hallmark of both eremitical life and the Holy Spirit. (Please note, again, freedom is not the power to do anything we want whenever we want; it is the power to be the persons God calls us to be. To force solitary hermits to submit to a common Rule instead of, or as a replacement for a personally discerned and authored Rule is contrary to true freedom in regard to c 603 vocations.)

In such circumstances, prohibitions applicable to everyone become necessary (these are no longer the mutually agreed upon house rules which serve both freedom and charity) and in such cases people will also begin to look for a single person to act as the authority and "lay down the law." (While all the hermits I know personally would certainly be able to take on a leadership role if necessary, none of them/us feels we are actually called to this. It would require significant discernment within a proven environment to make such a choice.) The group will also require larger facilities and grounds --- which most hermits cannot afford and most dioceses, quite rightly, are neither able nor willing to provide for c 603 hermits. 

This is merely the tip of a very large and difficult iceberg; it is simply much easier to accommodate one or two other hermits and the vision they each have of canon 603 life. As alluded to above, one signal piece of wisdom of canon 603 is its legislating that a hermit write her own Rule rooted in her own long-experience of God at work in her life. This individual Rule and the ability to write one is key not only to the vocation itself, but also to dioceses discerning the reality of the vocation and assessing the formation of canon 603 hermits. In a laura, solitary hermits' individual Rules not only do not need to be superseded by a single Rule and superior,  they should not be superseded in this way since it can destroy the very calling they have lived for years in discernment and personal formation to embrace and embody. Again, it is a different eremitical vocation.

I'm not taking your questions in order, and in some ways my responses make a direct response impossible. The area of formation is one of these so let me turn to that. As envisioned in light of canon 603 --- which regards the solitary eremitical vocation as preeminent and is entirely geared to it -- a laura of c 603 hermits would not be responsible for the formation of other hermits. A laura is composed of already-professed hermits who have been formed on their own (and often in other forms of consecrated life first) and who have demonstrated the capacity to live as solitary hermits in the same way. It seems to me that a c 603 laura would not accept candidates -- though members with genuine expertise might certainly be able to serve as resources, spiritual directors, or delegates for hermits approaching (and subsequent to) profession. Candidates (the term is used in an informal sense only since c 603 does not provide for "candidature" per se) might occasionally make a desert day with the c 603 hermits, join them for communal prayer once in a while, or meet for regular direction, but they would live elsewhere and would be responsible for securing their own formation, both initial and ongoing. This is important because it is an ongoing need for the whole of the hermit's life, and because it is intrinsic to canon 603 life in particular.

It should but, (because of the way the notion of a laura has been misused from time to time) cannot go without saying that should a diocese have more than three c 603 hermits or those who would like to pursue such a vocation, there must be absolutely no requirement whatsoever that such persons join an already-existing laura or constitute themselves in such a way in order to be professed. Such a requirement is entirely foreign to the spirit and letter of canon 603. A laura is established for the benefit of the solitary eremitical life, not to co-opt it or transform it into something else. And yes, as you say, three diocesan hermits might well be all a diocese ever sees given the relative rarity of the vocation. (In fact, given the requirements I have stated here regarding freedom and formation, for instance, it is far more than most dioceses will ever see.)