Fra Jerome Hawes, Hermit of Cat Island

The nothing had been enthralled with the biography* of Fr. John Cyril Hawes, an Anglican priest converted to Catholicism, then ordained a priest, then a missionary to Australia, and then a hermit on Cat Island in the Bahamas. all this transpired in the first part of the 20th century. Fr. Hawes was also an architect, and many of his beautiful churches designed and sometimes even built by him, are extant.

Fra Jerome began his hermit vocation at age 64. His biographer wrote in the Foreward about some hermits who find "the surest way to hide themselves is to live in the midst of the crowd where they are unknown, unthought of and unremarked. They are always trying to make themselves inconspicuous--to put people off the scent--so that their lives can be completely hidden with God."

He comments on Father Jerome's (John Hawe's name in religion, as he was also a Tertiary Franciscan and had spent some time in a Benedictine monastery on an island between Ireland and England, being formed with hopes of beginning a Franciscan movement) explain that at his age, and with his expertise in architecture, his Bishop required him to interrupt his eremitical life to use his much-need talents to help the native Bahamians.

However, he did live in solitude as best he could, atop the highest point of the Bahamas, in a beautiful hermitage and adjoining chapel and other buildings which by themselves reminded those in the modern world of the value of the solitary life.

"For a Christian hermit is not running away from something; he is running after something. And that something is God."

The nothing is over half through the intriguing biography and at the point in which Fra Jerome is building the hermitage with the help of some islanders. He also has a sail boat that he purchased, and has a young native man help him with the sailing and also with the tasks of daily life--a concession to Fra Jerome's age.

Fra Jerome wanted to live his life in the Franciscan ideal so practiced various austerirites, such as sleeping on the floor. Much of the Cat Island section is filled with his sea adventures--and the ordeals of getting his hermitage established. There is mention of the solitude, and that he had some hallucinations in the adjustment period.

The biography thus far does not delve into his spiritual graces. The first part is his conversion to Catholicism, and then his amazing efforts in the wildest part of western Australia, in the 1920's and '30's. His hermit vocation became realized around 1940. One of the most difficult detachments was from his devoted pet dog. Fra Jerome had also been an outstanding priest, honored as a monsignor, a horse breeder and jockey, and a dog breeder. His Bishop in Australia was sorrowed to let him go to the Bahamas, where Fra Jerome had ministered in the early 1900's as an Anglican priest. But the Bishop knew that Fra Jerome had the call to the eremitic life, even if it had been set aside for many years until he faced it squarely and accepted God's call.

The nothing can relate with Fra Jerome's having put off the call. It does take courage to step forth into solitude, with the unknowns and the many self-deceptions that go along with it. Fra Jerome had to wrest away from some comforts that had prohibited his living the Franciscan poverty. He was in very good health for his age, but the austerities wore on him, such as the damp, the wind, and the fasting. It is interesting that he had a young native to assist him, to be on the order of the Blessed Virgin Mary's maidservant when in the stone house at Ephesus (according to some tradition and also Bl. Emmerich's private revelations).

Fra Jerome could not be as hidden as some hermits, obviously, as he was requested by his Bishop to assist in some parishes when a pastor had to be away, prior to his building the hermitage on Cat Island. Also, the hermitage, atop the tallest "mountain" of the islands, was visible. Hiring natives to help in construction brought people to the location. But for the most part, he was in solitude for a time after the hermitage was completed. He did allow islanders to come and make the Way of the Cross on Good Friday. Being an architect and artist, the beauty of his hermitage was such that others took note and wanted to enjoy his talents and offering to God of such a site.

At this point in the biography, it is not yet known if the islanders totally comprehend that he is a hermit, but it is assumed they are getting the idea! He wore simple garb and grew a beard, went barefoot or wore sandals, and lived as simply as that environment allowed--which was quite simple. But even at that, Fra Jerome commented that certain aspects of the culture and society were necessary in his time period, even for a hermit. He did make concessions.

Fra Jerome, pray for this nothing Catholic hermit! Help it grow and bear hermit fruit for the love of God and the good of all souls.

*Anson, Peter F. The Hermit of Cat Island: The Life of Fra Jerome Hawes. 1957. New York: P.J. Kenedy & Sons.