Readers continue to be interested in how one becomes a Catholic hermit. This post I will repost as it is one of the most repeatedly sought and read of my blog posts. I hope it helps those discerning a call to what I have found over these nearly 17 years to be a most rewarding, yet challenging, vocation in the Consecrated Life of the Catholic Church. (This is a repost from a July 2016 repost of the original post from March 2015.)
How to Become a Catholic Hermit
Someone again has inquired within the past day as to how to become a Catholic hermit. I written about this process previously, but the basics may be found in The Catechism of the Catholic Church and in the institutes of the Church.
I am posting the requirements which are also, for those in the United States, on the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Of course, the first and foremost way to become a Catholic hermit is to receive the vocational call from God.
Of course, the first and foremost way to become a Catholic hermit is to receive the vocational call from God. This call can be discerned with the help of one's spiritual director/father, one's priest, one's bishop--but mostly through much prayer and in daily trial practice in living out gradually the aspects of living the eremitic vocation as outlined in the sections 920 and 921 of The Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Certain terminology and labels that from time to time are suggested online, simply are not at this time mentioned in any Church documentation nor authorized by the Vatican nor could be designated as official by an archbishop, bishop, priest, or by a hermit himself. These include unauthorized designations such as "lay hermit" or "dedicated hermit" [or "independent hermit"--not that terms determine the quality or lived vows and professions of a hermit, regardless].
As anyone can read from the Church documents, all Catholic hermits are consecrated Catholic hermits whether or not privately or publicly professed (the latter under CL603, a fairly recently added proviso to the eremitic vocational tradition).
A main requirement for all desiring to become a Catholic hermit remains professing the three evangelical counsels and striving to live the eremitic vocation as set forth in sections 920 and 921 of The Catechism. All Catholic hermits, having either professed their vows privately or publicly, must include the three evangelical counsels. Hermits are but one of several vocations designated as being consecrated--specifically listed in Church documents as being part of the Consecrated Life of the [Catholic] Church.
Hope this re-posted blog from March 2015 helps the inquirer with the factual Church parameters of how to become a Catholic hermit. You may wish to search my blog for the proceeding and preceding posts written in that month and year, for I set out the facts, citing the various documents of the Church including some more arcane texts that took a bit of research but are out there. I do think that as Scripture tells us, we ought not get too caught up in semantics nor in hair-splitting.
Especially for those of us with vocations in the Consecrated Life of the Church or in Holy Orders, we are to progress from living under the law; Jesus and the Apostles call us time and again to live by the Spirit. Yet, for those who feel more secure or yet need the parameters of laws, we do honor and value the laws of the Church for the obvious reasons that we have secular laws, as well.
Above all, when considering becoming a Catholic hermit, do know that the Lord gives the call for any vocation. Pray and listen, discern with your priest or spiritual director (religious priest, bishop, etc.), and practice living the eremitic life as part of the discernment process. Go easy; avoid extremism. Yes, the eremitic vocation is a process to be lived and discerned over our lifetime.
Now, for the post taken from this blog site, written in March 2015:
"Every now and then, the nothing Catholic hermit reviews the below-cited institutes of the Church. This reference helps to reflect more seriously, to live more conscientiously, and to accept the great responsibility of what the Catholic Church requires and expects of those called to and in the Consecrated Life of the Church.
"The consecrated life of the eremitic is of direct consequence, obviously, to all Catholic hermits--each of whom profess vows including the three evangelical counsels (celibacy, poverty, obedience) even though not always are the evangelical counsels professed publicly.
"All Catholic hermits must profess the three evangelical counsels according to the institutes of the Church in The Catechism of the Catholic Church [cited below].
From The Catechism of the Catholic Church:
III. THE CONSECRATED LIFE
914 "The state of life which is constituted by the profession of the evangelical counsels, while not entering into the hierarchical structure of the Church, belongs undeniably to her life and holiness."453
915 Christ proposes the evangelical counsels, in their great variety, to every disciple. The perfection of charity, to which all the faithful are called, entails for those who freely follow the call to consecrated life the obligation of practicing chastity in celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom, poverty and obedience. It is the profession of these counsels, within a permanent state of life recognized by the Church, that characterizes the life consecrated to God.454
916 The state of consecrated life is thus one way of experiencing a "more intimate" consecration, rooted in Baptism and dedicated totally to God.455 In the consecrated life, Christ's faithful, moved by the Holy Spirit, propose to follow Christ more nearly, to give themselves to God who is loved above all and, pursuing the perfection of charity in the service of the Kingdom, to signify and proclaim in the Church the glory of the world to come.456
917 "From the God-given seed of the counsels a wonderful and wide-spreading tree has grown up in the field of the Lord, branching out into various forms of the religious life lived in solitude or in community. Different religious families have come into existence in which spiritual resources are multiplied for the progress in holiness of their members and for the good of the entire Body of Christ."457
918 From the very beginning of the Church there were men and women who set out to follow Christ with greater liberty, and to imitate him more closely, by practicing the evangelical counsels. They led lives dedicated to God, each in his own way. Many of them, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, became hermits or founded religious families. These the Church, by virtue of her authority, gladly accepted and approved.458
919 Bishops will always strive to discern new gifts of consecrated life granted to the Church by the Holy Spirit; the approval of new forms of consecrated life is reserved to the Apostolic See.459
920 Without always professing the three evangelical counsels publicly, hermits "devote their life to the praise of God and salvation of the world through a stricter separation from the world, the silence of solitude and assiduous prayer and penance."460
921 They manifest to everyone the interior aspect of the mystery of the Church, that is, personal intimacy with Christ. Hidden from the eyes of men, the life of the hermit is a silent preaching of the Lord, to whom he has surrendered his life simply because he is everything to him. Here is a particular call to find in the desert, in the thick of spiritual battle, the glory of the Crucified One.
[Emphases added for reflection and consideration.]
"Some Catholic hermits profess the three evangelical counsels under the added proviso of CL603. However, it seems that the semantic of "publicly" may be confusing due to the word "publicly" used per the added proviso of Canon Law 603. Perhaps the current coinage of the term "public profession" is due to CL603 stating that the evangelical counsels be professed publicly in the hands of the diocesan bishop." [See Canon Law 603, cited for review and consideration in the in my series of blog posts on this topic, posted in March 2015.]
I close with this additional thought for the reader who wanted to know how to become a Catholic hermit. The private and public professions of vows of consecrated Catholic hermits are simply two prongs, now, of the eremitic vocation.
[Emphases added for reflection and consideration.]
"Thus, the consecrated life of the eremitic is of direct consequence, obviously, to all Catholic hermits--each of whom profess vows including the three evangelical counsels (celibacy, poverty, obedience) even though not always are the evangelical counsels professed publicly.
"All Catholic hermits must profess the three evangelical counsels according to the institutes of the Church in The Catechism of the Catholic Church [cited below].
"Some Catholic hermits profess the three evangelical counsels under the added proviso of CL603. However, it seems that the semantic of "publicly" may be confusing due to the word "publicly" used per the added proviso of Canon Law 603. Perhaps the current coinage of the term "public profession" is due to CL603 stating that the evangelical counsels be professed publicly in the hands of the diocesan bishop." [See Canon Law 603, cited for review and consideration in the in my series of blog posts on this topic, posted in March 2015.]
I close with this additional thought for the reader who wanted to know how to become a Catholic hermit. The private and public professions of vows of consecrated Catholic hermits are simply two prongs, now, of the eremitic vocation.
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