I've had this question for quite awhile, and I pray that the person sees my encouragement and response to his or her question, as follows:
Hello, I am contemplating to be a Catholic hermit here in the Philippines. How do I start? Do I rent a place and beg for donations to survive, but the thought of being given to God every moment of life is simply spiritually fulfilling.
[This answer is not really the answer to how to become a Catholic hermit, per the questioner's interest and desire per se. After 23 years as a consecrated Catholic hermit and an additional time prior, formally in a community of hermits, then under clerical direction, and then several years prior in gradually being formed by His Real Presence--I prefer not to go back over the temporal how-to's in much detail; my blog has those aspects. I'm more interested in the questioner's seeking spiritual guidance via prayer and also in speaking with a spiritual guide as well as doing reading of early hermits--biographies and their own writings. Prayer, though, is primordial in receiving answers from God on if He wills one to be a hermit, and then in what path and in what specifics. His Real Presence is the best to teach and tell us the answers.]
My response has taken a long time due to my hoping the person has by now read back through more of my posts, or done a search of my posts for how to become a Catholic hermit or also Catholic Hermit. But my simple answer is to discuss the vocational call and desire with one's priest, and to pray about the thought of the hermit vocation, and talk it over with His Real Presence, in prayer, within the mind, heart, and soul.
That is a start of which I am sure the person has been praying and contemplating, as contemplating being a Catholic hermit is within the question asked. And per usual with all of us, we tend first to consider the temporal aspects, such as where do we live as hermits, and how do we survive as a hermit.
And along with the contemplation of becoming a Catholic hermit, we contemplate the beautiful longing to be close to God, to be living in essence, more freely from the world through, with, and in God every moment of life. We desire spiritual fulfillment.
All these thoughts and desires, and indeed, these can be God's will for all persons to have ourselves given to His Real Presence in a deep and unifying way while we exist yet in this temporal world--by withdrawing in some basic aspects from this temporal world. One main aspect is as the questioner mentions--living apart, such as renting a place to live, presumably, of course alone, in solitude.
But if readers dig around in my blog posts, a few years ago or more, to find out how to become a Catholic hermit, I am staunch in Scriptural guidance of the Apostle Paul, that if we want to eat, we must work for our sustenance. Or, if disabled, to have disability pension, or if retired, to have retirement pension, or if our parents have passed on, we may have an inheritance of which if a substantial, then donate or bequeath the unneeded amounts to charity or heirs. (Anthony of the Desert made sure his younger sister had a place to live and would be taken care of for life, financially, but then donated the rest of his late parents' money and possessions to the poor, as an example.). If the inheritance is modest, and our disability not enough to pay our bills monthly, then use that portion as savings upon with to draw, for in our times inflation and health care costs, end of life care, can be quite costly.
I believe strongly and live accordingly, that anyone, including Catholic hermits, ought not beg from others nor accept from others, free services or items or accept money from anyone. For one thing, I believe we ought remain fully anonymous as Catholic hermits to others around us, since most Catholic hermits in today's world (or anyone seeking solitude or a place to live) cannot simply go out into the desert and build a mud and straw hut, nor go out into a forest and build a wood hut, nor go up into the mountains and find a cave in which to live. All lands are owned by someone, be it government, tax payers, or individuals. Squatting is against the law in some places, and it is unconscionable morally to take advantage of others' property, anywhere. I also do not believe in living with one's parents in the family home if a young person who wishes to become a Catholic hermit, as one young woman was approved to do when young and an eager bishop who was new to a diocese decided to give her the recently incurred canon law 603 diocese approval. She quietly left within the year, having not at all lived in solitude nor out of the public spotlight, and decided instead she wanted to work with children yet still wanted to start some type of religious order in another country. Being noticed and also have her way paid for, became a theme and underlying goal in this person's life.
If a hermit is to work to earn his or her way in life, to pay the bills, to pay the government taxes (which is quite Scriptural per Jesus' instructions to Peter to pay the taxes required for Peter and the Lord, each and both), then I find based on the aspects expressed in The Catechism of the Catholic Church, under Consecrated Life and hermits or eremitic life, for privately or publicly (diocesan CL603 hermits), the work ought be that of hiddenness and quietly performed. Working in a parish or hospital, while might seem delightful and worthwhile, does not qualify as hidden nor solitary nor silent. Earning money by offering "spiritual direction" to others, being paid for that service, when hermits ought always consider ourselves humbly as perpetually students of Christ and never having arrived at a point of selling what spiritual insights we may have learned over the years of prayer, penance, silence, suffering, spiritual reading, contemplation, or lived experience in the hermit vocation.
Freely given, freely give is another jewel of guidance from Scripture for a hermit new or old to the vocation.
For the questioner, my advice remains the same over the 23 years I have been a consecrated Catholic hermit, plus an added two years initially of prayerful consideration, and much reading and research of the lives of hermits through the ages, of which I consider the Old Testament prophets, some of them, hermits as well as prophets. I'd read and study the lives of the early hermits including John the Baptist and on through the desert fathers and mothers, and beyond these into the lives of hermits, religious solitaries, from all the ensuing centuries. Reading of their lives from primary source research, and then if cannot find primary source writings, read and study writings based on what others observed of these Catholic Christian hermits. By reading of their full lives, not just a year or two in which they removed themselves and then decided to or were led to form a religious order or such of others joining them, does not give the accurate path forward.
To live as a Catholic Christian hermit, the point is not to soon after or even while contemplating the vocation of hermit, to then want to be a leader or start a group or community of followers with the idea of living together. This includes even one other person--to live together as householders--such as two women or men living together in a house or apartment despite lavras having developed in past time periods, usually Middle Ages. Living together or in close proximity as a group of hermits loses the basic premise of solus Deus, God Alone! Living alone with no human to speak with other than an occasional helper or a medical doctor or occasional contact with a family member or some other as a matter of charitable need or procuring materials required, doing business with, arranging for some payment or work needed doing--this type of solitude, from my experience, is necessary in order to truly be alone with God and to have the utter dependence upon Him in the darkest and loneliness times, as well as in the celebratory times of praise and thanksgiving with God Who is All and Only in the hermit's life.
I admit that my recently getting first one dog had become a necessity medically, given that my pain had progressed to a point that I was no longer able to get up by using mind over matter, mind over the pain. Getting up and keeping mobile is the only means of delaying lower limb paralysis as well as bladder and intestinal paralysis, the latter which had already taken hold. (Arachnoiditis was discovered by a neurosurgeon four years ago after three and a half decades of spine-related, intractable pain that permanently disabled me from gainful employment and consistent functioning.). So I decided to do what I'd read is a good idea to do: get a dog that forces the Arachnoiditis afflicted to get up in the morning and several times a day. (Dogs need to go outside for bathroom needs as well as to be fed and exercised.). My first pup was so compliant and quiet, that she'd let me stay in bed until after 11 a.m. When the Arachnoiditis, which includes neurological symptoms and problems such as sinus infections becoming severe and lasting for weeks to over two months, would have me so ill I could barely do other than get the pup outside a few times and fed and otherwise I was laid out in bed for weeks on end, the dog became depressed. It was suggested to me to get another so that they would play with and exercise each other in my bedroom. The brother pup has a different temperament so insists on my being up and taking ithem out before 8 a.m., and otherwise when my health precluded activity, they do indeed play and exercise each other, so my responsibility is minimal. I will note and advise, as far as having a pet or two, I'd not do it other than for medical reasons. If I become paralyzed from lumbar down or intestines and bladder paralyzed, all three of which are givens if an arachnoniditis patient lives long enough, then my solitary life of silence and prayer, penance and praise of God, plus my financial situation being low income and inheritance draining monthly due to cost of living more than my disability income--all the markers and necessities of being as the hermit vocation provides, would be disrupted. I'd have to have a caretaker tend me or be in a care facility for low income persons, meaning in a ward or double room, having to exist with other people day and night. It is the same if a hermit takes a job that is around people and involving people actively in conversation or services other than occasional and minimal speaking or interactions.
So the above gives examples of why I even discourage pets, and at some point I will need to rehome my two dogs, especially the one that kept growing despite being of the same parents as the first one which is small. The large one can be problematic despite how loving he is, to my body which is aging as bodies do. And for me with a knee needing replacing, when well enough I take them to a nearby dog park to run freely in a fenced area. This includes, then, some brief and passing interactions with other dog owners. I pray to make the interactions as meaningful as the Holy Spirit inspires or sets up for me to do so. I always come away with many prayer needs of which I consider prayer to be, of course, a mainstay of a hermit's efforts and purpose here on earth.
And this stream of consciousness response to the person asking how to become a Catholic hermit has not delved into the most important aspects, which are that of the mind, heart, and soul's desire and being called by God to this eremitic (hermit) vocation as a Christian and in the Catholic church's tradition of hermits from the earliest time of Christianity. (This is why John the Baptist is considered, also, a forerunner of the hermit vocation, for he was a hermit figure and type prior to being called by God into more public ministry as a herald of Christ, to proclaim the Messiah and identify Jesus as the Son of God Who has come to attain salvation for all. The humility of John the Baptist, the way he fell back as nothing to Christ's preeminent all, as Son of God and savior of mankind--this humility is something any of us hermits, Christian and Catholic, ought contemplate and hold as a basic guide to our daily life decisions and way of being not only temporally, physically, but very much also as spiritual guide and substance and essence of our mind, heart, and soul's beingness.
Christ must increase; I/we must decrease.
This truth guides the hermit's vocation, the hermit's daily way of life and being all through until our hidden and quiet temporal deaths. In the meantime, we die daily to ourselves, and at the same instance raise up Christ Alive and His Teachings as well as raise up Christ Crucified, humbled and sacrificed, died and buried, then to rise
I promise to pray for this desiring person in the Philippines, and any such desiring person who is drawn to further discover God's will with the potential of living life as a Christian religious solitary, as a Christian Catholic hermit, either privately professed or publicly through the process known colloquially as "canonical approval" for hermits who want to be thus associated and linked to a specific diocese. Or, do as I and most others historically have been called, and that is to private profession of vows and the three evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience to God. At first and for awhile, it is wise to have a holy priest or mature spiritual teacher to guide the newly consecrated hermit as well as, of course, to recognize and trust fully in His Real Presence, the Triune
God in Three Persons (Father, Son, and Holy spirit) will always be the penultimate guide to form and lead the Christian Catholic consecrated hermit into the silence of solitude, hidden from the eyes of humankind, in poverty and humility outwardly and inwardly, in prayer and penance, in praise of God and in the trials that come with such an austere life style due to the solitary and silent nature of living one's life for God with no fanfare nor notice, and omnia pro Deo, all for God, and through, with, and in Solus Deus, God Alone.
God bless His Real Presence in us! Love in His Love! Prayers and loving support for all those who are contemplating an eremitic vocation in the Church--the Body of Christ of which Christ is Head. Private or publicly profession of vows and evangelical counsels is but a small beginning of what is a vast and ever-flowing, widening, deepening growth in closeness and increasing union with God who consecrates the hermit to Himself when and how God deigns to do so.
And keep in mind, all hermits are human and vacillate in living the vocation, depending on our living the bases of hermit life but also according to our obedience to and in His Real Presence's guiding of us in each detail of our lives, as is true of any Christian. Live the Gospel as the perfect rule of life; live and follow the teachings and lived example of Jesus Christ, and God will guide and bless the hermit through whatever ups and downs, strong times and weaker ones. My prayers are with you and with all Christians, and with those called to the hermit vocation, also, in especial kinship and loving appreciation for your prayers for me, much needed, as well. Thank you!
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