Hermits around the web – Hermitary
news, sites, and pages of interest about hermits and solitude
The Telegraph includes an article titled “Medieval manuscript discovered in Shropshire school” about the recent diuscovery of a manuscript of medieval hermit Richard Rolle; article subtitled “Writings of hermit and ‘neglected literary great’ may have outsold Chaucer in the 14th century. Article available by subscription only.
URL: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12/20/medieval-manuscript-discovered-shropshire-school/
The Tablet offers an historical item titled: “Move over St George – meet the pitchfork-wielding dragon slayer venerated by Augustinians like Pope Leo.”
A University of Cambridge historian has uncovered details of a medieval pitchfork-wielding hermit who is venerated by Augustinians for [defeating the dragon” by purifying putrid air and restoring a swampy valley in Tuscany to peak fertility.’ “
URL: https://hermitary.com/around/wp-admin/post.php?post=2788&action=edit
Related item from Cambridge University: “Wild Medieval Saints.”
URL: https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/wild-medieval-saints
Here are several recent items focusing on solitude, two from medical journals:
“Pathological and non-pathological hikikomori: social media use, digital engagement, and therapeutic implications,” article in the Journal of Psychiatry. URL: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1596504/full
“Impact of self-stigma of loneliness on psychological distress in older adults: mediation effect of relative deprivation and moderation effect of positive solitude,” article in BMC Geriatrics. URL: https://bmcgeriatr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12877-025-05904-x
More popularly, from the web site Psyche: “Solitude can be profoundly restorative. Here’s how to savour it.”URL: https://psyche.co/guides/solitude-can-be-profoundly-restorative-heres-how-to-savour-it
La Calabria VisionOne reports on the life and times of the French-born hermit Frédéric Vermorel, now 67 years old, a hermit living in the Calabrian Mountains of Italy. In younger days, Frederic had oursued theological studies, manual labor, but persevered in the values of eremitism. When he discovered the ancient house in Calabria, while visiting, he was immediately struck and determined to remain there in what he dubbed the hermitage of S. Hilarion. Article in Italian is titled “Frédéric, l’eremita francese che da oltre 20 anni vive tra i monti della Calabria.”
Avvenire (Milan, Italy Cathoic newspaper) profiles a Lombard (Italy) hermit, Fr. Raffaele Busnelli. Article title: ” Don Raffaele is one of the 200 hermits of Italy. We met him.” Byline: ” In Val Varrone, in the mountains above Lecco, a Lombard priest spends his days between prayer, study and work. ‘We must return the love we have received.’” This brief item is in Italian.