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.’ “
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.
La Voce del Canavese, a news website in Turin, Italy, runs a remembrance of Gnasi [Ignacio] do Giardin (right, in photo), an old hermit who lived near the village of Traves , in Lanzo Valley, in a makeshift hut in the woods near an abandoned 17th-century chapel. The writer (named in the article) visited the old man once in a while and they would converse idly. Gnasi never revealed what had brought him to live in solitude, and the writer never inquired.
One day in early spring, the writer was about to visit the old man but found the hut abandoned; in the village the writer learned that Gnasi was now in a rest home. The writer learned that the old hermit had fallen in the woods one snowy winter night and had nearly frozen to death. Gnasi was rescued, barely alive, and rushed to a hospital where his legs had to be amputated. The writer went to visit Gnasi. Gnasi was depressed and unconsolable, so accustomedwas he to the freedom of solitude and self-sufficiency. Gnasi died days later.
The famed hermit of the island of Budelli, off of Sardinia, has passed away at the ago of 85. Morendi resided on Budelli for thirty-two years, forced to leave in 2021 due to jurisdictional disputes with officials.
