Category: Spain

The New Yorker Magazine carries an article about Spanish athlete Beatriz Flamini , who “liked to be alone so much that she decided to live underground—and pursue a world record. ” The title of the article: “The Woman Who Spent Five Hundred Days in a Cave.” The article describes Flamini’s feat as “gruelling and surreal.” Smithsonian Magazine noted that Flamini was “equipped with little more than books and art supplies to keep busy … living in a cave underground with next to no contact with the outside world.” Widely covered by media.

URL: New Yorker: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/01/29/the-woman-who-spent-five-hundred-days-in-a-cave; Smithsonian: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/spanish-athlete-emerges-after-500-days-alone-in-underground-cave-180981998/

The Spanish news site La Coz de Galicia, offers an article titled “El padre Carlos, el hombre al que Dios trajo de Getafe a Pontevedra para ser ermitaño a los 44 años”, which translates as “Father Carlos, the man called by God from Getafe to Pontevedra in order to become a hermit at age 44.” Getafe is a city near Madrid where Fr. Carlos was born and grew up. Pontevedra is within Galicia, the city where, after ordination as a priest and permission to live as a hermit, is the hermit’s home.

Pontevedra is on the Santiago de Compostela route. Fr. Carlos lives in a room of the rectory in Alba, greeting pilgrims, conversing and counseling visitors, but spending most of the day in silence. To the visiting journalist, explaining his daily routine and 18 hours of daily silence he exclaims: “How can I be so lucky!” Includes short video.

URL: https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/pontevedra/pontevedra/2023/06/25/padre-carlos-hombre-dios-trajo-getafe-pontevedra-ermitano/0003_202306P25C7992.htm

News site ABC de Sevilla (Spain) features a report about the hermit Pablo Gordillo titled “Pablo Gordillo, ermitaño: “El hombre ha sido creado para la vida eterna,:” translated as “Pable Gordillo , hermit: We have been created for eternal life.” The article profiles the hermit’s work and presents a brief interview.

Gordillo holds a law degree but soon after practicing he found himself more interested in the spiritual life. He serves in the Camaldolese Hermits of Monte Corona in Andalusia, Spain, which is preparing the foundation of a second contemplative community in Andalusia. The original foundation is in the province of Burgos, where the Camaldolese hermitagei is composed of twelve small houses, one per hermit.

The rest of the article is a more personal interview of the hermit, asking him about his perception of the contemplative life, of good and evil, of society and the world.

URL: https://sevilla.abc.es/andalucia/cordoba/pablo-gordillo-ermitano-hombre-creado-vida-eterna-20230618084146-nts.html

An historical hermitage, Our Lady of the Rock in sanctuary in Catalonia, Spain, is advertising for a hermit, but neither a monk nor ornamental hermit. Here is the write-up by the Spanish website Local:

Our Lady of the Rock (Mare de Déu de la Roca), which sits on a rocky outcrop high above the town of Mont-roig del Camp in Catalonia, uploaded the unusual job advert to its Facebook page on August 18th.

The year-long position includes free accommodation and consists of “guarding and looking after” the sanctuary and offers a stipend of €1,000 for the year.

The job is open to “anyone who is over 18 years old” and requires the successful applicant to carry out “all the proper functions of a hermit” which include keeping the hermitage in a good state of conservation during his or her “continuous and permanent” year-long residency.

While the job title of hermit might bring to mind a robe-wearing monk who shuts himself away from the world, the successful applicant at Our Lady of the Rock will actually be required to interact with the public on a regular basis, dealing with the sanctuary’s catering and accommodation services and guiding visitors around the religious site.

“The hermit must possess knowledge of the history of Our Lady of the Rock,” the job advert states, adding that one of their responsibilities will be to “describe the traditions and customs to people who visit the sanctuary”.

The hermitage includes a small chapel carved into the rock of red sandstone. The first written mention of the chapel comes from 1299, while a flagstone in the chapel is inscribed with the year 1591. A second chapel, dedicated to Sant Ramon, is perched even higher up the rock and whitewashed to guide sailors out at sea.

The chapel was immortalized by Spanish painter Joan Miró in his 1916 painting Mont-Roig, Sant Ramon, which depicts the chapel from afar.

The sanctuary is also eager for applicants to be pure in spirit, stating that they should always “keep in mind the religious and cultural character of the sanctuary” and “leave all uncivil or immoral activity outside”.

Applicants must be fluent in Catalan and “have a good grasp of at least one other language”.

URL: http://www.thelocal.es/20150827/wanted-hermit-to-live-in-remote-spanish-sanctuary