Category: United States

“Embracing the eremetical life” is a recent Today’s Catholic News article profiling three hermit nuns in Indiana. They share an eclectic path to eremitism, each being mature in age and having been married, two with children and grandchildren. Each has a rule specific to themselves, governing their overall apostalate. Ech wears a habit, though no habit is required of them. And each lives alone and is self-supporting. The article highlights characteristics common to all Catholic hermits.

URL: http://www.todayscatholicnews.org/2015/08/embracing-the-eremitical-life/

Although the Adirondack Mountains (NY) hermit Noah John Rondeau (1883-1967) may be better known, his predecessor in wilderness hermits was Louie Seymour (1832-1915), called “French Louie.” French Louie survived as a guide, trapper, fisher, and log driver in a remote region of Hamilton County and the West Canada Lakes in New York State. Many anecdotes are collected about his congeniality and resourcefulness.

URLs: “Hermit French Louie” – http://www.adirondacklifemag.com/blogs/2012/02/13/hermit-french-louie-hard-as-granite-and-tough-as-spruce/; “Remembering French Louie” – http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/27628/20150227/remembering-hermit-french-louie-with-bear-grease-and-maple-syrup; and http://frenchlouie.com/

GQ or Gentleman’s Quarterly has published an article by Michael Finkel about Christopher Knight, the so-called North Pond Hermit, who was arrested in April 2014 for stealing from Maine summer camps in the vicinity for 27 years. The article is titled “The Strange Tale of the North Pond Hermit” and is published in the September 2014 issue. The Bangor Maine News has a succinct summary.

The article is based on interviews that are the first public statements of Knight, who insists he was not a hermit but a thief, and indicates that he will have a hard time adjusting to society upon his release from jail, for he is obliged to retain a job and to stay out of the woods. From the Bangor Maine News:

“Sitting here in jail, I don’t like what I see in the society I’m about to enter,” Knight told Finkel. “I don’t think I’m going to fit in. It’s too loud. Too colorful. The lack of aesthetics. The crudeness. The inanities. The trivia.”

URLs (GQ): http://www.gq.com/news-politics/newsmakers/201409/the-last-true-hermit;
(Bangor Maine News): https://bangordailynews.com/2014/08/20/outdoors/north-pond-hermit-tells-gq-people-want-me-to-be-this-warm-and-fuzzy-person/

The story of Bernard Wheatley (1919-1991) is notable because he was a black American and a physician, but left his career and contacts to move to Hawaii and become a hermit. He cited Jesus and Buddha as his main inspirations, but other psychological motives underlie his decision to quit society and live in solitude. Wheatley’s life is described in an article in Ebony Magazine, December, 1959, reprinted by Hermitary from Google Books.

URL: http://www.hermitary.com/articles/wheatley.html