United States – Page 31 – Hermits around the web

February 13, 2004September 12, 2008

Two immigrant hermits

Australia: The curious story of Valerio Recitti, an Italian immigrant who became a hermit in Australia. The site includes a couple of photos of the restored cave that was his dwelling. URL:
http://www.griffith.nsw.gov.au/GriffithVisitorsCentreAttractionsHermitsCave.htm

Massachusetts: The Scottish-born John Smith emigrated to Erving, Massachusetts, in the late nineteenth-century and took up residence in a cave behind a so-called castle, where he promoted himself but also lived a self-sufficient life. Both sites include a photo of Smith. URL:
http://www.nentc.com/johnsmith.htm and
http://www.ervingmass.org/Public_Documents/ErvingMA_WebDocs/hermit.

January 22, 2004September 12, 2008

Grand Canyon hermit

Louis Boucher was a reclusive explorer and prospector in the Grand Canyon who lived as a hermit at the turn of the 19th-20th century. A great many natural objects are named after him: Boucher Creek, Boucher Rapids, Boucher Trail, Hermit’s Basin, Hermit Camp, Hermit Canyon, Hermit Creek, Hermit Rapids, Hermit’s Rest, Hermit Road, Hermit Shale, and Hermit Trail. Pictures of Boucher’s dwelling area can be found on the Web: remains of his cabin (http://www.kaibab.org/tr981/gc981514.htm), his cabin fireplace (http://www.kaibab.org/tr981/gc981513.htm), and his orchard (http://www.kaibab.org/tr981/gc981511.htm). Some contemporary photographs (from the Grand Canyon Historical Society) of Boucher’s 1891 exploration are available: (http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Museum/5907/boucher1.html). Reflections on Boucher’s star gazing can be heard in an NPR audio segment from March 2002 (http://discover.npr.org/features/feature.jhtml?wfId=1140327).

January 19, 2004March 29, 2020

Canonical hermit

The Catholic archdiocese of Philadelphia (USA) gave canonical status to a hermit in 2001. Details at: http://www.mailutilities.com/news/archive/85/1551.html. The article mentions his life in a rundown urban area, his daily routine, and his minimal livelihood. A photo of hermit Richard Withers is on the Images of Eremiticism: Hermits page of Hermitary.

December 11, 2003September 12, 2008

Wisconsin hermits

The National Park Service (U.S.) has a couple of pages on historical hermits who lived on the remote Apostle Islands in Wisconsin, near Lake Superior. One was historically identified as William Wilson (http://www.nps.gov/apis/hermit.htm); the other was a Norwegian immigrant, John Nelson (http://www.nps.gov/apis/nelson.htm).

August 1, 2003August 17, 2010

Dunstan Morrissey

An interview with the hermit Fr. Dunstan Morrissey entitled “Your Cell Will Teach You Everything” was originally featured in Parabola magazine. It was edited and published in Catholic Digest, and is available at: http://www.catholicdigest.org/stories/200101044a.html. There is also a very nice picture of Father Dunstan, too.
NOTE: The article is no longer available, only a summary. Go to www.catholicdigest.org then Back Issues, then Issues/Articles, then January 2001. Scroll down to summary at page 44. The photograph, however, is on our Images of Eremiticism section under Hermits.

(Added Sept. 2) More information about Fr. Dunstan and Sky Farm is available in Laura Chester’s book “Holy Personal: Looking for Small Private Places of Worship (Indiana University Press, 1999). A snippet of (real audio) video is available from NewMorning TV at http://www.newmorningtv.tv/todaysshow_112102.jsp. Scroll down to “Sacred Spaces.”

(added August 18, 2010: this article from the <i>Mendota Reporter</i> summarizes the life and death in 2009 of Fr. Dunstan. URL: http://www.mendotareporter.com/V2_news_articles.php?heading=0&story_id=2901&page=81