The audio of an NPR All Things Considered interview from October 31, 2001 is still available on the NPR Web site. Linda Wertheimer talks with Sister Marion Madden, the Vicar for Religious in the Diocese of Wheeling, West Virginia, about the role of hermits in modern life and the Catholic Church. There are eight hermits in her diocese; their life revolves around prayer and the interior life. The interview is about four and a half minutes long. The Web link is: http://discover.npr.org/features/feature.jhtml?wfId=1132429
Maronite Hermits page
The Maronite Hermits: From The Fourth To The Twentieth Century is an attractive introduction to the Syriac Lebanese tradition of Christian eremiticism. The page is from the Web version of the Maronite Research Institute’s Journal of Maronite Studies, October, 1999, and includes brief summaries of St. Maron, the first male and female Maronite hermits, quotations from original sources, some geographical context, consideration of the hermits under monastic rule, and several photographs. The Web page is: http://www.mari.org/JMS/october99/The_Maronite_Hermits.htm
Anchorites, Wombs and Tombs
A scholarly conference entitled Anchorites, Wombs and Tombs, on medieval anchorites and the social and gender context of enclosure in medieval Britain was held July 5-7, 2002 at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. Topics included Ancrene Wisse, linguistics, mysticism, hagiography, and gender issues. Web site for proceedings is: http://www.aber.ac.uk/english/conferences/wtprog.htm.
Pelicans in the Wilderness
An exhibition of paintings with hermits and solitaries as its theme was presented April 16 to June 2, 2002, by the Holburne Museum of Art in Bath, England. The exhibition coincided with publication of Isabel Colegate’s non-fiction book, Pelican in the Wilderness: Hermits and Solitaries, published by HarperCollins in the UK and Counterpoint Press in the USA. The Web site is: http://www.bath.ac.uk/Holburne/pelican.htm.
Raven’s Bread
Looking for a newsletter with a predominantly Catholic approach to eremiticism? Raven’s Bread is edited by Paul and Karen Fredette. Karen Fredette was formerly a Poor Clare nun and author Karen Karper, who published a narrative of her six years as an Appalachian hermit in Where God Begins to Be: A Woman’s Journey into Solitude, published by Eerdman’s, 1994. Raven’s Bread is $8 for four annual issues. The Website is: http://www.op.org/ravensbread/