r/hermit

The popular social media forum Reddit includes a category for the topic of hermits. The category was created in 2012 and has over 6,500 members. The site presents itself “for those who walk the path of solitudel,” duscussing personal solitude, friendship, loneliness, and lifestyle.

IRL: https://www.reddit.com/r/Hermit/?rdt=35190

Carthusians and Thomas Moore

Several articles on Thomas Moore, founder of the only Carthusian monastery in North America.

Time magazine reproduces a short article from 1950 about Thomas Moore:
“When he was only 13, Thomas Verner Moore knew what he wanted to be—a hermit. The son of a Louisville insurance man, young Tom Moore had had his imagination fired by a book on the so-called Desert Fathers of the Church who retired from the world in the 3rd and 4th Centuries to devote their lives to silent contemplation of God. But Thomas Moore lived a busy life far from the desert; he grew up to be a priest and a physician, prior of a Benedictine monastery, founder of a psychiatric clinic for children, and finally head of the department of psychology and psychiatry at Washington’s Catholic University of America.”

“He retired in 1947, and set out at once to fulfill his early ambition. That year, Father Thomas Moore, almost 70, was accepted as a novice at the Carthusian Monastery of Miraflores in Spain. This week, after three contemplative years, he was busy in the U.S. on a mission to establish the first house of his order in the Western Hemisphere.”

The only Carthusian monastery in North America is in Vermont, established in 1951 through the efforts of Fr. Moore (1877-1969).

URLs: Time article “Carthusian solitude” (https://time.com/archive/6616414/religion-carthusian-solitude/); Patheos article “Thomas Verner Moore and the Carthusians” (https://www.patheos.com/resources/additional-resources/2011/07/thomas-verner-moore-and-the-carthusians-pat-mcnamara-07-26-2011; First Things article “The Carthusians of Vermont ” (https://www.firstthings.com/article/2024/05/the-carthusians-of-vermont.

“Life As a Hermit” –for kids

This fall, University of Oxford’s Social Sciences departments presented a series of educational programs for “family-friendly audiences,” that included a program titled “Life as a Hermit,” presented by faculty of the Schoool of Archaeology.

From the website: “Hermits are people living in solitude. How does your life differ to theirs?In this activity, inspired by findings from Byzantine hermitages in Cyprus, enter our ‘cave’ to experience life as a hermit!  You will ‘meet’ a male and a female hermit, handle objects used by hermits, explore why people chose to live as hermits, and challenge some stereotypes.”

URL: https://www.socsci.ox.ac.uk/life-as-a-hermit