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anchorite, anchoress … what were they?


“Anchorite, anchoress, a person dedicated to a life of strict solitude and penance. Because they are not allowed to leave their dwellings, anchorites often have their cells attached to the church sanctuary so they may receive the Eucharist through a window; their meals are passed through a different window. In addition to a life of prescribed prayer and fasting, these solitaries study, write books, sew clothing for the poor, and offer spiritual advice to visitors through a veiled window. Prophetic witness and compassion characterize this canonical form of consecrated life.”

McBrien, Richard P., ed. The HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism. “Anchorite, Anchoress.” (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1995) page 44.

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hermits in the world

“So how does semi-eremitism apply to you? In more ways than you might think.


“On a weekly basis you might go to church only on Sundays and holy days. At the very most you might have one other day or evening dedicated to the work of the church. But all through the rest of the week you choose to find your own rhythm between solitude and communion in the family and the work place. You learn this from studying, praying, and practicing. You cultivate the hermit within. You meditate. You cultivate awareness of your relationship to God and all creation. You trust that you cannot wrong. Your inner voice is the voice of the Holy Spirit.”


Talbot, John Michael. The World is My Cloister: Living From the Hermit Within. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2010), pages 57-58.

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The Little Brothers of Jesus

“The followers of Charles de Foucauld have no special pastoral task allotted to them. They do not argue with people, try to convince them, try to convert them, try to make them amend their lives. They seek only to be with them, to share their lives, their poverty, their sufferings, their problems, their ideals: but to be with them in a special way. As members of Christ, they are Christ. And where they are present, Christ is present. Where He is present, He acts. Their being, their presence, is then active, dynamic. It is the leaven hidden in the measure of meal. This of course is a strictly contemplative view of the Christian life, and unless it implies a complete sacrifice of oneself, of all one’s ambitions and worldly desires, it cannot be effective. But once it is properly understood, it is utterly simple. So much so, that it is terrible in its simplicity. It is the simplicity of the Gospel itself.”

The Vatican has announced that Charles de Foucauld will be canonized.


Merton, Thomas. The Inner Experience: Notes on Contemplation. Edited and with an Introduction by William H. Shannon. (NY: HarperOne, 2003), page 144. [this text written in 1959]

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unity within plurality

Ambrose Traversari, 15th cent Camaldolese Humanist and Prior General


“Reformer and papal legate on behalf of ecumenical work with the Eastern Church, Traversari* promoted unity within plurality–a concept he saw expressed concretely within the Camaldolese tradition by the union of the active and contemplative dimensions. He promoted dialogue on the ecclesiastical front by his participation in Church unity negotiations, as well as on the home front by forming humanist discussion groups….”

*Ambrose Traversari was a 15th century Camaldolese Humanist and Prior General.


Belisle, Peter-Damian. “Overview of Camaldolese History and Spirituality” in Belisle, Peter-Damian, editor. The Privilege of Love: Camaldolese Benedictine Spirituality. (Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 2002), page 24.

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listen for truth

“Let the man of study then be perpetually listening for truth. When he bends over his work, the Spirit breathes in him, reveals Himself perhaps from outside, sends His prophets — men, things, books, happenings; the attentive soul must neglect nothing of it all; for this spirit of truth, like grace, often passes by and does not come back. Is it not indeed itself a grace?”


Sertillanges, Antonin G., O.P. The Intellectual Life: its Spirit, Conditions, Methods. (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 1987), page 124.

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we all blaspheme

“We ought to pray and to plead as long as we live that God may hallow his name in us. All men are blasphemers of God’s name, some to a greater, others to a lesser degree, even though the arrogant saints refuse to believe this.”


Luther, Martin. “An Exposition of the Lord’s Prayer for Simple Laymen” (1519) Luther’s Works Vol. 42. (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1969), page 33.

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two forms of contemplation

“Normally, a life of active contemplation prepares a man for occasional and unpredictable visits of infused or passive contemplation. Also, active contemplation can never attain the depth and the purity of infused contemplation, which, in its purest form, takes place entirely without conceptual meditation. In active contemplation concept and judgment, or at least acts of faith springing from a certain mental activity, serve as a springboard for contemplative intuitions and for states of quietude more or less prolonged.”

Merton, Thomas. The Inner Experience: Notes on Contemplation. Edited and with an Introduction by William H. Shannon. NY: HarperOne, 2003), pges 57-58. [the text belongs to 1959]

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action comes IN contemplation

“Silence is not a form of passivity. By remaining silent, man can avoid a greater evil. It is not an earthly dereliction of duty to place your trust in heaven.”


Sarah, Robert Cardinal with Nicolas Diat. The Power of Silence Against the Dictatorship of Noise. With an Afterword by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Translated by Michael J. Miller. (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2017), p. 151.

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action and contemplation

From a treatise on John by Saint Augustine, bishop

“The Church recognizes two kinds of life as having been commended to her by God. One is a life of faith, the other a life of vision; one is a life passed on pilgrimage in time, the other in a dwelling place in eternity; one is a life of toil, the other of repose; one is spent on the road, the other in our homeland; one is active, involving labor, the other contemplative, the reward of labor.

“The first kind of life is symbolized by the apostle Peter, the second by John. All of the first life is lived in this world, and it will come to an end with this world. The second life will be imperfect till the end of this world, but it will have no end in the next world. And so Christ says to Peter: Follow me; but of John he says: If I wish him to remain until I come, what is that to you? Your duty is to follow me.“

(Augustine, Tract. 124, 5, 7: CCL 36, 685-687)