Free Republic

“A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, ‘You are mad; you are not like us.'”~Saint Anthony the Great January 17 is the feast day of Saint Anthony the Great, the founder of monasticism. He is reputed to have lived over 100 years, dying in ca. AD 356 after having lived most of his life in the harsh Egyptian desert. Today, he is known by a variety of names, including, among others: Saint Anthony the Abbot Saint Anthony the Hermit Saint Anthony of the...

Deacon Nick Donnelly has reported that the Hermits of Westray received notification of their excommunication on Christmas Day. The three Scottish hermits were reportedly excommunicated for a post on their website entitled “The Declaration.” In the post, the hermits declare: Never in history has there been such a Pope, who by his actions, words and teaching, has thrown the whole Church into confusion. There have been bad and immoral Popes like John XII, and Alexander VI, there have been mad Popes, like Urban VI, there have been severe and unbalanced reforming Popes like Paul IV, and there have been pleasure...

It is sometimes necessary for men wanting to attract the opposite sex to come out of their shell. Yet it seems that by often choosing the bolder males, women may be missing out on the best possible mate. Researchers have found that the shyest males actually have the most to offer a potential lover - at least in the world of hermit crabs.

Anyone with an adolescent sister in the mid 60s would be all to familiar with this bloke. Notice the rag stuffed in the mandolin, it's what gave it the distinctive sound, and how about that suit Peter Noone is wearing, classic And for all you screamin middle aged teeny boppers out there.....he was 17.

The cause of all human trouble is our inability to sit quietly in our rooms alone, wrote the essayist Montaigne. A small number around the country who have chosen to live as hermits do just that, 24/7. Hermits are those who choose to live alone in silence for religious reasons. They dwell on the fringes of the church, but contemporary hermits might live right in your neighborhood. Catholic solitaries are one of two expressions of the religious life: the cenobitic -- the monk or friar -- and the eremitic. That eremetic life has a long tradition in the church, beginning...

For Mother Eliseea prayer is more than conversation with God. It is a way of life that is all consuming and is expressed in her work. As an icon writer, Mother Eliseea says her prayer is expressed in the icons she authors. "When I write icons, I am praying. God takes my hand and makes the icon," she said. "He inspires me theologically. Everything in the icon is significant." The 33-year-old nun from Romania is a hermitess who lives in the tradition of the desert fathers and mothers of ancient times. Her work as an icon writer makes her prayer...