Paul A. and Karen Fredette, editors of Raven's Bread, an international quarterly newsletter, present a cogent overview of contemporary hermits who live alone by choice for spiritual reasons. They claim there has been a revival of interest in hermitical life in the western world since the 1950s. The Catholic Church has recognized this life of solitude as a valid spiritual calling. Of course, Christian hermits can look for inspiration to the fourth century CE when the Desert Fathers and Mothers practiced both silence and solitude.
Solitaries have emerged from all cultures and wisdom traditions. What animates individuals to become hermits? Eugene Stockton found that the following traits were most important: a strong sense of call, passion, a welcoming presence, simplicity, detachment, stillness and silence, and a growing sense of stewardship and service. The Fredettes note:
"Hermits and solitaries are those who have dared the impossible in their own lives and thus have blazed a trail for others to follow, not necessarily into the desert but into the infinitely more frightening wilderness of their own souls."
