The eremitical life or the vocation of being a hermit is another way to live out God's call to live fully and to proclaim the Good news. An eremite or a hermit is a person living in solitude as a religious discipline. Eremitical life is, under certain aspects, the most complete form of monastic life as recognized by the Catholic Church.
The first Carmelites were hermits living on the slopes of Mount Carmel as the only site suitable for the eremitical life left in the Holy Land was Mount Carmel. The Rule was written for hermits living the kind of eremitical life common in Palestine in the thirteenth century. These hermits lived a hidden life of silence and prayer. They wished to lead a life like that of Elijah, the exemplary solitary one.
The Teresian Carmel joins both the original eremitical spirit of Carmel to life lived in Community. St. Teresa of Avila wanted the Discalced Carmelites to be “hermits living in community”. Even if in our own time there are few who are able to persevere continuously as hermits, the eremitical life remains revered as a unique charism within the Carmelite Spirituality.
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