International Meeting on Franciscan Hermitages

by Admin · December 27, 2023

Santa Maria degli Angeli

Gerald Evans reports on an important gathering in Assisi.

The International Meeting on Franciscan Hermitages, promoted by the Commission for Prayer and Devotion of the Order, was held at Santa Maria degli Angeli, Assisi, from 7 to 12 October.

Antony Jukes and I attended as members of the Commission. There were 27 friars present, representing 21 fraternities (11 from Europe, 6 from Latin America, 1 from the USA, 1 from Korea, 1 from Togo and 1 from the Holy Land); among these are not only hermitages but also some houses of prayer.

The meeting’s objective was to bring together from around the world the Guardians of the Order’s Franciscan hermitages, listen to their hermitage projects by way of creative PowerPoint and YouTube presentations, familiarise ourselves with what is going on and see how we might promote this form of life within the Order in general. The congress was a very prayerful, revealing and fraternal event.

The gathering began with two excellent talks, and these were followed by the presentations given by the Guardian of each hermitage. A number of interesting points emerged in the presentations.

Some Strengths: Although Franciscan hermitages are very often promoted within the different Provinces by an individual friar possessing a charism for this form of life, all the hermitages represented were established by their respective provincial administrations and the majority are supported to a greater or lesser extent by the same provincial administrations.

The majority of Franciscan hermitages have a fraternity of at least two or more friars living in them. And the majority of fraternities have endeavoured to follow the guidelines outlined in the Order’s document Listen and You will Live, with a life project inspired by the document undergirding their fraternal and apostolic lives. To a greater or lesser degree, all practice a mountain market alternating dynamic and, like ourselves in Costa Rica, are taking advantage of modern platforms such as Zoom to connect with the people in giving talks, retreats workshops and even spiritual direction.

A number are pioneering creative ways of contemplative Franciscan prayer, along with workshops and retreats promoting themes on the Franciscan charism, especially among lay people. Most of the hermitages receive people who for different reasons feel marginalized and excluded by the Church. Although most hermitage fraternities do their best to keep the friars of their Province informed and updated on their form of life, a general consensus among the participants was that surprisingly lay people everywhere seem to value and support economically this form of life over and above the friars and regularly frequent the hermitages for their retreats, unlike the friars.

Some Limitations: I think the first limitation, indeed a disappointment, felt by the commission was how very few Provincials around the Franciscan world took up the invitation in the document Listen and You Will Live to set up a hermitage in their Provinces. I am not sure if its related, but what we have seen emerging is that among the friars in general, with exceptions of course, not only does there seem to be a pervasive ignorance and misunderstanding of what the Franciscan hermitage is actually all about but also an indifference, indeed in some cases a reluctance, to be informed on the theme and even a resistance to do their retreats in their Province’s hermitages. This unfortunate scenario engenders misunderstanding among the friars and gives way to damaging, uninformed opinions and prejudiced commentaries on the project such as the hermitages are for navel-gazing friars or for lazy friars running away from “normal” friary or parish work.