Description
Between World War II and Vatican II, as Italy struggled to rebuild after decades of Mussolini’s fascism, an eleventh-century order of contemplative monks in the Apennines were urged by Thomas Merton to found a daughter house on the rugged coast of California. A brilliant but world-weary ex-Jesuit, who had recently withdrawn from a high-intensity public life to go into reclusion at the ancient Sacro Eremo of Camaldoli, was tapped for the job. Based on notes kept for over sixty years by an early American novice at New Camaldoli Hermitage, The Hermits of Big Sur tells the compelling story of what unfolds within this small and idealistic community when medievalism must finally come to terms with modernism. It traces the call toward fuga mundi in the young seekers who arrive to try their vocations, only to discover that the monastic life requires much more of them than a bare desire for solitude. And it describes the miraculous transformation that sometimes occurs in individual monks after decades of lectio divina, silent meditation, liturgical faithfulness, and the communal bonds they have formed through the practice of the “privilege of love.”
Reviews
One of Englewood Review’s 25 Best Books of 2021.
“Absolutely fascinating, gorgeously written, frequently brilliant. In her story of how an ancient monastic order found a home in California, and how the author found a home with them, Paula Huston offers us an invitation into a world that few see, but all will want to experience.”
(James Martin, SJ, author of Learning to Pray)
“What an extraordinary gift Paula Huston’s The Hermits of Big Sur has revealed itself to be. Who would have thought a seventy-year history of a Camaldolese monastery that rose in the wilds of the California coast could turn out to be such a page-turner! . . . . There’s so much history here—world history, American history, Church history, the major movements from Mussolini, Hitler and Stalin to the opening dialogues between East and West, the aftermath of Vatican II, the worlds of Robinson Jeffers and Henry Miller, hippydom and radical feminism. And at the heart of it all, the need to find that necessary solitude and solace and true companionship which only the interior Mystery at the still point can provide.”
(Paul Mariani, Biographer, poet, and author of Thirty Days: On Retreat with the Exercises of St. Ignatius and The Mystery of It All)
“Informative and fascinating, The Hermits of Big Sur by Paula Huston is a remarkable, unique, and original study that will be of immense and special interest to anyone who has ever contemplated or experienced the monastic life.”
(Midwest Book Review)
“The Hermits of Big Sur tells one of the most interesting and most inspirational true stories to ever develop in American Catholicism. Do not miss it.”
(Catholic Sentinel, Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon)
“Protestants, people of other faiths, seekers and skeptics will find in The Hermits of Big Sur points of connection with a tradition they may look upon with curiosity and occasional longing for what has been lovingly, quietly preserved by people called to prayer. . . . Huston offers an intimate glimpse into the complex community life, life-giving humor, and humble wisdom of men who know something about love the rest of us can’t afford to forget.”
(Marilyn McEntyre, author of Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies and Word by Word)