Catholic deacon given job of hermit at 350-year-old cliffside retreat
Stan Vanuytrecht beat 50 applicants to win the role and occupy one of the last hermitages in central Europe
A Saalfelden hermit, Gottfried Scholenateuer, pictured in 1955. The hermitage has not been vacant since it was started 350 years ago (Photo: Hans Enzwieser/BIPs/Getty Images)
by Staff Reporter
posted Friday, 21 Apr 2017
A Catholic deacon has won a competition to live in one of central Europe’s last hermitages, beating 50 other applicants to occupy a 350-year-old cliffside cell above a small Austrian town.
Stan Vanuytrecht, 58, responded to an advertisement placed by Fr Alois Moser, which asked for someone with a “connection to Christian belief” and “at peace with themselves”.
The role, which is unpaid, became vacant after the previous incumbent left to pursue a writing career in Vienna. The hermitage, in Saalfeden, 40 miles south of Salzburg, has been occupied every year since it was built 350 years ago.
Vanuytrecht, a former artillery officer originating from Belgium, told the Austria Press Agency: “When I read about it, I thought to myself: that’s the place for me.”
http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2017/04/21/catholic-deacon-given-job-of-hermit-at-350-year-old-cliffside-retreat/