Catherine Doherty - Cause for Canonization

Beginnings at Madonna House

“Poustinia” is the Russian word for “desert,” and it is used to designate a small cabin or room set aside for silence and prayer. After converting an old farm house into a poustinia, Madonna House built a number of small cabins in various places on the grounds of the community. Slowly, over the following years, both guests and members of the community would spend days there in prayer, fasting, and meditating on the scriptures. Several priests and laity began living a poustinik lifestyle: several days each week “in poustinia” and the other days with the community. At the present time (not counting a number of poustinia rooms) there are more than 20 poustinia cabins that form an integral part of the community life. I don’t know of any other ecclesial community that gives such prominence to the reality of solitude in its communal structure.

Poustinia is now a significant part of our overall apostolate. Each of our houses outside Combermere has poustinia rooms, open to community members and guests. There is so much noise in our society that people can no longer hear the Word of God; we seek to foster a love for silence so people can hear this Word which is different from all other words.

Appreciations of Poustinia Outside the Community

A number of years ago the Catholic University of America published a multi-volume work entitled The Catholic Tradition, an anthology of authors most representative of this tradition. The last two volumes are on spirituality. In the last—along with excerpts from the writings of such saints as Francis de Sales, Teresa of Avila and John of the Cross—there is a substantial excerpt from Catherine’s Poustinia. My own understanding, awareness and appreciation of God’s plan for Catherine in the life of the Church rose enormously when I saw this. What struck me most of all was the spiritual stature of the people with whom Catherine was now being associated. This high opinion of her life and teaching continues.

Row of poustinias at Madonna House

For example, there is a recent book, The Language of Silence (Darton, Longman and Todd), by the Camaldolese monk Peter-Damian Belisle in Big Sur, California, which is part of a well known series in England called Traditions of Christian Spirituality. He writes of many of the great lovers of solitude, beginning with biblical figures and continuing on to St. Anthony of the Desert, the Carthusians, the Cistercians, Seraphim of Sarov, and many more. Then, in a section of contemporary lovers of silence, he discusses people such as Staretz Silouan of Mt. Athos, Jules Monchanin (the Benedictine in India), and Catherine de Hueck Doherty. He writes:

“Her Madonna House movement promoted poustinia for the benefit of the Church. Sounding like a desert amma, Catherine wrote that the poustinik fashions the desert into a garden. But the garden was meant to be seen by all. Catherine felt as though she were God’s bird sent out to tell the good news to the entire universe. In her wisdom she echoed the ecclesiology of the eleventh-century hermit Peter Damian’s The Lord Be With You by accenting how the entire Christian community was present to her, and in her. Catherine deeply felt the efficacy of prayer in her poustinia movement—in terms of cosmic dimensions. Her ministry strove to open up contemplation’s door to everyone, suggesting poustinia to all, and offering poustinia for all who might come to Madonna House. Catherine helped to make monastic solitude and silence accessible to everyone, and tried to make contemplation part of everyone’s vocabulary. By the end of her life, she considered her entire existence an exercise in poustinia, with her service and ministry being echoes of its solitude and silence.” (154-55)

And in a personal note to me Brother Peter wrote: “What a woman! And a saint.”

Let us together take a brief spiritual journey, based on personal stories about poustinia that we of the Madonna House community have heard over the years, and on my recent survey of the Internet. See with your mind’s eye the thousands of people who have been and are meditatively reading Poustinia, being drawn to make silence more a part of their lives. Look into homes and see the poustinia rooms or sections of rooms people have set aside for prayer. Be amazed at the poustinias people have built on their personal property, or on the grounds of religious houses. Walk through retreat centers and see rooms marked “poustinia” for a day of solitude.

I am not making up these examples as possibilities; I have seen poustinia rooms in basements, over garages, as rooms in the home, in the back of churches. I’ve seen—and blessed—poustinias built on people’s property. We of Madonna House have sold the books and heard the stories. A new depth of silence has settled upon the earth. Surely most of the book’s influence is hidden in human hearts; most graces and fruits flowing from Poustinia are “hidden with Christ in God.”

While the survey of the Internet that I am about to relate is neither the most important nor largest part of the spiritual movement that poustinia has become, I was quite astounded to discover over 1,500 web sites dealing with poustinia—not to mention the sites which refer to Catherine herself.

What Is On the Web?

As would be expected, a good number of sites tell you how to purchase the book. This in itself is highly significant: the book is still very much in demand 30 years after its first publication. It is currently published by Madonna House Publications.

Interior of a Madonna House poustinia

Poustinia is frequently called a “modern classic,” and we believe it is. In English it has been published in the United States, Canada, Britain and India. Translations have been published in French, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Czech, Chinese, Korean, Flemish, Portuguese, Lithuanian, German, Russian, and Japanese, for a total of over 200,000 copies.

Quite a few sites advertise poustinia rooms or cabins available for retreats. (Recently I was thrilled at seeing “poustinia” marked on the door of a room in the Carmelite Centre in Glasgow.) One thing this says is that the word and reality of poustinia has become one of the common aspects of the Catholic and Christian prayer scene. Many involved in retreat houses and prayer apostolates would be familiar with poustinia, and now use the word without needing to explain it.

We know of several larger retreat centers where a number of poustinias are available, often for extended periods of time. In Belgium, not far from our house which is located near Namur, there is a center called the Hill of Penuel. A small community lives there, has poustinias available for various lengths of time, and announces: “Welcome to the Hill of Penuel, a place of silence. You can have access to a prolonged period of prayer, face to face with God. A time of poustinia (desert in Russian), a haven of peace, to discover what is essential.”

Among the many personal witness stories about significant graces people have received through their poustinia experience, we give the following examples:

Father Ed Wade, a member of the new Companions of the Cross community in Ottawa, was being interviewed about his decision to join that community:

“Q. Was there any one factor that helped with your decision?

“Father Ed: I went on a poustinia. The Lord let me know that I needed to make a choice without knowing the far-reaching answers. Getting into poustinia has been a great thing for me: seeing what God is doing in my own heart. I don’t have to have all the answers. The Lord is the answer. That quieted me down.”

From Joseph de Louw, a Crosier Brother:

“In all the years I lived in Nebraska, I would spend a day in the poustinia. I must confess I enjoyed it. I was with the Lord, to do a little fasting and penance. There is something about stepping out of everyday life that reminds you we are on this earth to serve God. Being in the world, people forget that. That’s why you spend time as a hermit. Even our Lord spent time alone in the desert.”

I’ll stop here. I just wanted to emphasize that I’ve found much valuable material on the web about poustinia, nearly 30 years after publication of the first edition of the book.

— Father Robert Wild, Postulator for the Cause

New on our web site this issue: Father Robert Wild's article, Catherine Doherty and Madonna House, written for the Catholic Truth Society, London.

William Kurelek's painting of the first poustinia,
with Madonna House in the background,
entitled The Hope of the World.

The Hope of the World

A painting of the first poustinia in North America by William Kurelek, the famous Canadian painter. The following is an excerpt about the painting from a biography of him:

“On the occasion of his first visit to Madonna House, Bill was received by Fr. Brière, who already knew something of his reputation as a man with a message, a man of faith. Madonna House had recently opened their first poustinia, or hermitage, a small, unpainted farmhouse whose interior was dominated by a large, bare cross and a picture of the scourged Christ. Fr. Brière never forgot the scene. In front of the picture of Christ, Bill fell to his knees, sobbing uncontrollably. He remained there for some time as if in a trance, saying nothing.

“This was the poustinia which Bill painted in the foreground of a panoramic view of the community’s central buildings beside the Madawaska River. Titled Madonna House, Combermere, The Hope of the World (1965), the painting was the last in Glory to Man in the Highest (1966), a series of socio-religious satirical paintings which Bill described as a sweeping look at some of the world’s major ills.

“To avoid being merely negative, Bill alternated scenes depicting problems with ones suggesting solutions. The Madonna House Apostolate was his ‘all embracing solution’ for the world’s woes, a place where the atmosphere of joy and brotherly love was immediately felt. He praised their frugality, noting that it had pained him (after witnessing starvation in Mexico) to see crusts of bread thrown away in his own house. He praised their practicality, their trades and crafts, and their spirituality, including traditions of fasting and poustinia. In one of his paintings he had shown himself (as he notes in a letter) praying in front of the large black cross: ‘I have painted the sky a cold overcast color as of a premature fall because it gives the mood of foreboding. Men will not read the signs of the times and are courting disaster. The planes in the sky are delivering a nuclear bomb load.’

“Catherine’s vision was both similar and different. Unlike the artist, she does not threaten, nor do her writings ever suggest contempt for this world. Had Catherine lacked that prophetic vision, Bill would probably not have found in her community ‘the hope of the world.’”

— from Kurelek by Patricia Morley (pp. 168-69)

A Final Word from Catherine

Catherine outside St. George's poustinia

Well, we have arrived at the end of this book on the poustinia. I myself have always been attracted to the silence and solitude of God. When it became obvious that my vocation was not to be physical silence and solitude, when I was thrown into the noisiest marketplaces in the world, God showed me how to live out the poustinia ideal. The heart of it is that the poustinia is not a place at all—and yet it is. It is a state, a vocation, belonging to all Christians by baptism. It is the vocation to be a contemplative.

The essence of the poustinia is that it is a place within oneself, a result of baptism, where each of us contemplates the Trinity. Within my heart, within me, I am constantly in the presence of God. The poustinia is this inner solitude, this inner immersion in the silence of God.

"This is the poustinia I have been trying to talk about. This is the poustinia I so passionately want to give to everyone. I know that in the poustinia lies the answer that the world is seeking today. If we lived in the poustinia of our hearts then love would enter the world through us. We could speak God’s word to the world. It is the poustinia of the heart that I believe is the answer for the modern world.

— excerpted from Poustinia, Chapter XV: "The Poustinia of the Heart"

Publications featured in this issue:

Poustinia: Encountering God in Silence and Solitude by Catherine Doherty

Word from Poustinia Book II by Father Robert Wild

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You can find previous issues and French translations in our newsletter archive.

Poustinia: 30 years later and on into the 21st Century

Catherine is probably best known for her book Poustinia. First published in 1975, it was the fruit of her mature life with God. It has inspired hundreds of thousands of people. The depth and power of the words in this book are a sign of God’s grace at work in her.

Poustinia: 30 Years After

Beginnings at Madonna House

Appreciations of Poustinia Outside the Community

What Is On the Web?

The Hope of the World

A Final Word from Catherine