Living at the heart of the mystery of the hidden life of Jesus at Nazareth, a Camaldolese hermit here sings the praises of the silent life in the desert of those men and women whom Christ calls.

These few and very simple conferences were given to some brother hermits. They endeavor to express the meaning of their "disappearance", which in our difficult and grandiose period of history has about it a savor of modernity. A subsequent reflection of the author on St. Romuald's monastic experience has been translated from the Italian and added to this edition as an appendix.

"A son of St. Romuald, you have sensed the call to disappear, as do all lovers. Hermits themselves are, in fact, lovers who have chosen the shade, a life hidden with Jesus in God . . . . It ought to be enough for us to be known by God."

Father Louis-Albert Lassus, O.P. (1916 - 2002), who prepared this anonymous work for publication in its original French edition and wrote the introduction, was a longtime friend of the Camaldolese Hermits. His writings include Livre de vie des ermites et des reclus du bienheureux Paul Giustiniani, Pierre Damien, l'homme des deserts de Dieu, and Nazarena, une recluse au Coeur de Rome. An Italian translation of the present work was published in 2003.