We’re anchored at New Bight in Cat Island. We’re finally moving north again toward our rendezvous with MB’s parents in a few weeks and our eventual migration back to NC. And yes, we’re sitting here at anchor waiting out yet another blow. We’ve been told the Caribbean does not have the cyclical paralyzing winds we’ve experienced in the Bahama so we may head there next year and see how we like that. Be that as it may, we did finally get to Cat Island. It is another pretty large island with several settlements and some interesting history. It’s a beautiful large anchorage with water open to the west so it has been great for sunsets (saw the green flash here one night!).
One of the formative figures in the history of this area is the Anglican-turned- Catholic Priest Father Jerome. He was born John Hawes in England in 1876. He had a background in stone masonry and other handy trades (wagon train driver, horse breeder, architect, monk and Anglican Priest to name some of them) before becoming a Catholic Priest, so after a damaging hurricane in 1908 the Anglican Bishop in England sent him to the Bahamas to help restore some damaged churches and to take an active role in the recovery of the affected islands in whatever way he could. As far as we know he spent the rest of his life here.
He arrived in the New Bight area of Cat Island in 1937. I guess the Anglican Church is not in the first responder category, but 29 years after the 1908 hurricane hit seems a little slow to get rebuilding started. In spite of that, his name is encountered everywhere here and he clearly had a huge positive impact on New Bight, Cat Island and the Bahamas. I also think he had been in many other islands before getting to Cat Island, so the delay from the date of the storm may perhaps be attributed to that.
Here he built two churches (one Catholic, one Anglican), helped restore and strengthen existing homes and taught the people how to build buildings that would withstand hurricanes. One very impressive thing he built is a hermitage up on the top of a hill here – the highest hill in the Bahamas at 202 ft above sea level. It is a prominent feature and visible from quite a distance away. It looks very much like a church with outbuildings from a distance, but once we climbed to it, we realized it is not a typical church. It really is a small one-man home and space for spiritual reflection and growth. Father Jerome was clearly a man of the people and must have enjoyed being in the midst of them based on all the things he did, but perhaps he needed the solitude and quiet offered by this Hermitage to recharge his energy and renew his faith.
The climb up was very pretty and at times rather steep. The steepest part was the last bit where Fr Jerome had placed Stations of the Cross along the steep, rocky trail. His version was enhanced with extra stations compared to what Mary Beth was familiar with from her younger days. The combination of the steep climb on the side of the hill from one station to another, the rocky and uncertain footing, and the engraved stones with pictures and words (in Latin) depicting Jesus’ journey with his cross to the place of his death made walking through this and pausing at each station quite a moving experience.
The Hermitage is very small – it looks much larger and farther away from the shore because the mind automatically scales it up to match full size churches. It is scaled down really well and it really is a one person Hermitage. There is a small sleeping room with a plank bed, a small space with a tiny fireplace and a rock bench for one (we guessed for cooking and eating), a small work room and a wonderful little chapel with a stone bench for one person. None of the spaces have any place for more than one person to sit, so it really was a hermitage. There is even a bell which still works (I rang it). This was a beautiful, spiritual place for one to be alone with God.
The chapel was a space where we both felt a spiritual presence and we both felt the urge to take a few moments for silent prayer and reflection there. It’s hard to describe it adequately, but many of you may have experienced moments in a place where you simply feel like you are physically closer to God. This is such a place and just remembering it as I write gives me a sense of peace.
The pictures don’t do it justice of course, but they are included to give you some sense of the place.
How Father Jerome had the time to build this as well as many other churches and buildings while
teaching people skills, preaching and ministering to people’s needs is amazing. I’m humbled by the gift some people have to live for others and accomplish so much in their time on earth.
Stations of the Cross on way up to Hermitage (things that look like tombstones with crosses on top):
