Tower Hermits – Everyday Life

Hermit Menu
Hotel Kolping will provide food each day. The hermit may choose from a lunch menu, and also receives a dinner as well as breakfast for the next day. The selected dishes will also be offered in the Hotel Kolping’s restaurant as the Hermit Menu. A rucksack containing the food packed in an insulated container will be left at a set place in the Cathedral where the hermit can fetch it following midday prayers and carry it up to the Türmerstube.
The Türmerstube is equipped with a hot plate, a refrigerator and a kettle to enable the hermit to prepare the food as he/she deems appropriate.

Hermit Rotation
The first hermit will move into the Türmerstube in Linz’s St. Mary’s Cathedral on Friday, November 28, 2008. The “changing of the guard” takes place each subsequent Friday at 12:15 p.m. at the Midday Prayer Service in the Worship Chapel.

Emergency Telephone
In case of emergency, the hermit has access to a telephone that has been pre-programmed with important numbers the hermit can call to summon help (e. g. the Red Cross, pastoral care, counseling and crisis intervention hotlines, etc). The hermitage is also equipped with a first aid kit.

Each hermit and the project organizer sign a contract stipulating the conditions of participation, the furnishings provided in the Türmerstube and the hermit’s activities.

Library
The hermitage features a library containing selected literature. The same selection of books will also be included in a 1:1 scale model on display in St. Mary’s Cathedral.

The Bible
The Koran
The Talmud
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
St. Augustine, Confessions
Teresa of Avila, The Book of Her Life
Ernst Bloch, The Principle of Hope (3 volumes)
Martin Buber, I and Thou
Viktor Frankl, Saying Yes to Life in Spite of Everything
Erich Fromm, The Art of Loving
Mohandas Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth
Romano Guardini, The Art of Praying
St. John of the Cross, The Dark Night
C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia
Yann Martel, Life of Pi
Carlo Maria Martini, Was allein notwendig ist (All That Is Necessary)
Susan Neiman, Evil in Modern Thought
Plato, Apology
Karl Rahner, The Need and the Blessing of Prayer
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Introduction to Christianity
George G. Ritchie, Return from Tomorrow
Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life
Edith Stein, Welt und Person (World and Person)
Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ
Muhammad Yunus, Creating a World without Poverty
Franz Jalics, Lernen wir beten (Let Us Learn to Pray)
Johannes Pausch, Was der Seele gut tut – im richtigen Rhythmus leben (What Is Good for the Soul)
Johannes Pausch, auch schwarze Schafe können beten (Even Black Sheep Can Pray)
Maria Kriegner, Ob das Liebe ist (Whether That is Love)
Josef Maureder, Wir kommen, wohin wir schauen (We Arrive at Wherever We Look)
Silja Walter, Die Strohmatte (The Straw Mat)
Silja Walter, Der Tanz des Gehorsams (The Dance of Obedience)