A history of the "hermitages"

by Alfonso

The first “hermitage” was the Éremo de Elias. Dr. Fabio Vidigal Xavier da Silveira (a great guy… very intelligent and very witty) was in charge. He was also the owner of the farm in Morro Alto, in Amparo, SP. This first “hermitage” was dedicated to the expansion of the TFP in foreign countries. Dr. Fabio, under PCO’s direction and supervision, oversaw the TFPs in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay. At the same time, José Lucio de Araujo Correa was starting his first contacts with right-wing people in USA and México. The Éremo de Elías was very much a “gentleman’s congregation”, with buttlers and all!

The dinning room... Sao Bento

However, PCO wanted to launch something more along the lines of a religious order. A religious order for the “Centuries to Come”. PCO starts Sao Bento, made up exclusively with members of the Sempreviva. PCO used to say that the Seat of the Reign of Mary was Our Lady’s palace, and Sao Bento her home.

PCO ordered the design of the habit. It had to be a mix of a Carmelite habit (brown) and something that would call to mind an Order of Chivalry. Looking at pictures of Russian Cossacks, he used their tunic as inspiration for the habit’s tunic. The hood caused a lot of design troubles, because it had to combine elements of old monastic orders but be pointed as the same time. The scapular is similar to the one used by the Third Order of Carmel (most members of Sempreviva were members of the Third order).

PCO wanted to maintain a link with the Carmelites because of tradition and because of a legend that maintains that the Carmelites are a continuation of the Esenians (and therefore of Elias and St. John the Baptist, people PCO felt he was the continuation of). The “Cross of St. James”, common in Spain and Portugal, was the most “combative” cross that could be found, considering its sword-like lines. Combining with the “flor de lis”, white (purity), red (abnegation and heroism to the point of shedding one’s own blood) and a gold line (noble ideals). Red, white and gold were also the colors of the Habsburgs that, according to PCO, were the most Counter Revolutionary royal house of Europe, and a royal house PCO had a lot of admiration to.

Originally, the boots were regular riding boots (remember the Order of Chivalry?), but PCO felt that if the boots were too nice, the hermits would be all day staring at their boots! To change that, some Brazilian Army boots were adapted, with 4 clasps, and rather coarse and ugly. These are the boots we know today. The chain was a symbol to slavery to PCO through Our Lady. This was worn at the hip, with the rosary. This habit then was a faithful reflection of the Sempreviva’s trilogy: slave, warrior and monk.

Sao Bento was a hermitage of slaves, where slavery was lived fully. This was the initial nucleolus that would expand, in concentric circles, its “uses and customs” throughout the group.

Members of “a Martím”, belonged to Sao Bento by right. However, because they could not live there physically, they moved to the second floor of Alagoas (PCO lived on the first floor). This was called the “Hermitage of the Prophetic Link” (Eremo do Vinculo Profetico). I guess no explanation is needed as to what link the hermitage was referring to… Members of this Hermitage (EVP) were LN, EBB, PX, CX, PCBF and they were the hardcore of the “coetus”, the most intimate and closest followers of PCO. They were a hermitage even though, in practical terms, they were not. PCO told them “a sua clausura sou Eu” (“I am your cloister”).

After that, and following PCO’s design, the group begins to “heremitize” gradually, following the Sao Bento model. After a time spent in Sao Bento, the Eremo de Sao Paul Apóstol is formed in Petrópolis and the Eremo da Luz Profética in Curituba. Later, the Eremo de Cheztocowa in Itaquera (later Jasna Gora) was also formed. These three hermitages had as their goal the study of apostolate and psychological techniques to use in the field of apostolate. The Eremo de Sao Miguel in Minas Gerais was dedicated to the study of the secret forces, and the one in Amparo was to focus on general studies of public opinion.

It must be noted that all members of these hermitages would spend some time in Sao Bento first. After this stage, the habit would be given to them, and they became part of the Sao Bento “family of souls”.

Also from these times was the “Semi-Hermitage” of Mount Carmel, which members were also in the Sempreviva and had spent some time in Sao Bento, so they had right to the habit and to spend some time there from time to time. Their specific functions would not allow them (like the EVP) to become full-time hermits.

Another idea that came after this one was the Secular Institute. PCO, in order to justify Sao Bento and its monastic lifestyle, would always say that if things at the Vatican were different, we would be an order of consecrated laymen, a Secular Institute. But with Montini in Rome, we would never be allowed, and so on.

The first group to execute this idea were Chileans, who returned to their country even before the overthrow of the Marxist Allende. They would were the habit inside the house, but on the street wear a blue suit, white shirt with a “St. James’ Cross” embroidered on the front pocket, black shoes, a light-blue tie and a big “St James’ Cross” on the lapel. If interrogated, they were to indicate they were a Secular Institute in formation.

Umberto Braccesi, FF, Leo D, would leave Sao Bento almost daily to work in the “Comisión de Movimiento”. UB was in charge of the formation of “apóstoles intinerantes”. Joao Cla was in charge of the spiritual direction for many in Sao Bento, and in charge of those who would only spend some time there. He was in charge of “internal apostolate”, making sure people had a full understanding of their “vocation”, that is to say, of their link to PCO. 

The ceremony of reception of the habit included proclamations and praise to PCO, incense, and the lot. The first “estrondo” from France was a long way off, and demonstrations of devotion to PCO were unencumbered by fear of attack or misunderstanding. These ceremonies would also be attended by members of the Sempreviva, who would assist wearing their habits, or, sometimes, in plain clothes.

Naturally, everyone was in permanent expectation of the immediate Bagarre. As a matter of fact, there was so much faith in the prompt coming of the Bagarre, that the new building in Sao Bento was built with this contract with the landlord: TFP would build the new building in lieu of paying rent for 10 years. After that time, the building would be owned by the landlord! When this was told at the time, everyone used to smile at how clever we had been! It was impossible that the Bagarre would take that long!

Internal life in that first Sao Bento and the early hermitages was unsustainable without the Bagarre. Daily “convivium”, monotony, the constant wait for something that would not come, took their toll. The “estrondo” of 1975 comes, and to escape some of its consequences, Jasna Gora is founded and the original hermitages all but disappear. It is later that JC, faithful to PCO’s initial idea, re-launches under PCO’s direction Sao Bento II. Once again, JC is in charge of the “saobentization” of the group, and the rest of the story is well known.