La Ermitaña
In the mountains of Montsant, surrounded by cliffs and cypresses, is the hermitage of Sant Joan del Codolar, where a small stone house is camouflaged in the landscape. There lives María Montserrat Domingo, a 76-year-old nun who has lived alone and isolated in the middle of nature for more than four decades. Montserrat she maintains a life based on austerity: she does not have a bathroom, she barely has electricity and in order to get water, she must go to a fountain hidden between large rocks. After living in the city for years, she made the decision to move away from it after one day, on a crowded train, she saw much suffering on the faces and expressions of the passengers. In that moment, she reflected on her desire to love and be able to help everyone, and she felt limited. It was there when she thought that in order to better reach others, she should withdraw from society and thus, she opted for the Christian vows of a hermit life.
Inspired by the stories of the Desert Fathers, those monks who at the time of the Roman Empire fled to the deserts of Syria and Egypt, Montserrat's routine is based on the legacies of loneliness, silence, contemplation, humility, obedience and prayer. In the midst of the silence and immensity of the mountains, some elements of modern life appear. So it is with the countless planes that cross the sky and slip into the landscape of Montserrat, leaving their wake and making her reflect on civilization. The weekend comes and with it the hikers, the only people with whom she has real contact. Delighted, she opens the door to her house and, in the style of a mountain guide, she reveals to them some of the routes that exist in the Priorat region. On a piece of paper she writes down the names of all the visitors, as well as their different nationalities. On Sundays she goes down to Mass in Cornudella de Montsant (the closest town), about 4 kilometers away. On the way to her church, she meets several hikers, who greet her and have a friendly dialogue with her. Everyone knows her in her town.