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Catherine Doherty’s classic in 28th printing
Catherine Doherty, founder of the Madonna House and the original author of the modern spiritual classic 'Poustinia: Encountering God in Silence, Solitude and Prayer’ meeting with Pope John Paul II.
Madonna House Publications Website
February 20, 2025
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This year marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of one of the great modern spiritual classics with Catherine Doherty’s guide on the poustinia still inspiring many Catholics to find the dwelling Lord today.
Originally published in 1975, Poustinia: Encountering God in Silence, Solitude and Prayer is the breakthrough introduction of the Eastern Christian premise of retreating to encounter God through silence, solitude and prayer to Christians in the West.
Now in its 28th printing and available in over 15 languages, Madonna House Publications is celebrating a half-century of Doherty’s timeless classic that continues to resonate with faithful seeking the Lord around the world.
“ So many people feel the need amid the bustle and noise of life to get away and touch the presence of the Lord and to know that the Lord will speak to each one of us is something special,” said Miriam Stulberg, a member of Madonna House’s publications department.
“A poustinia has nothing to do with our virtue or sinfulness, it has to do with the Lord’s desire to touch us and the idea has spread — there are so many communities, retreat centres and even spas that will offer up poustinias so much that it has sort of become an accepted word in the Catholic vocabulary.”
As author Doherty and her husband fled to Canada during the Russian Revolution and eventually settled in the little town of Combermere, Ont., west of Ottawa where Madonna House was born, the traditions that she absorbed in her Russian childhood came forth as she began to share them with the community in the early 1960s.
Of these came poustinia, “desert” in Russian, the tradition of going into the desert to meet the Lord in silence and solitude that dates from monasteries secluding themselves in Russia. The modern approach of 24 hours of recluse in a room with only a bed, a naked Cross and a Bible is commonplace in poustinias, allowing the individual to meet God and His word in their heart.
The book includes Doherty’s introduction to the tradition, the spirituality of it, the words that she received from the Lord during her poustinia experiences and her vocation, what she calls the poustinia of the heart, of carrying the silence, solitude and presence of the Lord with us.
According to Stulberg, when Fr. Bob Wild, who compiled the book from Doherty's talks and writings, sought her permission to submit the manuscript to a publisher, she replied, "Go ahead — but no one will read it. North Americans aren't interested in that sort of thing!"
Little did she know.
Both the book itself and the practice of the poustinia have been cemented as common classics, with faithful adherence to the tradition in the West five decades after its formal introduction by Doherty.
“ The circulation of this book just amazes me because it was published in 1975 and four years later there were 88,000 copies in print. All of our Madonna Houses have poustinias and most of the staff go regularly,” said Stulberg.
Speaking about her experience with the tradition, Stulberg explained what it has meant and continues to mean to her faith life.
“I have been in Madonna House for over 50 years and for 30 of those years, I went every week to the poustinia across various houses. What happens is you are stripped of your illusions and your persona which can be a very frightening experience, but it's the most valuable thing that can ever happen to you because you learn that at the bottom of that isn't nothing, but the presence of the Lord in your life,” she said.
“It is the foundation of our lives and you learn that you can't lose it, it doesn't depend on anything. It's not contingent — it’s the Lord’s promise to us that He will be with us until the end of time.”
Looking at the turbulent climate of the modern day, Victoria Fausto, director at Madonna House Publications, explained that while the 50th anniversary is something to be celebrated, the connection that the poustinia brings only grows stronger and gains applicability as the years go on.
“We are celebrating 50 years of something that seems like its time has not even reached its full fruition. I would say the noisier the world gets, the more and more people look for genuine, deep silence, one that is inhabited by the divine, by the Lord, by the Holy Spirit and by Mary's particular silence,” she said.
“That is what poustinia is. This is the tradition of the Desert Fathers, and so while it is nothing new, it is ever new.”
Her sentiment is shared by Stulberg, who hopes peace in the Lord for the next 50 years and beyond will continue to be offered by the legend of Doherty’s poustinia.
“ With all the social media, internet and everything chaotic going on, it is a desert. But the Lord will not leave us in the desert, He will meet us in that desert and that is His promise to us.”
For more on the poustinia, published by Madonna House, see Madonna House Publications.
A version of this story appeared in the February 23, 2025, issue of The Catholic Registerwith the headline "50 years of poustinia’s solitude".
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