Wouldn’t you rather be a hermit?

Is the daily grind getting you down? Do you sometimes feel like you would love to get away from the crowded city and live a solitary, prayerful life? The answer may be waiting for you in the town of Saalfelden, Austria, where there is a job opening for a hermit to live in a cliff-side house above the town.

“Since its creation 350 years ago, the Saalfelden hermitage was inhabited every year. But we don’t have a successor to the last hermit,” said priest Alois Moser. According to the job description, the successful candidate should have a “connection to Christian belief” and be “at peace with themselves” at 1,400 metres (4,600 feet) above sea level. Applicants should not expect complete seclusion, however. The hermitage gets a steady stream of visitors coming to “enjoy the view, to pray and to talk,” the advert on Saalfelden’s website cautions. “The applicants need to know that the Saalfelden hermit does not lead a lonely life. Many people come and want to confide in someone. He has to be there for them,” said Moser. The previous hermit, former priest and psychotherapist Thomas Fieglmueller, returned to Vienna after just one season – the hermitage is only open from April to November – to write.

This sounds like a great opportunity that we hope someone takes advantage of soon! We wonder if it would be hard to run the Daily Catch from there…