Mary Mediatrix Hermitage: Where Prayer, Creation and Mission Meet

During this Season of Creation 2026, we had the opportunity to visit Mary Mediatrix Hermitage, a religious-run ecological and spiritual community located in Kidapawan, Province of Cotabato, in Mindanao, Philippines.

At Mary Mediatrix Hermitage, we were received by Father Eugene Vincent de Jesus, often called Fr. Gene, who serves as a guiding presence for the community. Fr. Gene welcomed us with the joy and spirit of hospitality with which hermits receive everyone who knocks at their door—that is, as if it were Jesus himself. He took the time to explain the lifestyle at the hermitage and showed us around the various spaces that make it up.

Mary Mediatrix is a Permaculture Hermitage, a secluded, self-sufficient residential site often managed by a few individuals, which integrates sustainable living with regenerative, food-producing landscapes. Sites such as Mary Mediatrix Hermitage in the Philippines prioritize food forests, biodiversity, and eco-friendly practices to create a harmonious, low-impact lifestyle.

Spirituality

The spirituality of the hermitage is an eco-spirituality that integrates Laudato Si’, agriculture, retreats, and youth camps as a way of evangelization.

The focus is not so much on giving extensive input to the people who come to the hermitage, but rather on giving them the opportunity to be there, interact with nature, and then take part in a faith-sharing experience to better understand the principles behind this way of life.

There are five apostolates in the hermitage:

1. Intercessory Ministry
It connects life in the hermitage with the life of the whole world and with the needs of everyone. Because of this, social media is also used at the hermitage as a way to know what is happening in the world and to bring those realities into prayer.

2. Earth Care
Ora et Labora — prayer and work. This place aims to be a pilot area where people can learn how to care for the land and hopefully replicate those practices in their own places.

3. Companioning
Spiritual direction, counseling, retreats, and recollections are offered. In most of our retreats, an ecological walk is offered, and it is something that people particularly enjoy.

4. Hospitable Caring
In the hermitage, nobody will ask about the background of the people who arrive; everybody is welcome. The ideal is that each person may encounter healing—physical healing, but especially psychospiritual healing—which will allow them to return home feeling that God truly loves them.

5. Social Media Ministry
This is a form of mutual aid. On the one hand, the people in the hermitage connect with what is happening in the world; on the other hand, they share with the world the fruits of their life of prayer, demonstrating that an alternative way of living exists.

Permaculture as a Way of Life for the Hermits

A permaculture hermitage integrates spiritual solitude with sustainable, regenerative land management, often featuring food forests, organic gardens, and ecological conservation.

Mary Mediatrix Hermitage, as a permaculture hermitage, focuses on prayer, nature preservation, and animal care. The hermitage emphasizes living in harmony with nature and striving for self-sufficiency.

Key Aspects of a Permaculture Hermitage

1. Mission
Combining contemplation, such as intercessory prayer and ora et labora—prayer and work—with environmental stewardship.

2. Design
Utilizing permaculture principles for food forests, livestock management, and biodiversity protection.

3. Facilities
The hermitage includes small individual living spaces, or cells, a prayer chapel, sacred spaces, healing circles, medicine loops, and camping stations.

4. Sustainable Agricultural Systems
These focus on God-centered, ecological living.

Finally, we simply wish to add a note about the profound peace experienced in this hermitage, which masterfully integrates prayer, the living out of the Gospel, and love for nature—for all that God has created.