What is Holy Hill Hermitage?

Holy Hill Hermitage is home to a small community of men and women who live as hermits according to the Carmelite tradition. Together with Nada Hermitage in Crestone, Colorado, we form the Spiritual Life Institute, a community dedicated to simplicity of life, contemplative prayer, and, when appropriate, apostolic outreach in the Church and society. (For more information on the Spiritual Life Institute visit the "about us" page.) Founded in 1995 on the site of what had been a 19th-century landlord's estate, and more recently a Convent of Mercy, Holy Hill has slowly grown into a center of prayer and retreat in the beautuful northwest of Ireland.

Retreats at Holy Hill

We welcome anyone who wants to make a private retreat for a day, a week, or longer, or to come for extended sabbatical time.

A Day Away: Our "Day Away" offering is a mini-retreat for anyone who would like to make a quick get-away. The day is spent in a hermitage with cooking facilities (food is provided) and you would have access to the chapel, library, and our spacious grounds. Spiritual direction is available on request.

Regular Retreats: People making a longer retreat stay in a beautiful, private hermitage with bed and bath facilities, a comfortable chair, writing space and cooking facilities. Basic foods are provided. Spiritual direction is available. We also have one hermitage (a small cottage) available for couples who want to come on retreat.

Retreatants may join the community for a few hours of manual work, such as gardening, if they wish. Anyone who is not able to afford the full fee may come as a work-retreatant.

All retreatants are welcome to join the community for communal prayer and liturgies, but you are certainly free not to if you choose. Our chapel is always open for your use. Our library of over 6,000 books includes spiritual classics and the best contemporary literature. Set in the beautiful stone19th-century outbuildings, it is a favorite place for monks and retreatants alike. Our community building, Carrowcullen ("place of the holly"), has sitting rooms for your use.You will also have access to our gardens, courtyards, and grounds. There are lovely walks along the Ardnaglas river which forms the eastern border of Holy Hill. A 5000-year old megalithic tomb on our property is also well worth a visit.

Bring warm, comfortable clothes, and good walking shoes. It can rain at any time, and often does, so bring rain gear.

Dunmoran strand, a beautiful beach on the north Atlantic is just three miles away, and the Ox mountains, offering breathtaking vistas of Sligo Bay, Benbulben, and Knocknarea, are just a mile to our south. Sligo, a lively and lovely town, is fifteen miles away and at the heart of "Yeats country." If you are new to the area may want to plan some time before or after your retreat to visit the many scenic and historic sites in the area.

Making a reservation: To schedule a hermitage for a Day Away or a longer retreat or sabbatical, please contact us as far in advance as possible using the contact information below. If you write or e-mail, give the dates you would like to arrive and depart, and if possible give an alternate choice.

Sometimes these connections are not possible for travellers. Please keep in touch with us about your travel plans in case we need to make alternative arrangements to pick you up.

Directions for those driving: Holy  Hill is on the Ladies Brae Road 2km south of the N59 (the Sligo-Ballina road). The turn off for the Ladies Brae road on the N59 is just east of the Catholic Church and cemetary in Skreen. Watch for the brown sign for Holy Hill Hermitage.

Cost of Retreat: We suggest a donation of 55 euros for the first night and 50 euros for each additional night. A full week retreat is 300 euros. Sabbaticals are 1000 euros per month. Special arrangements can be made for longer retreats.

Please check our SLI Retreats Page for further information and frequently asked questions.

Sabbaticals at Holy Hill

Holy Hill is an ideal place for an unstructured sabbatical. Three people who came in 2006 wrote reflections on their time here.  One is a younger woman who was changing careers, one a busy sister who needed time for refreshment before returning to her ministry, and one a man who had just retired. Click here to read their reflections. If you are interested in a sabbatical at Holy Hill, please contact us using the contact information below.

Visiting Sundays

The first Sunday of every month, except January, is a "Visiting Sunday." We have mass at 12 noon followed by a time for a visit and a cup of tea. (You are welcome to bring a lunch with you.) At about 2pm we give a tour of Holy Hill for anyone interested. Following that is a short conference on some aspect of the spiritual life. The afternoon concludes around 3pm with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. Everyone is welcome for any part or all of the afternoon. We hope to see you then!

Additional Information

In addition to our retreats and Visiting Sundays we also on occasion offer Days of Recollection and special guided retreats.
We are sometimes available to give retreats and conferences outside of Holy Hill. Use the contact information below to make inquiries.
We welcome visitors to Holy Hill. But to preserve the silence as much as possible for the sake of those who come on retreat, we ask that if possible you notify us of your visit ahead of time so that we can suggest a mutually agreeable time for your visit.
If you are coming with a group and would like a personalized tour, please call several weeks prior to your arrival.
As you may have read on our general information page, our primary mission is to pray. If you have a concern you would like us to bring to our prayer, please do not hesitate to let us know.

How to contact us

You can write us at: Holy Hill Hermitage Skreen, Co. Sligo Ireland Or call: (from the US) 011-353-71-91-66021 (from Ireland) 071-9166021 Or fax: 071-9166954 Or e-mail: holyhill@eircom.net

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