Ven. Charles de Foucauld after a worldly life in the French Army, returned to the Catholic faith. After becoming a monk he wanted to live exactly as Jesus did during the time at Nazareth. He worked as a servant and gardener in a Poor Clare convent. Then he became ordained a priest and went to the desert of Northern Africa to live alone as a hermit. As he left France, he wrote, "If our religion is the truth, if the Gospel is the word of God, we must believe and put it into practice, even if we are absolutely the only ones to do so." (Written just before he died): "I've only just realized I'm almost deaf in my right ear…My left ear will probably go as well, sooner or later. Deafness is a handicap hermits long for."

Catherine de Hueck Doherty in her book Poustinia tells of how her father met in Russia a beggar standing on the steps of the Church "a man with a beard, matted, and seemingly uncombed, long hair, and tattered garments. He looked like a fool, a retarded person. His eyes were vacant, no expression on the face, except the one usually associated with retarded people or idiots. But a ray of sun came out and fell on his face and my father recognized his friend…My father asked, "Why have you chosen this vocation of idiot or retarded person?" (his friend answered) "I am atoning for the men who have called Christ a fool during his lifetime and during all the centuries thereafter."