2-990-933 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

St Paul the Hermit, 1644. Paul of Thebaid was considered the first of the hermits of Egypt - men and women who, to escape persecution as Christians in the 3rd century, chose a life of solitude for the sake of contemplation and asceticism. According to tradition, Paul remained in the desert for almost ninety years, wearing only a garment of woven palm leaves and subsisting on fruit and bread.