It’s not easy being a hermit, especially one spiritually inclined. First, all hermits must eat, drink and find shelter like the rest of us. Second, well-meaning people in need of religious guidance tend to seek out a saintly hermit no matter where he tries to hide. Third, a hermit by definition is one who lives alone in a lonely or secluded spot, and that makes him vulnerable to attack by any evil-minded soul who stumbles onto his lair.
Giovanni Maria Deagostini, an Italianborn saintly recluse who roamed the American West, certainly had his share of hard times. But he had some good quality alone time, too. Many garbled and exaggerated versions of El Hermitaño’s legend exist, but the fact remains that the hermit was a real man whose legacy lives on in southern New Mexico, most specifically at a cave 10 miles east of Las Cruces at the foot of the Organ Mountains.
His road to southern New Mexico Territory was a long and winding one, beginning with his 1801 birth in Novara, Lombardia province, in northern Italy. Raised in a family of means, Giovanni probably hit the road after his mother died in 1819. Accounts hint at a failed love affair or some heinous act that forced him to leave Italy. Perhaps he was immersed in questions of religious dogma and sought solitude to ponder the answers.
He may have traveled in France and Spain before heading across the Atlantic to South America. In 1838 he was reported to be in Caracas, Venezuela, where he sought isolation in caves. Over the next 16 years, he also made stops in devout Catholic countries such as Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Argentina, Chile and Bolivia. Giovanni must have had a Catholic upbringing, but he harbored strong opinions of his own interpretations. He did not believe in the sacraments and, though not a Penitente, believed in penance. His hermitic tendencies were strong, but he occasionally went to populated areas to barter for supplies. In the mid-1850s, he ran afoul of the Bolivian government and was evicted. Next up was Mexico, but the Catholic-backed government deported him to Cuba. He became known not only as El Hermitaño but also as El Solitario (the “Solitary One”).
Of average height, Deagostini sported a mustache and long, flowing beard. He wore a black or brown cape with cowl over his gray pants and shirt. Boots or sandals and a walking stick, with a bell on the end, completed his attire. He not only looked like a holy man but also quoted from the Bible and used his knowledge of herbs to cure the sick. His Spartan diet consisted mainly of cornmeal mush, flour and rice. Some accounts say he was a vegetarian, while others say he ate rabbits and other small game. In any case, many poor and downtrodden Latin Americans considered him a saint.
Cuba’s hot and wet climate did not appeal to Deagostini, who traveled north in the late 1850s hoping to find peace in the isolation of Canada’s rugged mountains. What he found, though, were people not as accepting or as superstitious as in the south. By 1859 he had left Canada and turned up in New York City. He had his photograph taken there and perhaps had many copies made to use in trade. It’s hard to believe that the Hermit stayed somewhere so populous for long.
Early in 1863, he was living in a cavern on the western edge of Council Grove, Kan. Inside his natural residence, he engraved a cross and also the words Gesu Maria and Capri in stone. Some people consequently came to call him “Jesus Maria” and to believe he was from the island of Capri. That spring, the Hermit hitched a ride with an ox-drawn wagon train that plodded across the Great Plains to Las Vegas, New Mexico Territory. He soon took up residence in a cave several miles southeast of the village.
New Mexicans in Las Vegas and beyond made pilgrimages to the cave, seeking the ministrations of the saintly stranger. Some visitors believed the Hermit’s prayers, salves and potions could cure or save them. Some even believed he could read minds and predict the future. When the pressure of people became too much, however, the Hermit moved to another cave, this one northwest of Las Vegas high up on Cerro Del Tecolote (Own Mountain). Still, the believers found him, and he became more endearing to them when he helped out during a smallpox outbreak. A grateful group even built him a cabin, which at his direction was windowless, with a small opening for a door. At some point, sharp spikes were installed around the opening—perhaps to scratch him as penance every time he entered, though some old-timers insisted the spikes were to prevent large animals from entering the pious man’s cabin.
Sometime after the Civil War, the Hermit grew restless again and accompanied a wagon train to the town of Mesilla, next to Las Cruces. From there he moved on to Texas, where he reportedly lived in the Hueco Mountains east of El Paso, and he may have spent some time in Mexico, too. Eventually, he ended up back in southern New Mexico Territory’s Organ Mountains, in a cave known as La Cueva. He laid out rocks at the entrance for added protection. Edible plants and herbs grew nearby, and water ran below the cave within easy walking distance.
From his cave, the Hermit of the Organ Mountains would occasionally visit Las Cruces and Mesilla to trade rosaries and crucifixes for a few essentials. On one of his visits, he appeared paranoid when talking to his friends about stalkers wanting to kill him. He soon started building a fire every Friday night by La Cueva to let the people in town know that he was still OK. One Friday night in April 1869, there was no fire. A party of concerned citizens went to investigate. They checked the cavern and found the Hermit’s few possessions undisturbed, but they could not find the man himself. The following day, a sheepherder reported the Hermit was dead—El Hermitaño’s worst fears had come to pass.
There are many versions of how the Hermit died. Some say he was pierced with Apache arrows or a lance to the heart. Others believe robbers killed him, perhaps by shoving a dagger in his back. Several newspaper accounts indicate that he was found in his underclothing a short distance from the cave, bludgeoned to death. The culprit might have been an Indian known as El Indio Chacon. A lifetime Las Cruces resident, Santiago Brito, says, “Many years ago it was common knowledge that Chacon did it.”
Chacon was reportedly neither a bright man nor particularly stable. A little-known fact is that Father Manuel Chavez of St. Genevieve’s Church in Las Cruces was arrested for complicity. The cura even spent a day in jail, but amid a citizens’ uproar was released. Could he have put El Indio Chacon up to the deed? Indeed, the Hermit had seriously clashed with Catholic priests in the past, and it is believed that Father Chavez was the last. No one was ever indicted for murder. Giovanni Maria Deagostini is buried in the Mesilla Cemetery. La Cueva is open to the public seven days a week.
Originally published in the October 2006 issue of Wild West. To subscribe, click here.
