Our Lady of the Enclosed Garden

The Roman Catholic hermitage of Our Lady of the Enclosed Garden is situated in the former Reformed church of Warfhuizen, a village in the province of Groningen, in the north of the Netherlands. It is the only Dutch hermitage currently inhabited by a hermit.

The name draws upon the traditional epithet for the Virgin Mary (“Our Lady”) of the hortus conclusus or enclosed garden, a reference to the Song of Songs that indicates Mary’s “perpetual virginity and at the same time her fruitful maternity.” The hermitage was founded in 2001 as the dwelling of a diocesan hermit.

As is typical of Dutch hermitages, it includes a public chapel that has a distinct role in popular devotions, in this case, to the Virgin Mary. It is the northernmost Marian shrine in the Netherlands.