A person who deliberately chooses to live alone, away from society, often for religious reasons or personal preference.
From Old French 'reclus' (shut up, secluded), from Latin 'reclusus' (locked up), from 're-' (back) and 'claudere' (to shut). Medieval religious hermits were called recluses.
Medieval Christian recluses were literally locked into cells in church walls for life—they chose to be sealed in—and historians debate whether this was profound spiritual dedication or untreated mental illness, revealing how differently we now understand isolation and religious devotion.
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