72 SMITHSONIAN.COM | December 2019of 5. In his 30s, he joined the Maronite Church in Rome. Maronite
Christians weren’t mainstream in Italy—they’re mostly found in
Syria and Lebanon—but Agostini wanted to model himself on St.
Anthony of Qozhaya, a third-century Maronite who spent 20 years
in solitude and then founded the fi rst Christian monastery.
“Agostini did the same thing St. Anthony did,” says David Thom-
as, author of the biography of Agostini Wonder of the Century: The
Astonishing World Traveler Who Was a Hermit. “He would go to
some spot, always picked a cave to live in, and then he would live
an exemplary primitive life there.” Agostini traveled all over Europe
and South America, crossing the Andes twice and canoeing down
the continent’s major rivers.
Word spread whenever the bearded holy man appeared on a
new mountaintop. “Most hermits just want to live out in the mid-
dle of nowhere,” says Thomas. “This guy was very intelligent,
very well educated. He had a purpose.” Agostini attracted such a
huge following in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul that theBYLINESGabriel Ellison-Scowcroft is a photographer, writer and radio
producer from Quebec. He was featured in the New York Times in 2018
as one of “12 Emerging Photographers You Should Know.”
Jennie Rothenberg Gritz is a Smithsonian senior editor.“THIS GUY WAS VERY INTELLIGENT, VERY WELL EDUCATED. HE HAD A PURPOSE.”