Mount Alvernia

Mount Alvernia
The Hermitage on the summit of Mount Alvernia
Elevation	63 m (207 ft)[1]
Prominence	63 m (207 ft)[1]
Listing	Country high point
Location
Mount Alvernia Location of Mount Alvernia in the Bahamas
Location	Bahamas
Coordinates	24°17′39″N 75°24′30″W / 24.29417°N 75.40833°W / 24.29417; -75.40833Coordinates: 24°17′39″N 75°24′30″W / 24.29417°N 75.40833°W / 24.29417; -75.40833[1]

Mount Alvernia (formerly Como Hill) is located on Cat Island in the Bahamas and is the highest point in the country at 63 metres (207 ft) above sea level. The Mountain shares its name with a school in Montego Bay, Jamaica.

Originally named "Como Hill", it was renamed Mount Alvernia after La Verna, the hill in Tuscany where St. Francis of Assisi received the Wounds of the Cross.^[2] The mountain was given its name by a Catholic priest, Monsignor John Hawes, also known as Fra Jerome, who built a hermitage there. Hawes was an Englishman who spent the last 17 years of his life in the Bahamas. He was a qualified architect before entering the church, and did a great deal of architectural work for the church throughout the Bahamas. He died in 1956 just short of the age of 80, and was buried in a tomb he prepared for himself in a cave under the hermitage.

View from the summit of Mt. Alvernia

References

• The CIA World Factbook