Volume 46 of The Orthodox Church has a wonderful article and time line about him. (Click on the picture of the cover to go to the full PDF.) This is a short excerpt:
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Born into a merchant family in the diocese of Moscow, Saint Herman became a monk in his early 20s, first entering the Holy Trinity-Saint Sergius Hermitage – associated with the famous Lavra of the same name in Sergiev Posad – near Saint Petersburg, then later moving on to the famed Valaam Monastery on Lake Ladoga in Russian Finland.
He grew to love Valaam with his entire being; monks there remembered him singing on the kliros in a pleasant tenor voice while tears streamed from his eyes. For the rest of his life, Saint Herman considered Valaam his spiritual home; indeed, he called his hermitage on Spruce Island “New Valaam.” In a letter to Abbot Nazarius, he once wrote, “Your paternal kindness to my lowliness will not be erased from my heart, neither the terrible impenetrable Siberian wilds, nor its dark forests, nor will the great rivers wash away the memory; neither will rough seas extinguish these feelings. For in my mind I imagine my beloved Valaam and look always at it across the great ocean.”
[snip]
One time, Saint Herman was asked, “How do you manage to live alone in the forest? Don’t you get bored?”
He answered “No, I am not alone there! There is God, and God is everywhere! There are holy angels! How can one be bored with them? And with whom is it more pleasant and better to converse, angels or people? Angels, of course!”
[snip]
People flocked to Saint Herman for counsel and help. Affectionately, the Aleuts began to call him their “North Star,” referring to how his teaching guided and grounded them, or the even more intimate “Apa,” which meant grandfather.
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Here is "Rejoice, Oh Unwedded Bride" (in Russian) and images from Valaam, St Herman's beloved monastery.
St Herman, pray for us!
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