Sister Rita, 82, Sister Regina, 86, and Sister Bernadette, 88, won global sympathy after they were removed from their convent home at Goldenstein Castle. Photo / Joe Klamar, AFP
Sister Rita, 82, Sister Regina, 86, and Sister Bernadette, 88, won global sympathy after they were removed from their convent home at Goldenstein Castle. Photo / Joe Klamar, AFP
Three elderly rebel nuns who fled an old people’s home to break into their former convent have won their battle with Roman Catholic authorities.
The nuns on the run – Sister Rita, 82, Sister Regina, 86, and Sister Bernadette, 88 – attracted worldwide sympathy after they were removed from theirconvent home at Goldenstein Castle near Salzburg in Austria and consigned to a care home against their will.
Unhappy with their new lives, they ran away from the home and broke back into the convent in September with the help of a group of supporters. The locks had been changed, so they had to summon a locksmith.
Senior Catholic figures were furious. Their superior, Provost Markus Grasl of Reichersberg Abbey, accused them of breaking their vows of obedience and said they needed to be placed in care because their health was failing.
He said their decision to break back into the convent was “an escalation” in the dispute and “completely incomprehensible”. He insisted the state of their health meant they were no longer capable of living independently in the castle.
The confrontation dragged on for weeks, but on Friday there was a breakthrough. Church officials told the nuns they could stay in the nunnery “until further notice”.
But there is one condition – they must stop posting on social media.
Sister Rita (left) and Sister Bernadette have a morning snack after mass outside the convent chapel of Goldenstein Castle, in the municipality of Elsbethen, Austria. Photo / Joe Klamar, AFP
Their story of defiance has made them internet celebrities. Supporters have posted videos of their daily lives, showing them at prayer and having lunch.
There was even footage of Sister Rita’s exercise regime – she was recently given a pair of boxing gloves. The trio now have several thousand followers on Facebook and 100,000 on Instagram.
Church officials have said they must rein in their social media stardom.
The sisters will be given medical care in their convent, as well as spiritual assistance from a priest.
If their health should deteriorate, they will have to move into a nearby care home, Catholic officials said.
“Now it’s up to the sisters [as to whether to accept the conditions],” said Harald Schiffl, a spokesman for the provost.
The three sisters have spent the best part of their adult lives in Goldenstein Castle, which is part convent and part private school.
Sister Bernadette arrived at the school as a pupil in 1948, while Sister Regina arrived in 1958 and Sister Rita four years later.
The three worked at the school as teachers and Sister Regina eventually became headmistress.
The number of nuns living in the convent gradually diminished and in December 2023, the remaining three were moved into a Catholic care centre. But they hated their new home.
After breaking back into the convent in September, Sister Rita said she was “so pleased to be home”, adding that she had been “homesick” in the care facility.
Sister Bernadette said they had not been asked whether they were happy to leave the convent.
“We had the right to stay here until the end of our lives and that was broken,” she told the BBC. “I have been obedient all my life, but it was too much.”
Rather than being forced to spend the rest of her days in the care home, she said she would “rather go to a meadow and enter eternity that way”.
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