Sister Rita, Sister Regina and Sister Bernadette. These are the names of the three nuns who fled the nursing home to which they were sent, to return to the convent where they lived. The Church welcomed the sisters, but with one condition: they would have to stop using social media.
Aged 82, 86 and 88 respectively, Rita, Regina and Bernadette are the last nuns at the Kloster Goldstein convent in Elsbethen, in the Salzburg district, Austriawhere they spent most of their lives. They were removed from there, against their will, in December 2023 and, in September of this year, they returned to the convent, with the help of a group of students, a locksmith and against the will of the priors.
“I’m so happy to be back home”, Sister Rita said to BBC in September. “I always missed home, I’m really happy and grateful to be back.” Bernadette adds: “We were not asked anything, we had the right to stay here until the end of our lives and that promise was broken.”
O convent it was formerly a castle. Converted into a private school for girls in 1877, it also began accepting boys in 2017 and is still in operation. Sister Bernadette was one of the students when she entered the school in 1948. Regina entered the convent in 1958 and Rita was the last, in 1962. There were three teachers.
The sisters were not happy with their eviction in 2023, when they were sent to a Catholic nursing home, after being guaranteed a stay in the convent as long as their physical and mental health allowed. “I have been obedient all my life, but it was too much,” Sister Bernadette told the British newspaper.
Then, with the help of a group of former students, the nuns returned to the convent in September and came across the padlocks of the former apartments replaced, so they saw no alternative but to call a locksmith. “When you need us, you just need to call us and we will be there for sure”, said one of the former students, Sophie Tauscher. “The nuns changed so many lives in such a good way.”
The story quickly became known through internetwhere supporters of the nuns shared videos of the sisters praying or eating lunch and Sister Rita exercising. Support was demonstrated through monetary assistance to pay for food and electricity and Sister Rita even received a pair of boxing gloves.
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With more than 100 thousand followers on Instagram and thousands more in Facebookthe sisters have now learned, three months after their return, that they can stay in the convent for the time being. However, only under certain conditions.
Church superiors ask that the nuns stop their activities on social media and ensure that no one else who does not belong to the order enters the convent’s reserved area. In return, they offer accommodation, medical support and spiritual support. The agreement has not yet been accepted, however, in 2023, Sister Bernadette was determined to remain in the convent.
“Before I die in that nursing home, I’d rather go to a meadow and enter eternity that way.”
Text written by André Sousa and edited by Mariana Adam