Meet Austria’s real-life nuns on the run : NPR

SALZBURG, Austria — Morning Mass is underway on the chapel of Schloss Goldenstein, a convent in Elsbethen, an Austrian parish nestled between the church spires of Salzburg and the arresting backdrop of the Alps. Sister Rita is delighted to see so many individuals in attendance.

As Catholic congregation numbers dwindle in Austria, Sister Rita says you’d count on the church to be equally thrilled by such tightly packed pews, however 82-year-old Rita and fellow Sisters Regina, 86, and Bernadette, 88, are of their superior’s unhealthy books.

“Individuals are calling us the rebellious sisters!” Rita says with a giggle and a glint in her eye.

The three Augustinian sisters — who use solely their spiritual names — lately ran away from a nursing residence and, with the assistance of an area locksmith, broke again into the convent that was their residence. Rita jokes that they’re octogenarian squatters.

Sister Bernadette, 88, walks again to the convent chapel of the Goldenstein fortress, within the municipality of Elsbethen, south of Salzburg metropolis, Austria, on Sept. 20.

Joe Klamar/AFP through Getty Photos

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Joe Klamar/AFP through Getty Photos

Giggles apart, Rita says they have been taken to a nursing residence in opposition to their will two years in the past when church authorities shuttered the cloisters as nun numbers diminished.

“When the chance arose to return to our beloved convent, we did not watch for his permission”

The parishioners who employed a U-Haul and helped the sisters stage their getaway are actually joined by an entire host of locals keen to assist the sisters develop outdated on their very own phrases.

Sister Rita says they merely needed to act. “I wished to talk to the prelate to inform him how sad we have been however we could not attain him,” she explains. “When the chance arose to return to our beloved convent, we did not watch for his permission. However I do not need him to be offended with us.”

Sister Rita poses for a portrait.

Esme Nicholson for NPR

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Esme Nicholson for NPR

However their superior, Provost Markus Grasl, just isn’t happy with the sisters’ dissent. And when their getaway made headlines final month, he introduced in a PR agency specializing in injury management. So Harald Schiffl now speaks on the clergyman’s behalf.

“It goes with out saying that the sisters have been consulted earlier than being moved into the nursing residence,” Schiffl says. “And it is comprehensible that after a long time of residing and dealing in a single place, such a transfer just isn’t simple.”

Schiffl explains that Sisters Rita, Bernadette and Regina have been the final three remaining nuns within the cloister and that staying there was unwise as they aged. He stresses that the provost’s choice to maneuver them was made with their greatest pursuits in thoughts.

However the sisters haven’t any intention of hanging up their wimples; they entered the cloister on the understanding they’d serve there — and on the adjoining convent faculty — for the remainder of their lives.

And their attain now goes far past the parish; the nuns now have their personal Instagram account, at the moment with 70,000 followers.

Schiffl, the provost’s spokesperson, says the nuns’ social media presence is unbecoming of their order and that their superiors take a dim view of it.

“With out all of the media curiosity, a viable and sustainable resolution would have been discovered way back, inflicting far much less injury to the church,” Schiffl asserts.

Sister Bernadette, 88, celebrates Mass on the convent chapel of the Goldenstein fortress, within the municipality of Elsbethen, south of Salzburg metropolis, Austria, on Sept. 20.

Joe Klamar/AFP through Getty Photos

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Joe Klamar/AFP through Getty Photos

However Christina Wirtenberger, one of many sisters’ former college students who initiated “operation get thee to a nunnery,” says they have been suggested to make it public.

“We invited the press alongside to forestall the provost from turfing the sisters out of the convent,” Wirtenberger says. “I used to be informed that he wouldn’t be so daring in entrance of the press.”

Sixty-five-year-old Wirtenberger has identified the sisters since she was 10 years outdated. She says that whereas they’re as headstrong and sharp as ever, they’re additionally weak on account of their age.

When different volunteers recommended launching the Instagram account, Wirtenberger stated solely on the proviso the sisters gave their categorical permission.

Eighty-eight-year-old Sister Bernadette, who has been a nun right here since 1955, takes social media stardom in her stride.

“I believe it is great that Instagram brings individuals to us to reward God. Certain, they’re curious to see us after all of the press protection, however what they see is our worship,” Bernadette enthuses. “So heaven makes use of tech to unfold the phrase? God organized this, not us!”

Sister Bernadette poses for a portrait on Oct. 11.

Esme Nicholson for NPR

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Esme Nicholson for NPR

However Bernadette continues to be reeling about what occurred. As she climbs 4 flights of stairs, she says the stair raise was faraway from the cloister not lengthy after her personal elimination.

“I might been in hospital for 2 weeks and, after I was discharged, I believed I used to be returning residence to the convent,” Sister Bernadette explains. “However the ambulance took me to a nursing residence in my nightgown. I used to be shocked. The provost got here however did not converse to me. I known as after him, saying I might solely be obedient for every week.”

They’re accused of breaking their vows

Via his spokesperson, Provost Grasl has accused the sisters of breaking their vows. However Wolfgang Rothe — a priest and scholar of canon regulation — says this cost is usually pitted at critics throughout the church.

“It is somewhat telling that the church reaches for the cudgel of obedience to quash dissent,” Rothe says. “However the sisters’ vow of obedience refers to their obligation to pay attention to one another. It isn’t about kowtowing to the powers above.”

Sisters Rita, 81, Regina, 86, and Bernadette, 88, rejoice Mass with over a dozen of supporters and former college students.

Joe Klamar/AFP through Getty Photos

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Joe Klamar/AFP through Getty Photos

Rothe, who sits on a German Bishops’ Convention advisory board that advocates for the victims of sexual violence and abuse within the Catholic Church, says involving the media is the one approach to safeguard the weak.

“The church authorities worry the media just like the satan fears holy water as a result of they’d somewhat maintain hidden what’s going on behind closed doorways,” Rothe says.

Behind closed cloister doorways after Mass, Sister Bernadette brews an espresso and displays on what it means to be residence with Sisters Regina and Rita.

“There’s such concord between the three of us. After all, all of us have our personal character! It would not be honest on God if we have been all the identical,” she says. “That’s the fantastic thing about our order; each sister may be herself.”

Sisters Rita (proper), 81, Regina (left), 86, and Bernadette (middle), 88, rejoice a Mass with over a dozen of supporters and former college students.

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Joe Klamar/AFP through Getty Photos

Nuns on the Run meets The Sound of Music

All of it sounds somewhat acquainted in Salzburg, the place dissenting nuns with character are a specialty. Within the middle of city, a merry group of prosecco-sipping ladies have launched into some al fresco karaoke in reward of one other rebellious nun — Maria von Trapp, immortalized because the nun who “waltzes on her approach to Mass” by Julie Andrews within the 1965 movie The Sound of Music. 

By full probability, they stumble upon the one-time nun Maria’s real-life granddaughter, Elisabeth von Trapp. Von Trapp has identified Sister Bernadette for years, which she says is hardly a shock contemplating her household’s observe document with nuns.

Von Trapp, who was born in the USA the place her household settled after fleeing the Nazis, returns to Salzburg commonly. One summer time, a couple of decade in the past, she chanced upon the convent at Schloss Goldenstein. She says she did not assume twice about ringing the bell.

“When Sister Bernadette answered and opened the door to me, I discussed that my title was Elisabeth von Trapp. She put two and two collectively in a short time,” says von Trapp. “However here is the factor: All of it’s related.”

Von Trapp, who has continued the household singing custom, ended up giving a live performance within the convent chapel.

“The sisters rallied round and I keep in mind them sitting up within the choir loft,” von Trapp recollects. “I ended up with ‘Climb Each Mountain,’ which I figured was, you understand, it is the nuns track in The Sound of Music. And there they have been leaning down, so completely satisfied to listen to that track!”

And whereas this sounds as far-fetched as a Hollywood producer’s pitch — Nuns on the Run meets The Sound of Music — von Trapp says that is no Sister Act however one thing way more profound, mentioning the Augustinian emphasis on group.

Elisabeth von Trapp is the granddaughter of Maria von Trapp, whose story impressed The Sound of Music.

Hannelore Kirchner/Through Elisabeth von Trapp

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Hannelore Kirchner/Through Elisabeth von Trapp

“I imagine Sister Bernadette has a message,” von Trapp says. “It has so much to do with how she has taken care of the group and who’s now surrounding her.”

Amongst them is Karin Seidl, one other former convent pupil. She says the sisters have devoted their lives to the group and now it is time to give again.

“That is their residence! And though we have organized for 24-hour care beginning subsequent week, I reside simply three minutes away so I am additionally readily available,” Seidl says. The church is definitely about practising ‘love thy neighbor,’ not simply preaching it.”

She says the sisters are as religious as they’re defiant and that they deserve company and dignity in outdated age.

The Schloss Goldenstein is positioned within the municipality of Elsbethen, south of Salzburg metropolis, Austria. Three nuns of their 80s gained notoriety after fleeing their care residence to return to their former convent.

Joe Klamar/AFP through Getty Photos

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Joe Klamar/AFP through Getty Photos