Meet the Austrian nuns who fled a care house to interrupt into their previous convent

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 anticipate 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.

“People 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 non secular names — lately ran away from a nursing house and, with the assistance of an area locksmith, broke again into the convent that was their house. Rita jokes that they’re octogenarian squatters.

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

“When the opportunity arose to return to our beloved convent, we didn’t wait for his permission”

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

Sister Rita says they merely needed to act. “I wanted to speak to the prelate to tell him how unhappy we were but we couldn’t reach him,” she explains. “When the opportunity arose to return to our beloved convent, we didn’t wait for his permission. But I don’t want him to be angry with us.”

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

“It goes without saying that the sisters were consulted before being moved into the nursing home,” Schiffl says. “And it’s understandable that after decades of living and working in one place, such a move is not easy.”

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

However the sisters don’t have 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, presently 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.

“Without all the media interest, a viable and sustainable solution would have been found long ago, causing far less damage to the church,” Schiffl asserts.

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

“We invited the press along to prevent the provost from turfing the sisters out of the convent,” Wirtenberger says. “I was told that he would not be so bold in front of the press.”

Sixty-five-year-old Wirtenberger has identified the sisters since she was 10 years previous. She says that whereas they’re as headstrong and sharp as ever, they’re additionally susceptible 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 think it’s wonderful that Instagram brings people to us to praise God. Sure, they’re curious to see us after all the press coverage, but what they see is our worship,” Bernadette enthuses. “So heaven uses tech to spread the word? God arranged this, not us!”

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 removing.

“I’d been in hospital for two weeks and, when I was discharged, I thought I was returning home to the convent,” Sister Bernadette explains. “But the ambulance took me to a nursing home in my nightgown. I was shocked. The provost came but didn’t speak to me. I called after him, saying I would only be obedient for a week.”

They’re accused of breaking their vows

By 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 commonly pitted at critics throughout the church.

“It’s rather telling that the church reaches for the cudgel of obedience to quash dissent,” Rothe says. “But the sisters’ vow of obedience refers to their obligation to listen to each other. It’s not about kowtowing to the powers above.”

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 susceptible.

“The church authorities fear the media like the devil fears holy water because they’d rather keep hidden what is going on behind closed doors,” Rothe says.

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

“There is such harmony between the three of us. Of course, we all have our own personality! It wouldn’t be fair on God if we were all the same,” she says. “That is the beauty of our order; every sister can be herself.”

Nuns on the Run meets The Sound of Music

All of it sounds fairly acquainted in Salzburg, the place dissenting nuns with character are a specialty. Within the middle of city, a merry group of prosecco-sipping girls 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 likelihood, 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 repeatedly. 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 mentioned that my name was Elisabeth von Trapp. She put two and two together very quickly,” says von Trapp. “But here’s the thing: All of it is connected.”

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

“The sisters rallied around and I remember them sitting up in the choir loft,” von Trapp recollects. “I ended up with ‘Climb Every Mountain,’ which I figured was, you know, it’s the nuns song in The Sound of Music. And there they were leaning down, so happy to hear that song!”

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, stating the Augustinian emphasis on neighborhood.

“I believe Sister Bernadette has a message,” von Trapp says. “It has a lot to do with how she has taken care of the community and who is now surrounding her.”

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

“This is their home! And although we’ve organized for 24-hour care starting next week, I live just three minutes away so I’m also on hand,” Seidl says. The church is definitely about working towards ‘love thy neighbor,’ not simply preaching it.”

She says the sisters are as devout as they are defiant and that they deserve agency and dignity in old age.