Best books about nuns

[GraceUk]

It seems like ages since books were discussed.  My favourite of all I I think is a Right to be Merry. And another one by a poor Clare in the UK this time is Barefoot Journey and sequel Spring Comes barefoot. Poor Clare's  seem to have a lot of fun despite their austere rule. 

Two other books I read which were by nuns that eventually left their orders but they were really uplifting. Heaven by the hems about somebody who entered the Cistercian order. This is a very old book but I loved it. Another more recent one is the Secret Ladder about a woman who entered Carmel in her late forties. Anyone read these.

 

[Kateri89]

I’ve read A Right to be Merry.  It’s been awhile but I remember really liking it 

[Dymphna]

I can recommend "New Habits - Today's Women who choose to become Nuns" by Isabel Losada. It's based on interviews with 10 young sisters of different (UK) communities who talk openly about their lives, including their difficulties and what makes them love community life.

[InCordeRegis]

"My Beloved" by Mother Catherine Thomas " and And Mary Was Her Life: Sister Maria Teresa Quevedo" are both great books to. And "A Right to be Merry", as was already mentioned, is always a favorite too!

 

Another one I just remembered that I really love is "A Few Lines to Tell You: My Life in Carmel" by Sister Marie of the Trinity.

No, I haven't read others mentioned, but they sound interesting.

[Love Lourdes]

have read a couple of Mother  Catherine's but no others.   My favorite fiction is In This House of Brede.

[gloriana35]

As far as literature, I share Love Lourdes love for In This House of Brede - it illustrates enormous insight, wisdom, diversity of thought and personality and the like. I like Rumer Godden's Ten for Joy, Five for Sorrow, as well.

Though Karen Armstrong is no longer Catholic, her memoirs are indeed interesting and valuable - though I'd recommend no-one read Through the Narrow Gate without then reading The Spiral Staircase. Karen cannot be one's only source for theology :D - but there is enormous insight in her memoirs, if one reads with an open and discerning attitude.

[InCordeRegis]

 

21 hours ago, Love Lourdes said:

have read a couple of Mother  Catherine's but no others.   My favorite fiction is In This House of Brede.

What other books did Mother Catherine write? I only know of "My Beloved"... I would love to read any others she wrote!

[Guest]

I have read Spring Comes Barefoot and A Right To Be Merry.  Enjoyed them both.  I think I also read In This House of Brede, but don't remember much about it.

[GraceUk]

I also loved In this House of Brede and if anybody hasn't read it yet they should as I'm sure they'd enjoy it. Because it's such a long book it goes into loads of detail and is really absorbing. 

I think Mother Catherine wrote a biography perhaps  of a saint or another sister but not too sure. 

[Nunsuch]

I think if people are reading such books as aids to discernment, they need to read books that are more recent. Those written a half century or more ago are not going to give an accurate portrait of religious life today. There are so many good books about religious life in the 21st century! But nostalgia is not a good guide to the future.

For the record, I have read all of the books mentioned here. While they may have been enjoyable, they do not really present good insight into what is going on now. Of course, if people are just reading them for historical insight, they are more appropriate but, even then, they are very case-specific.

[JHFamily]

3 hours ago, Nunsuch said:

I think if people are reading such books as aids to discernment, they need to read books that are more recent.

Well, that depends.  "The Right to be Merry" is still very much like the Poor Clare Collettines of today, with just a few changes, and the same applies to "My Beloved" and some Carmelite monasteries, particularly the JMJ Carmels.  It just depends on what someone is attracted to.

[Nunsuch]

3 hours ago, JHFamily said:

Well, that depends.  "The Right to be Merry" is still very much like the Poor Clare Collettines of today, with just a few changes, and the same applies to "My Beloved" and some Carmelite monasteries, particularly the JMJ Carmels.  It just depends on what someone is attracted to.

Perhaps, although "My Beloved" doesn't represent the vast majority of Carmels today, just as more traditional PCC communities don't represent all Poor Clares. I simply suggest that there are more current books about religious life. I'm not talking about rigorous theology, such as those by Sandra M. Schneiders, IHM, which might not be everyone's cup of tea (I think she's remarkable). But there are books and essays that represent a wide spectrum of women religious around the world. Another great resource is Global Sisters Report (globalsistersreport.org) which has writings by and about sisters and nuns internationally.

[Lilllabettt]

A book I found extremely helpful was "Dawn of a Consecration " by Thomas Dubay. It was originally written as a daily meditation book  helping postulants/novices adjusting to life in an active religious community. It was amazing insight into religious life and was true to reality when I entered the convent *a habit wearing non cloistered community*

I'm not sure if it's still in print, but if you find a copy snap it up!

Edited April 25, 2019 by Lilllabettt

[Sister Leticia]

How about "In Our Own Words: Religious Life in a Changing World" - this book was written collaboratively by 13 younger religious (some still in formation, others recently finally professed) from 13 different orders in the US. It was published last year

http://www.globalsistersreport.org/news/trends/new-book-younger-sisters-write-about-religious-life-present-51791

I will admit that I haven't read it, but I know about it because one of my American sisters was part of it.

[GraceUk]

I've not read Bernie becomes s Nun but have seen it mentioned on Phatmass. That sounds a good book but its very expensive second hand. I read a book by Karen Armstrong and she had a horrible experience in an order which was quite strict but not enclosed. It was a bit depressing to be honest. It's a shame she lost her Catholic faith.  

In our own words sounds interesting.

 

[gloriana35]

'Bernie Becomes a Nun', which I do recall, is very outdated - and aimed at children, not those ready to enter religious life. Bernie had been a stenographer, and entered the Maryknoll Sisters (the description of her life with them bears no resemblance to what it would be today.) There are mentions of when she had a slight stomachache - when postulants had a break for plain tea... Incidentally, I originally thought that it was a generic book about a call to religious life, posed by an actress (since many photos were unlikely - no-one is photographed with a thermometer in her mouth at the infirmary), but later found that there is a 'real Bernadette' who entered Maryknoll. 

Though the practises Karen Amstrong mentions are outdated, her books are very insightful. 

'A Right to be Merry' is a bit of a valentine. Mother Francis, witty and insightful, gives an accurate but extremely sweet version of the life - one would think all nuns are supportive, loving, understanding, honoured if someone confides in them. 

IMO, In This House of Brede (which does present much wisdom, compassion, insight) always was intended strictly as literature. I read it for the first time only about 20 years ago. There were conversations Philippa had where my first reaction was "Lord, did you fall into a trap... that confidence will be thrown in your face later" (it wasn't - her convent was unlike my own) - and there are some elaborate dramatics for entertainment value. It would not capture how religious life is today (the more since there are 96 in the monastery), but I doubt it ever was intended for those seeking to discern vocations.

[Nunsuch]

If you want to listen to an interview with Sister Bernie Lynch--the focus of "Bernie Becomes a Nun"--it was recorded in 2010 and can be heard here: https://anunslife.org/podcasts/in-good-faith/igf003-in-good-faith

She spent much of her religious life in Peru. An extraordinary woman!

Edited April 26, 2019 by Nunsuch

[gloriana35]

Perhaps I'm saying 'the grass is green' , but younger people on this forum may not realise how, fifty years ago, not only books (some published by communities - I don't mean bestsellers) but pamphlets, booklets, and so forth about religious life were very popular. Many were aimed at families - for example, some reminded parents not to stand in the way (i.e., insist a child finish school) of God's call. Some, such as Bernie Becomes a Nun, and an anthology whose name I do not recall,were aimed at children - who just might follow a religious vocation some day, and, in any case, would enjoy seeing Bernie's going-away shower, or her deciding 'singing and dancing are all right, but not for me." (Thirty years later, the items Bernie received would be jokes amongst some Sisters... and other Sisters thought nothing of going to night clubs. Many believed that, once they no longer had to wear habits, going out places didn't matter - it was the 'bad example' of going to a film that depicted something against church teachings that could be frowned upon.)

Though dated books are often valuable only for historical research, or for nostalgia, I don't know that most were aimed at those actually ready for religious life (or those who wished to enter at all.) Some, aimed at pious adults, were clearly intended to give a overview of what convent life was like. Others were overviews to introduce children to concepts. It has occurred to me (I entered at 25) that, though theological books filled my library shelves,I don't recall any book about nuns really played a part in my discernment. Yet I have actually met women (whether they entered or not) who told me their first ideas about entering convents came either from "The Nun's Story" (...which contains so much tragedy that I'd have thought it would have quite another effect) or "The Song of Bernadette."

[Antigonos]

I found "The Nun's Story" -- both the book and the film -- very inspiring.  Of course, I could identify with Sr. Luke's professional aspirations; I already knew I wanted to be a nurse.  What impressed me was that, for the first time, I could see those in religious life not as automatons, or plaster saints, but as struggling human beings.  The film script was very sensitively rendered; many quotes come to mind, such as, near the end, when the Reverend Mother gently reproves Sr. Luke: "You entered the convent to be a nun, not a nurse", or "The religious life has to be lived, not day by day, but minute by minute".  Of course, the period in which the story takes place is very important, too.  To have been in a European convent during WWII must have been a kind of pressure cooker.  I expect the average religious today to have less external conflict, unless serving in a part of the world in turmoil.  A sister teaching school in the Midwest probably doesn't have to face certain choices that someone in a warzone does.

[andibc]

Amaya Means Beloved amongst others that have already been mentioned.

There are many obscure ones such as An American Nun in Taiwan that are interesting, too.  I wouldn’t put them in then”best” category.

Bernie Becomes a Nun is an old children’s book...middle school...pictures of a young lady who is entering the Maryknolls and follows her until she has the habit and is getting on a plane.  I found a copy at a thrift store years ago. It’s cute...not worth what it sells for online and it did not inspire my daughters when they were discerning.

Edited April 28, 2019 by andibc